[NCLUG] To cert or not to cert (was Re: SAIR or what cert?)

[Crawford Rainwater]

On Thu, 2004-02-05 at 12:00, nclug-request at nclug.org wrote:

> Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 02:44:49 -0500 (EST)
> From: "DJ Eshelman" <dj at sgc-inc.net>
> Subject: [NCLUG] Re: SAIR or what cert? (Crawford Rainwater)
> To: <nclug at nclug.org>
> Message-ID: <4692.24.56.179.53.1075967089.squirrel at www.sgc-inc.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
> 
> Sounds like you have some good experience-  does anything stand out to go
> for first?  Do you think Certs matter at all to anyone?
> 
> Any other experiences out there with Linux certs?
> 
> -DJ
> 

Pardon the delayed response, I get this in digest mode so I do not clog
up the email pipes on my end.

For reference, yes, I am a Linux trainer and yes, my company is in the
Linux training realm as well as Linux consulting.

Evelyn and Mike do bring up some good points.  Mike also has some good
points from various work place angles as well to note.  I think both are
accurate as well to the present day job, employment, and/or work place
situation.

An addition, some head hunter firms (names to be not disclosed) that I
have "dealt" with in the past seem to hold a certification in higher
regards than formal education (e.g., a Bachelors or even Masters) for
some odd reason.  When comparing this with the M$ Certs out there, one
can shake any tree and find a dozen MCxx's out there these days, most
who have little to no practical hands on experience, just the "M$ Ideal
Theory" on how "it should work", and paper tiger'ed the exams (e.g.,
read a book and answers for memory, barf the answers up on the exam,
congrads you passed).  Way back when I was being outsourced (i.e.,
pimped) to various firms for OS/2 work, these same headhunters kept
asking for M$ certs for OS/2 positions.  Translation, the headhunters
did not realize there were no OS/2 certs save within IBM itself, and
only had the certs to gauge the candidates on.  In the end, I typically
was kicking out an MCP to MCSE type that was trying to do the OS/2 work
due to my practical experience.

The Linux certifications on the other hand (RedHat, Linux+, SAIR, and
LPI) all are designed to prevent "paper tigers" due to the questions are
oriented to require practical and hands-on experience.  The RedHat exams
take this one step further in being completely hands on (as of RHEL 3.0
versions; the written portions for the RHCE have been removed is my
understanding now).

In the end, I personally see the Linux certifications, though still
young and not as well known as the M$ certs, a good thing overall for
the reasons both Evelyn and Mike have noted, and then some as well.

Sincerely,

Crawford Rainwater
CEO and President
Linux+, LCP, LPIC-1, RHCT
-- 
The Linux ETC Company
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Louisville, CO 80027 USA
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