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Linux Training from Compaq
LanceTaylor writes, "Compaq has developed two Linux Integration and Performance courses, one for the Intel architecture and one for the Alpha processor based machines. The first public classes are going to be held at the end of April.
Descriptions of the courses can be found here for the Intel course and here for the Alpha course.
These courses are being added to the Compaq Accredited Systems Engineer (ASE) program."
I work for Compaq and let me tell you that we are so in bed with Microsoft that this doesn't mean a hill of beans. We have Microsoft reps at just about every strategic meeting. Of course our execs say this is to give Microsoft an idea about where we are going. I say it's to give Microsoft a chance to control where we are going. Compaq is just doing the Linux thing to garner good will with Wall St. Once Compaq's house is back in order, you'll never hear about it again. It sucks and that's why I'm leaving soon.
Since Linux is HOT nowadays, locally I've been swamped by many of my friends wanting to know more about, or learn how to use Linux.
I can't find the time to do all the handholding and there isn't any "LUG" in where I stay - don't ask me to start a LUG, I just can't find the time, at least not yet.
So, this is my question - Is there any online place where one can go learn more about Linux, or some basic Linux training (other than the compaq one that cost $$$)? I mean the web-version, not the newsgroup/mailling list version since most of my friends aren't exactly familiar with the Net yet.
Any answer would be very much appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Ok, so reading this article gives me a few things, basically that I would require a Compaq computer, (which I do *not* want) and then would disqualify me from a cert.
The whole cert process (from various companies) seems to be getting out of hand. I mean, I could qualify, but..., $1k to 5k seems a bit out of range. (ala, RedHat as an example) I cannot afford this, and my employer is a tight as!.
Also, breaking down the cert to various levels in Linux would be good. By that I mean, ok..., can you setup a firewall with IP Masq, or perhaps just simply setting up a workstation, or perhaps a Linux server with Samba and Novell in a Wan, etc?
(get the idea?)
Regards...
Life was hell, then I discovered Linux...
Oooh, for $1100, you get to learn how to "Apply Linux backup procdures to Compaq specific backup solutions" _twice_ !
They don't call it Accredited Compaq Engineer.. ACE! ;-)
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SCO employee? Check out the bounty
The whole idea of "software engineer" is a crock. Writing software well is more art than science. It's not like building bridges or radios or washing machines. The problems encountered are typically much more unique and trying to find some "standards" so that the question may be asked, "is this code 'up to code'?" as you might ask "is this building 'up to code'" is a fool's errand.
That's why, though my title contains the word engineer, I put "programmer" on my 1040. That's what I do, I program computers. I don't "engineer software".
Bang the head that doesn't bang!
That is simply the way Compaq does bidness. Full a full ASE, you previously needed to be a CNE or a MCSE. Not surprising they continued the trend.
Matt
1. If you have Compaq hardware, then by comparison the training is cheap ; - )
2. I believe Compaq still flies all their ASE's gratis to a yearly conference. I know past locales include San Diego and Toronto. Not bad.
matt
Prerequisites
* Sair Linux and GNU Certified Administrator (LCA), Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE), or equivalent certification
* 6 months experience using Linux or equivalent
* Compaq Systems Technologies
That kind of stuff scares me. Would Alan Cox(Err stratch that he works for RH.) would Linus be able to attend? Does he has a LCA or RHCE? I mean, most of your true linux professionals do not have these kind of certifications. But, I guess those kind of people wouldn't be wanting linux training from compaq, so perhaps my fear is unwarnated. Although, I still think prequisites for linux class is insane. You simply cannot rely on certifications in the Linux world.
I was under the impression that linux wouldn't run/work right with compaq PC's because of their large number of proprietary components. Proprietary stuff sucks.
embracing linux. It will be interesting
to see what happens if there are multiple
certification programs. Will certification
tend to be distro-specific (or even hardware
specific)? Or will businesses (the people hiring
those who bother to get the certification)
just consider linux to be linux?
In my opinion, linux is linux.
