Linux Scholarship Winners

*The Linux Foundation Announces 2012 Linux Training Scholarship Recipients**
*



*With demand for Linux talent at an all-time high, competition for Linux
training scholarships gets fierce; more than 500 submissions received*



SAN FRANCISCO, September 10, 2012 – The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit
organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announces
the winners of its 2012 Linux Training Scholarship Program.



More than 500 submissions were received during the second year of this
program, which is more than double the number of submissions reviewed in
2011. The Linux Training Scholarship Program awards five scholarships to
computer science students and Linux developers or systems administrators
who show incredible promise for helping to shape the future of Linux but do
not otherwise have the ability to attend Linux Foundation training courses.



This year’s winners represent the diverse opportunities for the platform,
ranging from embedded development to cloud computing, as well as bringing
Linux to remote areas of the globe.



The 2012 Linux Training Scholarship winners are:



*Adnan Akbar – Pakistan*

Akbar is a doctoral student in the School of Engineering and
Technology, Lahore. His Linux development work has largely been
focused on embedded Linux, having worked on the Angstrom embedded
Linux kernel and associated drivers. He says that to do this he
studied different books on embedded Linux and listened to several
online lectures but could not attend proper training because of a lack
of such opportunities available in Pakistan.



*Julio Guillen – El Salvador*

Guillen is a 15-year Linux user who has worked as a Linux systems
administrator. He says his country lacks trained people to develop
applications for mobile devices and to implement and maintain cloud
computing technologies. He hopes his Linux training can help provide the
knowledge for him to start his own company to provide Linux-based services
in El Salvador.



*Julita Inca Chiroque – Peru*

Inca served as an intern for the GNOME Outreach Program for Women in 2011
and today is a both a member of the GNOME Foundation as well as a Fedora
Ambassador to Peru. She recently finished a Master’s in Computer Science
and is working as a Linux Server Administrator using Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5.0.  She says Linux training can help her prepare for a successful
career as a Linux professional and to enable her to pass along knowledge to
others.



*George Mhlanga – Africa*

Mhlanga is a computer programmer at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food
Security at Lilongwe Agricultural Development Division in Malawi, Africa.
Today he is managing web-based systems on Windows servers in 300 offices
but says the servers are prone to viruses and that he wants to switch to
Linux. He has requested Linux training from his management but management
does not have the funds. He says he will use the Linux training scholarship
to become “the next Linux expert” and to strengthen the role of Linux in
his organization.



*Alexander Samide - United States*

Alexander Samide is studying computer science at Regis University but uses
Linux in his day job as the base for building telecom equipment. He says he
will use the Linux training scholarship to better implement embedded
systems with increased security. Ha says he would like to reach a level of
knowledge and experience to be able to provide more support to existing
projects and to create new projects.



Each scholarship will cover the expense for one course from The Linux
Foundation’s course schedule in Linux Development, a value averaging more
than $2,500.



“This year we saw the number of submissions for our Linux Training program
more than double. This represents an acknowledgement by budding Linux
developers and systems administrators that Linux is the hottest area in IT
for career growth,” said Amanda McPherson, vice president, marketing and
developer programs at The Linux Foundation. “Providing Linux training
resources is an important part of The Linux Foundation’s work. We’re happy
to help support individuals while at the same time advancing the Linux
platform for the future.”



According to the 2012 Linux Jobs Report (
https://www.linuxfoundation.org/publications/linux-founda...),
produced by Dice.com and The Linux Foundation, 81 percent of recruiters say
that hiring Linux talent is a priority this year but 85 percent say that
it’s difficult to find this talent. When hiring managers find Linux
development and IT skills in a candidate, they’re offering higher salaries
and more perks. The Linux Foundation is helping to meet this demand by
providing Linux training opportunities that increase job seekers’ portfolio
of skills and depth of knowledge related to Linux.



Given this high demand, The Linux Foundation plans to continue its annual
Linux Training Scholarship Program in 2013.



For more information on these courses, please visit:
http://training.linuxfoundation.org.
<http://events.linuxfoundation.org/events/linuxcon/training>



*About The Linux Foundation*

The Linux Foundation <http://www.linuxfoundation.org> is a nonprofit
consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2000, the
organization sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and
promotes, protects and advances the Linux operating system by marshaling
the resources of its members and the open source development community. The
Linux Foundation provides a neutral forum for collaboration and education
by hosting Linux conferences, <http://events.linuxfoundation.org> including
LinuxCon <http://events.linuxfoundation.org/events/linuxcon>, and
generating original Linux
research<http://www.linuxfoundation.org/publications>,
Linux videos <http://videos.linux.com> and content that advances the
understanding of the Linux platform. Its web properties, including
Linux.com, <http://www.linux.com> reach approximately two million people
per month. The organization also provides extensive Linux
training<http://training.linuxfoundation.org>opportunities that
feature the Linux kernel community’s leading experts as
instructors. Follow The Linux Foundation on
Twitter.<http://www.twitter.com/linuxfoundation>





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