How important is it to learn linux?
I am coming from the embedded background and mainly working in the testing domain. I am just planning to shift my career to linux (embedded linux mainly).
My doubt is how far can this help me in my career upliftment?
Is this a right decision to go on since I have been working in the embedded testing domain for more than 4 years?
Opinion:
Since Linux seems to be more and more important in the embedded field I really recommend to get a grip on it. I for one have spent the last six years or so building appliances with Linux (with a self-developed in-house embedded Linux distro no less), ranging from a thin-client to several VoIP appliances, using ARM, PowerPC and Intel.
With these devices, our company grew from 3 people to about 15 within three years, more than half of which were developers and two testers. (Have changed the job now since I wanted to do something different but that's another story.)
Thing is, aside from NetBSD there is probably no other OS that has such a good support for so many different CPU platforms (and also peripherals). A lot of developers are familiar with Linux as hobbyists.
Add to that the fact that Linux is pretty widespread on servers nowadays. This means that as a company it's probably easier to find competent Linux developers than, say, QNX developers. So I expect the number of embedded devices with Linux to further rise in the next years, but this also means that the need for competent developers and testers should rise.
I for one can say that my Linux knowledge did help my career, a lot. It made forming the aforementioned company possible in the first place. Knowing different OS'es is always a good thing, or to be more generic: being flexible, having diverse knowledge is always helping a carrier.
So if you're interested, don't hesitate to also play around with OS'es like FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenSolaris, or whichever OS you can find.
In general, this can be a huge plus and make the difference when applying for a job.
