If I wanted a job...

...I'd be sure to go to work for an open source company. I get people asking me all the time for career advice (Not sure why they ask me - it's not like I have a "career." I think that's what older folks have... :-). My advice is always the same:

"Work for an open source company."

The reason is simple economics. The market will basically pay you what it thinks you're worth, and your worth goes up exponentially when you have open source expertise. Open source, according to Gartner and nearly every sane person on the planet, continues to be one of the top three trends in technology. Consequently, if you're an enterprise (i.e., IT person) or an ISV, you want open source people.

And thus, if you're a would-be employee, you want to be wanted. You want open source experience.

It's an unfortunate fact that every person I hire has their salary rate go up 50% or so just by walking in the door of a successful open source company. They join an Alfresco, SugarCRM, Red Hat, MySQL, JasperSoft, etc. and their worth immediately goes up in the market. After a few years of hard work and success with these (or other open source) companies, they can write their own ticket. And it's a hefty ticket. (I should know - we and others are paying a premium for open source experience.)

Do yourself a favor. Find an open source startup. Learn the 21st Century way of writing/selling/supporting/implementing software. It's the very best thing you could do for your career.