I’ve known that Utah was a hot-spot for tech and I assumed it was a great place for Open Source hackers. This post over at Pingdom seems to confirm my suspicions. The point is that no matter what Linux or Open Source topic you pick, Utah tends to be at the top of that search trend. Try it: Linux #1, Kernel #2, BSD #2, GNU #2, GPL #1, Apache #1, Postfix #1, Bash #1, Python Scripting #3, Asterisk #1, IPTables #1, Cron #1, MySQL #1, PostgreSQL #1… As you see, I could go on and on. I don’t know what can really be learned from those rankings, but one thing is sure – there is a lot of local interest in Open Source.

Just for fun, let’s see how Utah does for 5 random words. Thinking… taco (not in top 10), printing (not in top 10), ear plugs (not in top 10), drills #9 and microwave (not in top 10). Well, I’m glad I’m not selling drills door-to-door.

Also, I find it interesting that while I’ve been looking for different types of work (in this order: consulting, contracting, business opportunities and full-time work), nearly everyone I’ve interviewed with wants full-time employees. They say that although business is down a little (economy, or whatever), they’re all mostly cookin’. I say, good for them, good for Utah and good for me. ;)