[PLUG] Linux certifications

[MJang]

On Tue, 2012-03-06 at 13:47 -0800, chris (fool) mccraw wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 6, 2012 at 12:56, Rich Burroughs <rich at richburroughs.com> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > Some of you may remember me, I used to be pretty active in the group
> > years ago :)
> >
> > I've been off in the Solaris world for the last few years but I'm
> > interested in working with Linux again more. I was thinking about
> > pursuing a certification and I wondered what recommendations people
> > have about that.
> >
> > I passed the first LPI test years ago, I'm sure it's no longer valid.
> > But back in the day it seemed like LPI or Redhat certification were
> > the main choices.
> >
> > I'd appreciate any feedback on this, but if all you have to say is
> > that certifications are worthless in general you can probably save
> > your breath :) Part of the idea is for me to dig back into Linux, and
> > I think it could be useful from that perspective, regardless of how it
> > might help with employment.
> 
> My feeling is that the redhat certification is pretty useless as an
> educational experience.  I was made to take the "pre-qualification"
> test (what they have online) for a job application 

The Red Hat "pre-qual" tests bear very little resemblance to the actual
Red Hat exams. 

The questions on the "pre-qual" tests are multiple choice and fairly
simple for most Linux users with at least a little experience. (At the
moment, the pre-qual tests are 404'ed, so that might be changing.)

The questions on the actual Red Hat exams are lab-based, specifying what
you might configure on a "live system". While the NDA prohibits
describing specific tasks, the published objectives suggest that it's
done with SELinux enabled in enforcing (or permissive) mode. Big
difference.

Here's a list of what you might do on the first two Red Hat exams:

ref http://www.redhat.com/training/courses/ex200/examobjective
http://www.redhat.com/training/courses/ex300/examobjective

Thanks,
Mike
(yes, I did write this Red Hat cert book --
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0071765654 )