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THE IMPACT OF OPERATING SYSTEMS ON RECRUITMENT
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Video to Watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkGCLIQx1MI
One of the
Key functions of an
Operating
System
Is to get the hardware
Ready for
Application Software
So operating systems in your organization have one clear purpose. and they simply bring your IT system
to life. Some examples of operating systems include:
Apple macOS
Microsoft Windows
Google's Android OS
Linux Operating System
Apple iOS.
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One of the key functions of an operating system is to act as the interface between the hardware and all
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the applications that we use. Without an operating system, IT simply doesn't work because you can't put
anything useful on there.
Functions of an OS – Video to watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVzRTmdd9j0
1. Ensures that the Bios starts up the chip
2. Provide a graphical user interface
3. Manage Device Drivers
4. Monitor the health of the chip
5. Enables networks to be set up
6. Enforce external security
7. Look after external security
UNDERSTANDING PLATFORMS AS A RECRUITER
PLATFORM = HARDWARE + OPERATING SYSTEM
These two layers combined also have a specific term in IT. These two layers combined in IT are known as
your platform. Once you understand which platform your company operates on, you'll begin to see why
your company recruits a certain type of tech talent.
If you ask what platform does your company run on? You’ll get answers like…
"Uh, we're operating on a Windows platform."
"We're on a Unix on IBM platform."
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"Our platform is Apple based”
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OPEN AND CLOSED SYSTEMS IN IT RECRUITMENT
1. Closed systems – Software Engineers have locked down the source code and inaccessible to user
or developers so that no one can look inside or see how the code was written.
a. E.g., Microsoft Windows, Office 365, Apple’s iOS operating system, iPhone hardware,
Azure, SAP’s ERP system, etc.
2. Open-source systems – Is a philosophy of software creation that means the owners of the
software are quite happy to keep the whole thing open and unlocked and thereby freely share
their intellectual property with the world.
a. E.g., Worldwide Web, Wikipedia, Firefox browser, Android OS, and Unix-based OS such
as Linux, etc.
b. Linux
i. Is the leading open-source operating system and stems from an original idea
called Unix.
ii. Is one of the leading operating systems in the world, powering some of the
largest enterprise servers on the planet from NASA to the large Hadron Collider
in Switzerland
iii. It's an accolade that all of the top 500 supercomputers of the world run Linux.
Recruiting for Closed Systems
From a recruitment perspective, if a company is primarily using closed systems, then there are a few
assumptions that we can make about the IT culture and the tech talent we’re going to recruit for a
company…
If a company is primarily on a Windows platform, this means…
o Most of the software that you recruit is also designed to sit on Windows
o Applications are closed and windows-based
o Don’t need to control at code level
o Closed systems are generally well supported
o And they will hire Windows administrators to take care of that system
o Can be used in large enterprise
o Can also be used in less complex situations
o Designed not to be tampered with
Recruiting for Open Systems
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If a company primarily using an open environment and you would need to hire a Linux, or any 4
open system…
o Probably Linux
o Customization is huge for them
o Control down to the code level
o I.T. runs their core business
o Power of their processing matters
o Speed and performance are key
o Administrators are going to be more technical
o Harder to find these resources
Linux Administrators – tend to be more technical because they are speaking to the source code
or ‘kernel’ of the system.
o Kernel - it means that you need an administrator who is really speaking to the operating
system at the very code level.
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