> Linux certifications (which is what you're probably most interested in, > since you're asking on this list) are still so new that they're not > well-known, the only one that seems to be widely known is RHCE because > Red Hat never misses an opportunity to mention it. How much a Linux > certification will help you really depends on where you're working (or > wanting to work).
Here are my thoughts.... I am a small time consultant (one man show) and recently took the tests for CompTIA A+, Network+, and Linux+. Passed them all very easily. I did it mostly for a personal challenge, and for confidence, and a little for marketing my small consulting business. Makes me look good to clients :-) I like CompTIA because it is vendor neutral. I will not be chasing down any MS/Novell certs anytime soon. It does not make sense to me at this time. Linux is gaining momentum and that is why I wanted to get a Linux cert. I did alot of reading on the Linux certs. This is what I learned in a nutshell. CompTIA Linux+ is rather easy. Come on...."I" passed it and you all have seen a few of my stupid, basic, newbie questions on this list. It is a test designed for evaluating basic Linux admin skills. Someone with about 6 months admin experience. I have about a year with Linux. http://www.comptia.org/certification/linux/default.asp LPI is a neat organization. http://www.lpi.org Non-profit and they depend alot on volunteer workers. If I had the time I would donate my time to this and to the Debian project. (just sent $100 to the SPI Debian project as I am able to give money but I do not have any time to donate right now) LPI is vendor neutral which is a bonus. It is also rather difficult and the pass/fail ratio is about 50% to 60%. (I could be wrong about that). You need to take 2 $100 tests to get Level 1 certified. Level 2 is now available but Level 3 has not been fully developed yet. (I think) I might go for this LPI Cert this year as it seems quite challenging. By the way, the O'Reilly book Linux LPI Certification in a Nutshell is a great book for learning all of the necessary fundamentals of Linux. It is not a book to just pass a test. It obviously sticks to the actual LPI objectives which focuses on true fundamentals of Linux. That is what I want to learn first and want to learn NOW. RHCE is very nice. It is not vendor neutral though. Everyone seems to know about this one so I won't go into detail. But it does look prestigious. I read a great article on Tech Republic about Linux certs. It says about what I mentioned above but the author made a great point that small business, the kind that I service, would not know the difference between RHCE, LPI, and/or Linux+. In the end he recommended Linux+ because it was fairly basic, easy, and the best value at only $100. So I took his advice. I am glad because I am slowly getting over my inferiority complex with Linux. The certification helps me with confidence. It feels good now that I am starting to get a clue with Linux. Andy http://www.firmanconsulting.com/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
