[nflug] Linux Certification

[Richard Hubbard]

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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