First LPI Certification Exam

Linegod writes " The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) today announced the immediate availability of the first exam in its Linux Certification Program. The exam, which covers Linux basics as part of the program's first level, is now available worldwide at testing centers affiliated with Virtual University Enterprises " There's a lot of people currently competing to be "the standard", ranging from the different distros to people like this - what do you folks think?

Comments

Just finished the LPI117 Exam

[DaGoodBoy]

I was one of the first persons (ID: LPI000001003) to take this test. I just wanted to share my experiences with you guys.

The testing center near my home is a local technical school. They were friendly and the exam area was comfortable. I arrived early and brushed through parts of the O'Reilly "Essential System Administration" I haven't read over in a while.

While I was waiting, a gentlemen approached me and asked if I was there to take a Linux exam. I smiled and indicated I was. He was attending the school there pursuing his MSCE and had some questions about Linux and the exam. He was curious how I was preparing especially and what subjects the exam covered. I explained I was a consultant and have been using Linux since 1994 and recommended a few good books on the subjects covered by the exam. I also explained what I know about the exam structure and requirements. I also indicated that I chaired the Melbourne Linux User Group (http://www.mlinux.org/) and that we have local meetings. He took my business card and said he would like to attend our install party this weekend.

I was motioned to the testing area by the librarian and she explained that mine was the second beta exam she ever gave and the first Linux exam. I told her to expect a few more in the coming weeks and she logged me into the exam system.

The test was challenging and I added comments for each of the questions, added why I selected the options I did or when I was guessing. The questions were appropriate for the target level you mentioned on the site. Good job LPI!

When the test was completed I was given a printout that featured the LPI logo and some explanation of the beta period scoring. I am disappointed that I won't know the results for a while, but am glad I was able to help by providing another example test for LPI to mull over. If you want to contact me and ask me anything about the test, please feel free.

Thanks to LPI for this effort at distribution neutral certification! I feel very strongly about supporting this and will be encouraging the members of our LUG to support it as well.

Tony Awtrey

The IT industry in general

[mindstrm]

You know, I've always hated certifications.. but I can see where employers like them.

See, it's not that Mr. CIO thinks that an MCSE is *cool* or *really smart* or anything, it's just easy for him, if he has a MS based network, to say 'well, MS certifies professionals, so it makes sense that if MS certifies them, we'll get more bang for our buck.'
This, of course, isn't always the case....Quite the opposite sometimes, even.
The hacker kid who has *no* certifications may be a far better asset to the company... and the person with the MCSE may be so narrow-minded that you are stuck on the MS path forever. (I'm not picking on MS, the same thing applies to *any* other vendor.)

Now some certifications we may think of as more involved... certainly, if you are doing mostly network engineering, the guy with the CCIE is probably worth his weight in gold... but then again, the whole point of the CCIE was to provide a certification for an industry where there was none. Employers had *nothing* to judge a potential internetwork employee by. I must say, to this day, if someone has a CCIE, I can assume they know their stuff and are practiced... CCIE isn't one of those certifications you can study the book for for a week or two and then go pass... it was created for professionals who *already* had lots of experience. Now.. don't think I'm a cisco head... I don't mean to single them out, or to promote them, but it is a good example of what we need in the linux/unix world, and really, in the IT world in general.

To look at it a different way is that I feel that MCSE, dmCLA, LPI, CNE, A+ don't adequately certify what *I* am capable of as an IT employee.
There is no overriding certification, nothing in the industry that says 'professional, well-rounded, experienced IT person.... well, except your resume, that is!

Now.. what am I (personally), as someone who is part of the hiring process, as the architect of the companies entire network, when I see on a resume LPI certified. Hmm.. Linux qualifications are part of the process. Am I going to take this person seriously? Sure. LPI looks reasonably good. Am I going to reject someone else with experience because they don't have LPI? Heck no.. I wouldn't think of it. To put it differently, most certifications are a plus to the holder, but not a necessity.

And it does feel kind of threatening, doesnt' it? I've been using linux since .8x or so... I can't even remember. It was a mess. The concept of a 'distribution' wasn't even fully solidified. I've worked with Solaris, Irix, SCO Unix, Unixware (Both Novell and Sco) and the list goes on. And add NT/unix integration to the list. I feel *burnt* if someone expects me to fork out money to pay some company to tell me that I'm qualified to work on linux...
(is this like how my uncle feels burnt that now that there are SCUBA regulations, he can't go diving without going to classes and getting his ticket, even though he's been diving for 30 years?)

I'm rambling...
I guess to make a long story short, certifications never make you look bad, but they are no replacement for experience.
Or like the black-belt in most martial arts.. the unknowing see it as the goal to be obtained, but to those who obtain it, and to their teachers, it simply signifies the beginning.
Just like an engineering degree is your ENTRY POINT into professional engineering, and just like your PH.D is your entry point into a medical practice, so is a certification in some product simply an entry point into the IT world.

Or rather, do you tell the ninja master that he cannot teach you because he cannot provide credentials?

Well, I'll hire an RHCE first

[mwdib]

I'm not a network administrator, but I "manage" (in the business/personnel) sense, the network operations in our shop.

I sent our network admin through RHCE (and was there taking one of the lead-in courses) at Red Hat. While many of the comments in this batch seem to assume that all certification consists of is a written exam, that's not true of the RHCE. It has a high failure rate. Written responses are only a third of the score -- the rest is hands-on debugging and server configuration. I've taken all the classes up to the RHCE, but there's not a chance in hell I'd be able to pass the exam -- because I don't have the years of experience that it takes to succeed when you get off the paper and in front of the broken box.

Upshot: I'm one of the guys who hires geeks. Because I know what's involved, I'll give preference (and extra cash) for an RHCE -- as long as they keep the high standards up that RedHat's established so far.

Wouldn't it be great if the other certification vendors -- LinuxCare, whoever -- made Linux certification mean something more than the toilet paper MSCE?

Certification is at odds w/ Linux Philo

[scottKp]

This sort of seems at odds with the do-it-yourself ethos of linux users and linux hackers. I know that Linux is becoming mainstream and widespread, but linux certification with these types of certification tests just doesn't seem right. I learned linux by using it, as everyone else who knows anything about linux has. My experience with certification tests is that actual useable knowledge is not tested, but strings of generally useless fact.

Here is a quick example: My friend just started working for a company that makes all their employees take the MSCE tests. How do they prepare for them, they all cram with study books to remember facts for a week before the tests, and they take a test a week every week until they pass them all (and supplying MS with much $) But what do they gain from this??? NO real or retainable knowledge! But the company gets more money if the employees are MSCE certified, and so the cycle continues.

In addition the test (as far as I can tell) is useless. I had my friend ask me some of the questions. One which struck me was a section where you had to match up the names of the network standards to the IEEE standard numbers. Now, while its great to know what IEEE 802.3 proper name is, but it won't help you at all when your netwoek goes down.