Amazing magic tricks
I think that this is another attempt to strike while the proverbial iron of Wall Street is hot. Anyone remember the old Compaq Desktop PCs? Or the new ones? The proprietary hardware and software design? The pathetic customer service? Maybe they pulled a 180 and got their bag together, I wouldn't know. I refuse to touch anything affliated with Compaq's PC (or business) department after the months of emotional and financial pain they put me through. I really do not trust Compaq's ability to furfill any promises. This linux stuff is just another facade, almost as bad as LinuxOne, if you want my opinion. Compaq is in it for the money, there isn't anything new here folks, move on.
-Fred Benenson
Fredbenenson.com
"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American Public." - H.L. Mencken
True problem solving doesn't come from what kind of education you have but from experience. The more experience you have the better problem solver you are. Mostly because you've seen similar problems and know generally what may be causing the problem. Whether you admin NT, Netware, Linux or whatever its basically all the same. Its how you go about doing something that's different. Your server still has an IP address, you still need to share files, set permissions, or serve web pages. All NOS can do all of these and its merely knowing how to do these on each. The principals are basically the same. So a good admin does need programs like this because you don't always have the time to learn a new NOS or product on the job. But what ends up happening is lots of people who have no experience end up taking these courses and thats when the "paper certification" happens. But then we come back to the age old question how do you get a job without any experience and how can you get experience without a job? And really I think you need tiered certification where to get a certain certification you have to be able to prove you have been working in the field for a certain amount of years. But even then I have met many admins who suck because they don't keep up with technology and fall behind. And then end up blaming everyone else for their own incompetence. And regale you with stories of years gone by about punch cards and what not. Certification nor job experience are perfect benchmarks for measuring how good someone will be in a job. But its the best way we have to date.
Well... the author seems to be quite happy to look at the chipset and start cribbing even before trying to install stuff on the compaq box. At one time ( and I mean REALLY long ago) I had Slackware running on a Compaq 80486. Since then I have graduated to a P-III 450 Mhz. And as part of my work, I have installed Debian, SuSe, RedHat, Mdk, Slackware and Phat -- in a NetWare network with DHCP... all on Compaq machines - and haven't had trouble EVER. So - if you have an axe to grind against Compaq, don't stand on a moral high-ground and crib. say that you hate Compaq - don't give us vague reasons like you have. - They Got a name for the winners in the world I want a name when I lose...
That's not the Lance Taylor, of Taylor-UUCP, is not?
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Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
Some people argue that we don't need certifications, just experience. I think that we need BOTH!
Experience is a good teacher. However, it does not always teach you everything you need to know. Lets look at two administrators from two companies with the same number of years of 'experience'. Company A is a small business with one administrator. He is in charge of the firewall, router, email, database, user support, printers, remote access...everything. Company B is a large company with mutiple admins. The admins have divided up the work and the admin we are looking at has been running the database server full time. Both admins have the same number of years of experience. Does this mean that both have the same level of expertise? NO! Admin A has a wider range of knowledge, BUT lower expertise on the database server than Admin B. Experience does not guarantee a specific set of skills.
Certification is a way to quantify what knowledge you have. That knowledge could be learned from any number of sources including experience. Some people argue against certification training classes saying that people should just pick up a book. These people obviously do not understand how adults learn. There are three types of learners: visual, audible and kinetic. The visual learners learn by reading, audible learners learn by listening to an instructor and kinetic learners learn by doing. Actually everyone is a combination of the above three types, but one is usually much more dominant than the other. Someone that is a strong kinetic or audible learner will not learn very well from reading a book. Therefore they need classes to go to. The best classes and instructors will take into account the three learning types and accomodate all of them. You can give a student a book, explain details or answer questions they may have and assist them in doing a hands-on lab.
Another reason for having classes is that companies will send their people to classes. This gives the overworked admin TIME to try to learn something new.
Prerequisites for the classes are also necessary. Prereqs help to quantify that the student has at least a certain amount of knowledge so that the class can stay on topic and not be spent going over material that should already be known. Students coming to class without meeting the prereqs slow down the class with all of their questions and take up more of the instructors time during labs. Someone asked if Alan Cox could come to class. Yes, he could. Most of the prerequisites for certification classes are not enforced rather they become 'suggested' prereqs. However, does the fact that Alan Cox is an excellent kernel hacker automatically mean that he is also an excellent systems adminsitrator? No. He may very well be, but the skills involved in programming are different than the skills involved in administration. The two jobs are not interchangeable. There may be people that have the skills to do both, but excellence in one area is not a guarantee of excellence in another.
