[lug] Linux education/classes

[Cory Dekker]

Speaking as someone who is RHCE certified, I have mixed
feelings about the value of the certification, or the test process.

In my humble opinion (20+ yrs as a UNIX SA), it's a rather
poor over-all measure of a "RedHat Engineer", in that it really
only tests 1) installation skills, 2) book knowledge of the OS,
and 3) H/W & system problem diagnostic and resolution skills.
Nothing of significance about WHY you might do something,
or have a system configured this way or that.  Nothing of any
significance on performance or tuning, and nothing in the areas
of operations, maintenance, or day-to-day administration and
management.  Also, in the 3 areas that it does focus on, skills
at time management and "test taking" are as much, or MORE,
critical than actual RedHat techincal skills.  I've seen engineers
who know ALOT more than I do, fail the test.

However, for those 3 areas, you WILL NOT get through the
test unless you know what you're doing.  So, in that measure,
it serves a purpose.  I also consider it a good measure for any
systems administrator who is wanting to try consultanting, and
will be mainly focused on doing scratch installs & fire-fighting.
You won't pass unless you're good in both of these areas, and
I say "good", because there is VERY little margin for making
mistakes while taking the test.  A good dose of luck helps too.

When I took the test, I also took a 4-day "review" class just
before taking it.  In hind sight, I would probably not have been
able to pass it without the focused review.  The course was the
one done by RedHat.  The instructor, Joe Kirby, was good,
despite some of the circumstances he had to try to work within.

Net result: RHCE: Fair as a measure for any consultant you
might call to do an install, or fix a system.  Nice on a resume.
Lack of certification really doesn't mean that much currently.
Not a meaningful measure of a Linux system admin's skills.

                                                -Cory

Crawford Rainwater wrote:

> Hello there folks,
>
> Sort of being new to the LUGs (and not looking through the
> archives yet on this either), I was wondering people's
> thoughts towards classes, education, and/or certification
> (LCA, LPI, RHCE...) in Linux?
>
> More along the lines, if there were classes in the
> area, would people be interested in taking them (say
> along the lines of the SAIR/GNU LCA route since it seems
> to be general Linux (non-distribution specific) and
> covers the "basics")?
>
> Feel free to post to the group or to me directly on
> this one.  I am just surveying the scene some at the
> moment to get an idea here.  This is not meant to start
> a flame war on being or getting certified vs. not either
> so please keep those thoughts in mind.  Again, just more
> surveying and general curiosity on my part.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> --- Crawford
> rainwac at attglobal.net
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