[nflug] Linux Certification

Tue Oct 9 23:16:35 EDT 2007

I'd have to agree about the Cisco certs. I work in tech support and the 
guys w/the CCIEs or CCDPs definitely did not "buy" those. Those are hard 
exams (which I am preparing for), and the CCIE is 50% written and 50% 
hands on. I got my job without any certs, but I plan on getting them 
anyways. My goal is A+, Linux+, RHCE/RHCT, CCNA, CCDA, and Ubuntu 
Certified Professional. MCSE appears worthless form my experience and 
the people I know with them. -Jesse

Daniel Magnuszewski wrote:
> I think any Cisco Certification (CCNA/CCDA/CCNA/CCIE) you get is quite 
> credible. I think certain certifications like A+ and MCSE are fairly 
> worthless certifications that you can get by just reading the book. 
> The Cisco certs require you to actually work with the hardware and IOS 
> in some capacity. With the higher up certs (at least the CCIE) there 
> is a lab component, which requires hands on knowledge and experience.
>
> With that said, it depends on the work you are doing. If you are a 
> contractor, then there are many clients that like to see that you have 
> a cert, because they equate that with how much you "should" know and 
> what level you "should" be at. If you work at a bank or something like 
> that, a cert will only buy you the warm feeling of accomplishment. In 
> the end, whether the certs mean anything or not, just studying the 
> material, and freshing up on those skills is worthwhile. IMHO.
>
> -Dan
>
> */Christopher Hawkins <chawkins at bplinux.com>/* wrote:
>
>     I'll second that. I know that in Human Resources and Project
>     Management they
>     have certifications that you can't even take the test for until
>     you have
>     thousands of hours of documented field experience. If they came up
>     with
>     something like that for techies it might raise the bar somewhat.
>     The whole
>     "paper MCSE" thing gave certs a bad name a while back... I worked with
>     several of them and it's a shame that it was (is?) possible to get
>     certified
>     with so little actual understanding of the concepts. That's one
>     reason I
>     never renewed my MCSE... Its value seemed to keep going down. One
>     thing I
>     will say, though - the Cisco CCNA exam was *hard*. I'd value that
>     in hiring
>     because I don't think you could ever pass if you didn't understand
>     networking backwards and forwards. Anyone else got an opinion on
>     Cisco's
>     certs?
>
>     Chris
>     ________________________________
>
>     From: nflug-bounces at nflug.org [mailto:nflug-bounces at nflug.org] On
>     Behalf Of
>     Mark Musone
>     Sent: Monday, October 08, 2007 11:38 AM
>     To: nflug at nflug.org
>     Subject: RE: [nflug] Linux Certification
>
>
>
>     Me and a colleague of mine just had a conversation about this topic. I
>     thought his comments were well warranted and wanted to share them.
>
>
>
>     He said that he feels certifications are completely worthless
>     (versus mine
>     being mostly worthless). Anybody can buy a certification. Training
>     companies, if you pay them enough, guarantee passing certification
>     exams.
>     The technology companies themselves want people using their
>     products, so
>     they are more than happy to provide whatever certification
>     somebody wants,
>     if it means they make more $$ for the certification and they get
>     more free
>     marketing of their products..
>
>
>
>     What the industry needs is not certification but licensing. Just
>     as in any
>     other professional field (engineering, medical, law,..etc..).
>
>
>
>     While these thoughts and ideas were not mine, I agree with them.
>
>
>
>     Mark
>
>
>
>
>
>     From: nflug-bounces at nflug.org [mailto:nflug-bounces at nflug.org] On
>     Behalf Of
>     Mark Musone
>     Sent: Monday, October 08, 2007 11:19 AM
>     To: nflug at nflug.org
>     Subject: RE: [nflug] Linux Certification
>
>
>
>     My $.02 is that certification values go down as the number of
>     certifications
>     you have increases..
>
>
>
>     The first certification is very valuable, second pretty good, this
>     is good.
>     Fourth ok…
>
>
>
>     Once you have 5 or so, they’re quite frankly not worth much at all.
>     Especially if you’re one of those certification collectors (can I
>     say whores
>     on the mailing list??).
>
>     When I see someone with 12+ certifications, more often than not,
>     they lose a
>     ton of credibility with me, not gain it. Especially when I’ll ask
>     them a
>     seemingly simple question like “What’s RAID-5” and they give one
>     of those
>     “Oh, it’s some disk redundancy thing. I used it before”, basically
>     means
>     they don’t know what they are talking about and all those 12+
>     certifications
>     are instantly garbage.
>
>
>
>     Mark
>
>
>
>
>
>     From: nflug-bounces at nflug.org [mailto:nflug-bounces at nflug.org] On
>     Behalf Of
>     Christopher Hawkins
>     Sent: Monday, October 08, 2007 8:08 AM
>     To: nflug at nflug.org
>     Subject: RE: [nflug] Linux Certification
>
>
>
>     I think it depends on how far along you are in your career. When I was
>     trying to establish a career, certifications *really* helped. Sets
>     you apart
>     from the crowd. And taught me a lot that I hadn't learned
>     elsewhere... So
>     all the studying was pretty valuable. But now that I've been doing
>     this for
>     8+ years, I find that I am no longer interested in certs - either
>     pursuing
>     new ones or renewing the ones I have. At this point, I think my
>     experience
>     proves that I know what I'm doing, which is what the certs are
>     supposed to
>     do when you don't have the experience to fall back on.
>
>
>
>     I'd be curious to hear what others think on this, too. I'm self
>     employed and
>     perhaps I don't have a handle on what's important these days in a
>     resume,
>     but if I were hiring I'd look for experience first (volunteer, if
>     nothing
>     else, even something like helping people at an installfest) and
>     certification second if the experience were not very lengthy. Only
>     once in
>     the past 5 years have I been asked by my clients about
>     certification, but I
>     am often asked: Have you done this kind of thing before? And if I
>     can answer
>     confidently that, yes, I have... It's a done deal.
>
>
>
>     Chris
>
>
>
>     ________________________________
>
>     From: nflug-bounces at nflug.org [mailto:nflug-bounces at nflug.org] On
>     Behalf Of
>     mihakriket
>     Sent: Monday, October 08, 2007 12:24 AM
>     To: nflug at nflug.org
>     Subject: [nflug] Linux Certification
>
>     Does anyone have any of the Linux certification? In the Buffalo
>     area is
>     worth getting any of the Linux certifications? If so, what is the best
>     certification to get? I have seen a couple of different
>     certification that
>     are out their. Any feedback would be helpful.
>     Thank you..
>
>     ________________________________
>
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