We "wish to hire 75 FOSS/Linux professionals this year”

Agriya, an eight-year old Web development company headquartered in Chennai, promises 40-70 per cent cost savings to its clients. And, FOSS/Linux has been instrumental in helping them keep their word, completing over 400 projects as on today. Aravind Kumar, chief technology officer, Agriya Infoway, talks to Vanisha Joseph of LFY about the opportunities FOSS holds for IT companies and professionals.

Q: Is the IT industry ripe enough for FOSS/Linux experts in India?
A: Open source/Linux has grown beyond its initial popularity among hackers and is today being adopted by enterprises across the globe. There is as much, if not more, demand for open source enterprise products as compared to their proprietary counterparts. Thus, the biggest driving force behind the escalating demand for FOSS/Linux professionals is the mass movement supported by enterprise software companies towards open source. You would be surprised to know that even Oracle and Microsoft have a Linux team today.

In addition, the adoption of Linux and open source tools by SMEs across various sectors has been fuelling this demand. For instance, a leading bakery in Chennai is completely on Linux. Telecom and government are the two major sectors pushing this demand. We see a huge demand from state governments in India (including Hyderabad and Bengaluru) and also European countries (such as France). Thus, the ground is ripe for FOSS/Linux experts to grow and blossom in the Indian market.

Q: What are the advantages of using FOSS/Linux in project development?
A: If you aren’t using FOSS/Linux in project development, you are sure to go out of business soon. Most businesses exist for their customers, who are the driving force behind innovation etc. With a large pie of customers using open source or attracted to open source because of cost efficiencies, you would naturally go out of business if you don’t catch up with this market. For instance, 70-80 per cent of Web hosts companies work solely on Linux as they wish to be in business.

Speaking from personal experience too, the main advantage we have seen using FOSS/Linux in project development is the ability to attract a large user base. If we work on solutions using Java or .Net, we have to face loads of issues as the stack is overly complicated and complex, requiring certain access etc. Many clients wouldn’t be able to afford the high costs associated with such stacks. Thus, open source becomes the safest option for us to grow and attract a large user base.

In addition, the community support is a great advantage for companies using open source in project development. They are like friends ready to help you any time as long as you post relevant and proper questions after doing your basic homework. Lastly, there is a huge cost advantage with no licence cost strings attached to open source. This advantage is huge when you are talking about a large IT infrastructure. Ubuntu, for example, is an excellent OS that can compete with just about any proprietary OS. Just an OS shift can save you big bucks!