[Techtalk] Redhat certification of value?

[Val Henson]

On Wed, 10 Nov 2004 12:11:05 -0800, chris <lists at semioticpixels.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> What are people's opinions on the job market value of RedHat certification?
> 
> Years ago, I was a sys admin of mac servers. The past couple years, I've
> been managing various linux distributions  on our home and small business
> network (ie not high profile production servers) and want to professionalize
> that experience to be more competetive in the job market (working on linux).
> 
> Any suggestions on the best route to take?

I don't think much of certifications - too easily gamed.  For all that
people complain about bachelor's degrees as certification, it's
difficult to get through a 4-year program at a bricks-and-mortar
university without learning something.  It's relatively easy to cram
your way through a certification of any sort (and yes, I know that
RHCE involves a free-form "solve this mysterious problem with this
system" test, but I hear it's not usually very hard).

I have three main suggestions.  The first one is to get a volunteer
"job" doing Linux - be a free sysadmin for your favorite non-profit,
or help write a web site for the local LUG.  What's important is how
many people are depending on you doing your job right - point out how
important your work was, even if you weren't being paid.

The second suggestion is to either make your job involve Linux or
flat-out just go get a job doing Linux.  If you're creative enough,
you can figure some way to work a Linux machine into what you're doing
at work.  Maybe it's your workstation, maybe it's a dedicated CD
burning system for the whole office, maybe it's a secret MP3 server,
maybe you print labels on your Linux machine at home.

I got my first job doing Linux without... any prior professional Linux
experience. :) If you can't get a job better than your current one,
consider getting a part-time job, even if you're overqualified and it
doesn't pay well.

My third idea is to do something high profile with Linux, like write a
HOWTO on how to get your particular wireless card working under Linux
(sadly, this is complicated enough to warrant a separate HOWTO for
every card).

I'm interested in hearing other people's ideas.  Lots of people start
out doing Linux for fun and then aren't sure how to turn into a
career.  I'm curious to see how other people did it, since I took the
conventional route of getting a computer science degree and working on
Linux in school.

-VAL