Technical Certifications are like college degrees. They both demonstrate that a person can learn and can finish a long term commitment. They also both quantify that a person has mastered (at that time) certain knowledge points. How good they are after the degree or certification is up to the individual. The best mix is certification WITH experience.
without prejudice
without prejudice
1) How did linux invent open ource?
2) How is it leeching of our innovation?
Did you contribute to the innovation? Looks like someone tripped and fell onto the "I like Open Source. Up with Linux, down with every other OS." bandwagon.
- If you have nothing good to say, then say it, otherwise keep your karma hungry mouths shut! -
You know, the certification deal does serve a purpose with regard to "MS-centric". If more people outside the Academic world had Apple in their face, maybe their would be an ACSE... It's the comfort factor.. People buy what they know. But as it stands, early adoptors, bleeding edge visionaries, and elegant solutions are usually drummed out of corporate America in favor of the byline.. "No one's ever been fired for buying..". Why the HELL would you want to go to Houston, on buisness or pleasure? At least wait for Dell to follow suit and get yerself a free trip to Austin. Just don't move there...
Micro$oft Certified Systems Whore
Nonsense. How is "Compaq Certified System Engineer" any different of a usage than "Clorox Certified Domestic Engineer"? Domestic Engineer has been a euphemism for housewife for decades. Just like Sanitation Engineer is a euphemism for garbageman.
NSPE has the actual "Engineer" titles that they regulate, but IIRC, the most traditional usage (the guy who drives a train) isn't one of them either. Just because somebody starts certifying pastry chefs as "Dessert Architects" doesn't make them anything more than a "certified" pastry chef... so what's the problem? At some point in the future, it wouldn't surprise me if the psychiatric profession, in a fit of marketroid-inspired frenzy, goes out and rebrands themselves as "Attitude Engineers". *g*
Now, that isn't to say that improper usage CAN'T create confusion, just that it generally doesn't (especially in the case of "Domestic Engineer", which may trace its etymology back to 1950s sitcoms). The counterexample that comes to mind is that someone colossally stupid, who has never heard of the company with the world's largest market cap, might mistake someone who shows up with a piece of paper saying "_blank_ Certified _blank_ Engineer" and a logo that looks like the Golden Gate Bridge for a real Civil Engineer, but that's even pushing it....
This is my opinion and my opinion only. Incidentally, IANAL.
MOO;IANAL.
There used to be a picture linked here.
These are probably the same guys that did (do?) the Ultrix training... Teaching one BSDish Unix isn't all so difficult from teaching another, just bone up on the Sys V-isms of Linux, and you've got a whole fleet of Linux trainers in no time flat.
darren
Cthulhu for President!
(darren)
Absolutely right, but don't forget that IT is a very young industry - about 20 yrs in the case of PCs. The standards and mechanisms for enforcing those standards that exist in industries such as architecture or (mechanical) engineering just don't exist yet in IT. Some day they will, and we will see incompetent sysadmins, DBAs and developers being struck off their respective registers. However, until the rate of change in the IT industry slows down to something that society and government can actually deal with, we won't have any of that. This helps explain the many phenomena such as paper certifications, cowboy consultants etc. that we're all familiar with.
On the subject of this Compaq certification, Compaq guys tend to be very good at installation, optimization etc. on their own hardware. If you happen to have hundreds of their servers, and tens of thousands of their desktops (as we do), then that specific knowledge is not just nice to have, it's essential. Someone else commented that a Compaq server is just a "big Intel box" - right, but that's like saying that a Ferrari is "just a fast car". I wouldn't want Joe from the local fix-anything garage tinkering with my Ferrari, and if you're serious about servers, you don't let just anyone play with them either. Compaq are heavily into custom hardware and management extensions, which work extremely well, but do have to be learnt. The day you can run SmartStart (Compaq's guided server setup routine) for Linux will be a big step forward for corporate acceptance.
