Open Source Skills Report 2026
Released on 24 April 2026
OpenUK’s updated skills report analyses the latest data on open source and AI skills with a UK lens and a global mindset. The UK hits 5.5 million GitHub accounts — 7.9% of the population, more per capita than any other country in the world. Dr Rebecca Taylor’s work on maintainers and unpaid work is showcased, and the value of open source skills and their contribution to both capacity and future leadership are explored.
Report Includes:
Introduction and Conclusion
- Introduction, Professor Amanda Brock, CEO, OpenUK and OpenHQ
- Conclusion, Dr Jennifer Barth, Research Director, Symmetry Research and OpenUK
Thought Leadership
- Open source careers: building, showcasing, and sustaining developer skills, Dr Rebecca Taylor, Associate Professor in Sociology and Director of the Work Futures Research Centre, University of Southampton
Case Study
- Rustls: a maintainer’s journey from weekend project to critical internet infrastructure, Joe Birr-Pixton, Creator of Rustls
Fireside Chat
- Teaching the next generation of engineers, Pedro Martín Valera, Senior Software Engineer, Red Badger and Instructor, General Assembly
Literature Review and Data
- Skills: a year in review; the role of open source in developing tech skills; maintainers; open source trends
- UK contributor and commit data in partnership with Runa Capital and GitHub
Executive Summary
The UK’s open source community continues to grow, but the pace and profile of that growth raises important questions about long-term competitiveness.
The UK’s collaborative workforce
- 5.5 million GitHub accounts in the UK — 7.9% of the population, world-leading per capita, and one of GitHub Octoverse’s three stand-out European markets
- 38,325 UK-based developers made at least one accepted open source contribution in Q1 2026, up 7.0% year on year
- Consistent, but the slowest growth rate of the seven comparator nations — India (+19.4%) and Germany (+8.3%) are growing faster
Deepening, not just widening
- Growth is steepest at the most committed tiers: contributors making 100+ commits grew 11.3% and 500+ commits grew 12.8%, outpacing entry-level growth
- The 1,000+ commit cohort has nearly doubled since Q4 2022 (654 to 1,043)
The skills gap
- The UK’s digital skills shortage is worsening: up to £27.6 billion of economic cost by 2030 and over 380,000 FTE jobs at risk (University of Birmingham)
- IT and data skills remain the hardest to source in the UK for the fifth consecutive year; AI has intensified rather than resolved the shortage
- 72% of organisations now prioritise upskilling over hiring (up from 48%), but training investment remains inconsistent
Maintainers under pressure
- 60% of maintainers have considered leaving open source due to stress and lack of recognition; around 60% remain unpaid
- AI-generated contributions add review burden without reviewer capacity — a “denial-of-service attack on maintainer attention”
- The Rustls case study shows the transformative potential of sustained, funded maintainership — and how exceptional it remains
The call
- The UK has the foundations of a strong open source ecosystem; what it needs now is structural commitment to training investment and maintainer support, building on its position as the home of open source talent
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