[NTLUG:Discuss] AN APOLOGY to NTLUG...

[Chris Cox]

David Ross wrote:
...
> I am also wondering about the value of an LPI Certification.
> I spent two years getting a UNIX cert (and was a student of Brian @ Richland)
> and it has not been helpful in employment. MCSE yes, A+ yes, but nothing
> ever mentioned about *nix certs.
> 

A certification is a decision maker when multiple candidates are
being considered.  So... if an employer has two really, really, really
good Linux candidates to choose from, they might lean towards
the one that has the certifications they like... which "might"
include LPI.  RHCE has more weight in general than LPI when
it comes to pure employment value.  If you're a believer
in Red Hat, especially RHEL, then you might want to
pursue the RHCE.  If you have >5yrs of Linux/Unix experience,
you may never need to do this though.

Certifications in technology expire fast too.  Even if the
piece of paper doesn't expire... the fact is that an RHCE
under RHAS 2.1 isn't the same as RHCE under RHELAS 4.0.
Probably >30% of what was learned doesn't apply anymore
and you're missing another 100% of additional material.
That's assuming that RHCE has been kept up to date... which
I figure it has.

Certification CANNOT match experience.  Have only a
year or so of experience, or no "work" experience?
Impress an employer by demonstrating your administration skills
live using your own datacenter (one or more machines, possibly
on a laptop using VMware, or even Xen.. or over the
internet).

As long as you are humble... yet motiviated, that will
probably do a lot to making you an attractive hire.