...a certification my company , a beltway bandit, might consider. (For those outside the US, this is the term for a company that makes a living by sucking off the federal government's tit). My employer is a typical example; very MS-centric, very few opportunities for other platforms -- I'm the only Mac-specific tech in the enire place and I know the most about Linux ...which isn't all that much ...yet. Maybe since this one mentions the name "Compaq" they'll think it's more legitimate than the RHCE or LCP tests.
Too bad they won't pay for me to travel to Houston, but oh well.
I use Macs for work, Linux for education, and Windows for cardplaying.
UNIX cert is a joke. Corporations are just crazy over it though. ISO9000(9001)is something companies brag about having a higher level of. You could ISO9001 shooting yourself in the foot as long as it was properly documented. The certification is only as good as the test is. Look at drivers licenses; there are still a ton of horrible drivers on the road. MCSE is another perfect example. Most of them can't even tie their shoes unless MS had a program that would do it for them. The cost of these classes are ridiculous. I could buy a book or just rtfm for $30 or for free. Look at the way the RH has a special class just on security. If you have to take that class on that you've already lost.
This applies just as easily to the computer world as it does to mechanical or civil engineering. No one in the civil engineering world gets the title of 'engineer' by simply doing a really good job in the workplace for some set number of years! You get accredited training, you register, you work under another engineer for a few years (5 where I live anyway).
I'm not saying that everyone working as a professional in the IT industry should do this! I've already heard of professional IT associations starting up for programmers, and I think it's a great idea. The criteria they set can be whatever they deem sufficient to allow their members to hold professional respect and status. Such an IT professional society will NOT have the right to call their members 'engineers' though, unless they fall under the approval of the already established engineering associations.
Call them 'certified Compaq technicians', or 'certified Compaq solutions providers' (MS's funky moniker), I don't care. But don't throw around the name 'engineer' after someone completes some month-long course on how to sysadmin a bunch of Compaqs or something. It belittles those who have worked hard to get a MUCH more complete grasp of the computing industry, and have thus earned the title 'engineer'.
You know what to do with the HELLO. ...
Help create an open-source world
Although I do not feel that Compaq is the best PC manufacturer, I am quite pleased that Compaq is offering Linux training as part of their ASE program. Having known a few Compaq ASE folks, they are generally very knowledgable about Compaq products and how to make them work. It will be nice to have a few Compaq Linux specialist types out there. With companies like Compaq and IBM (maybe they'll offer some Linux training, too) supporting Linux, maybe the mainstream computer user will begin to understand that Linux is for real. Even Dell has been offering PCs with Red Hat for quite some time now. I am curious to see if others will follow the lead in offering officially sanctioned Linux training. Working with Linux on an Alpha would be kinda cool, too. Like the license plate Compaq gave me for my car says, "Linux Live Free or Die"
Windows is going the way of phlogiston...
That's some pretty expensive wallpaper.
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How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
I'm not starting a whiney CS-can't-teach-software-engineering complaint, don't get me wrong. I think that particular debate is pretty useless. But actually running around with some piece of paper saying you are an 'engineer' is a different matter. Engineering is a profession which is entrusted with enforcing standards, and with allowing only fully trained and tested individuals to use the title.
I'm not going to try and expound big reasons why the title 'engineer' is sacred or anything ... to keep it practical, it's simply ILLEGAL to fraudulantly claim you are an engineer (just as it's illegal to falsely claim you're a doctor, or a police officer). So are these 'system engineer' titles only given to actual professional engineers or just anyone who can pass a quick test? And if so, are they at least getting some shit from professional engineering associations?
You know what to do with the HELLO. ...
Help create an open-source world
While I realize this topic has been brought up before, remember to step back and look at what you're reading. This isn't about any new technical merits or ideas, nor is it about education. It's about training people to handle the rote administrative tasks with Linux. This means things like machine installs, basic configuration, etc.
What this does NOT mean is people who have been through these training programs are any good at creative problem solving. To deal with architecture, complex problems, etc. it takes a lot more than vendor training.
This is just giving us many more marginal Unix/Linux admins, which we really don't need. What we need are more GOOD admins. These "training programs" should start calling themselves LCSE, because that's about what they are. Anybody who's good enough at thinking problems through, problem solving, etc. to be a really good admin doesn't NEED this kind of training.
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