[nflug] Linux Certification

[Cyber Source]

Good point about how certs might pigeon hole your employee candidates 
better than actually trying to ascertain their respective abilities from 
such certs. However, Dave makes a point that I strongly believe in 
because I've been on the side of the employer and what people say and 
produce means little when it gets down to it. Certs don't show creative 
thinking, ability to get along with others, etc..
  I am happily a one man band now, with the occasional help from my son 
Jesse who is climbing the ladder over at Ingram Micro and this thread 
reminds me of when I use to employ a few people. 2 in particular come to 
mind.
Employee #1 was always on time, always brought his lunch, but was a 
sloth when it came to work and generally bogged down everyone around him.
Employee #2 was always late, albeit a few minutes usually, sometimes 
hungover, usually fighting with his gf that just dropped him off but 
when he came to work, he got shit done and always got everyone around to 
do better, be in better spirits, etc..
Which employee do you think I favored?
So, to sum it up, get the cert if it means getting in the door, learn 
how to work and get along with people, and try to accomplish something, 
always. And Good Luck!

Richard Hubbard wrote:
> In defense of certifications (although the 'licensing' idea is 
> probably better) I knew one guy who though certifications were 
> useless.  After all, he had years of experience and thus, knew 
> everything.  I asked him about several network situations, and how he 
> would set up the network in the different environments.  The answer 
> was the exact same network in each case. Basically because that is all 
> he knew.
>
> The better certs try to expose the tech to different situations, and 
> show how that vendor's product can be used to deal with a variety of 
> different situations.  It doesn't guarantee he/she is an expert, but 
> at least they have been exposed to the difference between a 10 person 
> shop, and a 10,000 user enterprise, and some of the issues in each.
>
> Having said that, if the dude was a plumber 2 weeks ago, last week he 
> went to a boot camp, and now he's certified, I probably would give him 
> an interview, but I wouldn't expect much.
>
> Michael Richardson wrote:
>> NFLUGers,
>>
>>     I concur with Mark and his colleague.
>>
>>     When we used to hire for a mom-n-pop PC repair company, we used 
>> to see a lot of
>> cram-and-exam candidates come in who knew jack about hardware. 
>> Another department head
>> here admitted to me at one time that he didn't even pay attention to 
>> certifications listed
>> on a resume - he was more concerned with the candidate's actual 
>> ability than how they did
>> on a test.
>>
>>     I've mulled over several certification tracks (MCSE, Solaris, 
>> MySQL, LPI) over the years
>> and have yet to even begin one. Not necessarily because I didn't have 
>> the time or could
>> not complete the track, but because I felt it would not adequately 
>> separate me from
>> "everyone and their grandma" who took the exam.
>>
>>     There's a fine balance between keeping these exams cheap (and 
>> therefore accessible to the
>> masses) and expensive enough to ensure candidates are serious in 
>> pursuing the material and
>> properly demonstrating actual knowledge.
>>
>> Just my $0.025...
>>
>> Mike
>>
>>   
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