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You can probably buy a practise exam set from one of the certification vendors to distribute amongst your students.

SAIR
RHCE
LPI

I saw a mention in one of the posts that most certs are vendor or hardware specific (Cisco, for example). With LPI [www.lpi.org], SAIR [linuxcertification.com], and CompTIA [www.comptia.com] all offering various certifications. Does this make the linux certs more valuable? Which is the "best" of the ones I've mentioned? (I know, I didn't mention RHCE). Did I miss any others that are valuable? Thanks.

I have LPI and Sair certifications. The other widely-recognized certifications are Linux+ (which I'll be getting soon) and Red Hat RHCE (which is expensive). In order of importance (i.e. worthy of respect), I'd rank them RHCE, LPI, Linux+, and Sair. The RHCE includes nearly a full day of hands-on installation and troubleshooting, making it quite difficult, much like Cisco's CCIE.

Anoyne have any experience with the SAIR and the LPI certifications?

I got an exam cram and a nutshell book for them and have been using them as bathroom reading material. Even if I never end up taking the tests, it is nice that a certification forces you to learn certain things.

Being that a good portion of us are self-taught Linux guys, I've never really found a use for sed and awk until I read about them in this book. And I've even started learning vi! (ugh).

One day I guess I'll got get a cert - comp.os.linux, www.linuxdoc.org, and the Ars Technica Linux Forum probably wouldn't have that much weight on a a resume. Heh.

• Without a degree or certification backing you up, you officially know nothing in the corporate world
• No one hires people who just got their certification*
• It's just flat out difficult to get a job in the IT industry

In perspective, Linuxgruven is offering those of us who don't have a BS:Comp. Sci, or a work history from the late eighties in IT, a chance to get in on the ground floor. I personally have been playing with computers for more than half my life (I'm 25 for those keeping score), that and a buck would've gotten me a cup of coffee before I hooked up with Linuxgruven. For the record, I did go through the Linuxgruven training, and I am a SAIR LCA now, check up on me if you want to at the SAIR website( http://home.linuxcertification.com Lastname: CARTER ID# 417010 ). See, it doesn't matter how much experience you've got, that piece of paper is still very important in an HR perspective, wihtout it you either won't get the job or get paid less for the work you do and generally play second fiddle to anyone who does have paper behind them, regardless of what they know. It might not necessarily make you a guru, but it does show that you have the capacity to learn, and what's more it shows that you have the persistence to accomplish a goal...Just think about it with an open mind, I think you'll see my point.

Responses? Send them to jcarter@linuxgruven.com

you've done just about everything on a linux box at least once before... and committed it to memory.

That's the thing...I've done a whole lot, but what is the point of committing all the options of 'ls' to memory (for example)? I took a 'quiz' they offered, and it didn't impress me. Someone who really knows what they're doing, IMHO, doesn't memorize crap that they ask, they use the wonderful man pages, info pages, and documentation to figure it out, and for reference. A quick --help or man will refresh your memory, and is much better than trying to memorize everything.

That said, I also noticed that one of the questions on the 'quiz' was about Version 6 UNIX. This is a Linux and GNU test; what the fuck does Version 6 UNIX have to do with Linux or GNU?!? That was another thing that didn't impress me about these tests.

And finally, I read their 'Agreement'. Not exactly in the spirit of Free Software. You can't say anything bad about them, ever, or you lose your 'certification'. They can basically make you do anything, or else you lose your cert. Whatever.

http://www.linuxcertification.com/kmatrix/
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If the good lord had meant me to live in Los Angeles

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You can get Linux Certification from SAIR and from LPI. And RedHat is doing their own stuff, RHCE.