Social media has attracted a huge amount of ink of late, but the overall growth in IT jobs tends to be much broader. In fact, there are plenty of jobs available in the San Francisco/Silicon Valley region for those experienced with technologies that have been around for a decade or more. A couple of examples of IT skills with legs are Linux and network/systems administration. A search on Dice.com in the San Francisco area for network administrator, a position that's been around for at least a couple of decades, turned up 153 available positions. In general, these jobs are nuts and bolts oriented, with the responsibilities of keeping systems running, including networks of PCs and servers. Some typical positions open include a senior systems administrator at Sacred Heart Schools in Atherton; a system administrator at Vertical Response Inc. in San Francisco; a Unix systems administrator at Modis Inc. in S.F.; and a systems administrator 3 at UC Berkeley

Linux, More than a Decade Old, Continues to Generate IT Jobs

Although it's been around as a popular operating system used by corporations for more than a decade - a relatively long duration in the technology world, Linux continues to be a promising area of growth for IT professionals seeking employment. A search on Dice.com last week for Linux in the San Francisco area uncovered 793 open jobs. Some typical openings were for Linux (systems) administrators at Radiansys Inc., San Francisco; BlackStone Technology Group in Palo Alto; Zynga in San Francisco; and Sedna Consulting group in Foster City. Maxojnic Inc. in Brisbane was seeking a Windows engineer with Linux expertise, while Logitech in Fremont needs a Linux software developer.

Find an "Embedded" Assignment Without Going to a War Zone

Long before the War in Iraq brought the word "embedded" into common use, there were embedded systems. And no, you don't have to go into a war zone as a reporter to get one of these "embedded jobs most often, they have to do with software that's embedded into a device or some other piece of hardware to command its functions. Sure, they're anything but sexy, but jobs for developers and software architects who know something about embedding software into devices seem to be a quiet growth industry. A search last week on Dice.com for embedded software in San Francisco, turned up 76 jobs. For instance, Robert Bosch healthcare in Palo Alto is seeking a technical lead-embedded system, responsible for developing system requirements for the Health Buddy embedded platform. The technical lead will coordinate design of subsystems and integration of the total system. The job requires 10-plus years of embedded engineering experience, preferably on Linux systems. At OSI Engineering Inc. in Palo Alto, there's an opening for a director of embedded systems engineering who can drive the next generation of Wireless Mesh network products. The ideal candidate will have experience in firmware development for wireless networking systems.