Linux Certifications

[Bateluer]

Near as I can tell, there's the Red Hat certifications, starting with the RHCT. Then there's the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) certifications. And lastly, there's the CompTIA Linux+ cert.

As I understand it, the RH certs are the most difficult to get. Also, Wikipedia claims the L+ isn't very respected because of the difficulty of the RH certifications. Any truth to this?

LPI, I just learned about them a few days ago and haven't fully researched them in depth. I see they also offer an Ubuntu cert, but I don't believe Ubuntu is very big in the corporate world.

I intend to get my RHCT, but should I even bother with the other certifications?


Also, can anyone suggest some good books for both the RHCT and the CCNA? Poor scheduling on the part of my school means I can take either the linux courses or the cisco courses, but not both. Jackasses put them on the same day, same time, different class room. I've already made the call to focus on the linux curriculum over the cisco courses, but I do want to get my CCNA.

I should also mention that all these courses are also part of a larger degree program, so I'll have that too. Getting the degree can still be done without the cisco courses because some MS courses are on the restricted electives portion.

 

[Platypus]

RHCE is a good one to have if you really want a linux cert.

RHCT is really quite simple in my opinion, you should be able to pass that one with absolutely no additional material other than the class. They offer a week long training class that goes over each lesson (painfully easy and boring) but the training manual is literally the test so it's good to read up on. The only annoying thing is some of the RH specific stuff but that's pretty braindead to figure out.. just annoying if you're used to things being a certain way in another UNIX-like OS. If you're not planning on taking the class, I would look for something RH published or go read up on the documentation on their site. I don't want to tell you what's on the exam because it would be unethical but I will say it covers a very broad range of topics and not in great detail.

With the RHCE the real challenge is the time to get the test done in. You really have to plan out your method of attack from what I've heard. I've not taken the RHCE simply because in my experience certs are really overrated and with my job experience I see no reason to get it. That isn't to say I think training is worthless but I don't need a piece of paper to tell me I know how to do something, self-research is pretty essential if you want to be a good sys admin. It seems beneficial to you because it looks like you're coming up on your first job out of school? It would be a nice thing to have if you have no previous work experience for example.

 

[wetcat007]

From what I've heard RHCT is the most difficult, also the best to have as a result. LPI is very good as well. Linux+ is probably the easiest.

 

[Platypus]

Originally posted by: wetcat007
From what I've heard RHCT is the most difficult, also the best to have as a result. LPI is very good as well. Linux+ is probably the easiest.

No, in the Redhat series the RHCT is the least difficult. You can get an RHCE and RHCA as well.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Platypus
It seems beneficial to you because it looks like you're coming up on your first job out of school? It would be a nice thing to have if you have no previous work experience for example.

I do intend to get the RHCE as well, but that will come later.

Technically speaking, these aren't my first job. I'm looking at these for after I get out of the AF next year, after serving for 6.

From the research I've done, the thing thats going to hurt me the most is my lack of experience in the civilian industry. I used be a CSA, Client Server Administrator, in my shop, however, they pushed the AF Standard Desktop policy and consolidated all IT/Small Computer guys to one office. Since being a CSA was an additional duty for me, they took away all our upgraded rights. Before they did this, I could actually help people out, now I can't do any more than the average user. Essentially, my job as a CSA now is the make the user isn't a dumbass, then submit a support ticket and they'll check it out in 3 to 5 days.