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A Novell Linux Specialist?
richardeholder asks: "Our Novell partners differentiate themselves in the marketplace by promoting their areas of expertise or specializations; this allows their
customers to know what their skill sets are and what they can reasonably expect these partners to provide for them.
As we embrace Linux, we would like to extend the title of 'Linux specialist' to partners who merit it. Before we move forward on this initiative, we would like to ask the Linux community for guidance on what should constitute a Linux specialist. Should we require certifications such as LPI and the RHCE/RHCT, or are there other more valuable ways of demonstrating Linux competency?"
An individual or company can be considered a linux specialist if they demonstrate the ability to:
-Properly secure a firewall
-Compile and install a kernel
-Configure the third button on thier mouse
-Print to a Panasonic KXP-8410 printer in color
-Make coffee that is restricted under OSHA guidelines
-Recognize a minimum 8 of 10 random network cards by thier chipset number only
-Understand the usefullness of the SysRq button
-Install linux on any appliance that does not come with a keyboard or mouse
-Setup a cron job to order pizza online
-Pay a license fee to SCO
-Assemble a beowolf cluster which includes more than one type of gaming console
-Install a really cool kde/gnome/enlightenment theme
-Run desktops at no less than 1600x1200 resolution, native
-Name all boxen after sci-fi characters/objects
-Any cats owned must be named after cabling specifications
-Adequate space must be reserved in all hardware racks for pizza boxes
-Every system must glow at night. Server rooms should be scary
That should just about cover it. Congratulations! You may now call yourself a linux specialist!
Karma: SELECT `karma` FROM `users` WHERE `userid`=138474;
It makes me want to re-embrace Novell just knowing that they are doing things *right* (like talking to the community on Slashdot).
I think I left off at 3.12. Hey did anyone ever keep a copy of that NCSnipes game?
Go for the Novell Certified Linux Engineer certification.
// TODO: Insert Cool Sig
Ask them to spell Microsoft.
If they use a dollar symbol somwhere in the spelling - then the're a Linux expert.
If they spell it Micro-Soft - then ther're really old school DOS expert.
If they spell it MICROS~1 -then there a Windows expert.
Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.
there's the obvious one -- how many anti-microsoft comments you can get onto slashdot during one day.
but, all kidding aside, what's the scope of the specialty?
o firewalls
o security
o script writing
or are we talking end-user support?
o kde
o gnome
o X configuration
there would also be the need for familiarization with common opensource apps, such as openoffice, gnumeric, kword, etc.
what exactly are we talking about?
Our Novell partners differentiate themselves in the marketplace by promoting their areas of expertise or specializations; this allows their customers to know what their skill sets are and what they can reasonably expect these partners to provide for them. As we embrace Linux, we would like to extend the title of 'Linux specialist' to partners who merit it. Before we move forward on this initiative, we would like to ask the Linux community for guidance on what should constitute a Linux specialist. Should we require certifications such as LPI and the RHCE/RHCT, or are there other more valuable ways of demonstrating Linux competency?
These words are the words of a suit! But that's all right, all are welcome on slashdot. Well except the RIAA and microsoft, but that's besides the point.
Basically, you need to come up with your own certification. All certifications are pretty meaningless to the non-suits, but I think your partners would have a better understanding of "skill sets" if you defined your own set of Novell Linux Specialist credentials, and then either came up with your own tests and so forth or use these credentials to certify other certifications.
Fat? Check.
GNU/Linux? Check.
Steals music online? Check.
Smells? Check.
Patents are evil? Check.
Fat? Check.
Lack of social skills? Check.
Smells? Check.
Congratulations, you are a Linux expert.
Only one small part of it.
In the business climate, you should only be considered a "Linux specialist" if you have designed, deployed, maintained, or extended production Linux platforms in real life.
Additionally, there should be some track record, say over two years, of professional or technical services delivery either in Linux or another Operating Platform, UNIX, not Windows or Novell.
Finally and most importantly, should be able to provide at least two business references resulting from completed or ongoing projects.
All this would be Real [TM] as opposed to say, the Microsoft "Partner" thing where you need 2 MCPs on staff, a fee, and, uh, that's all.
To my mind, the successful business reference is the best certification anyone can have.
Network security - ALL protocols (esp. TCP/IP)
Network Architecture
Platform Integration - including (yuk!) Windows
I don't want to be a TROLL, but it's working out that way. I need people who can put together a NETWORK - NOT be a vendor specific cooky cutter LAN. The more you know about everything (networking) the more it helps to justify hiring you.
I know, it's a CATCH 22 deal these days -(I used to be a coder - and I got sick of it.) There's a lot of us ex-techies who are now PHBs because we couldn't take ( or didn't want to deal with) the current climate in the IT industry and we know TRUE skills when we see them.
I don't even know if this is even on topic based on the article...
WTF?There is no spoon or sig.
Do this ten times and then ask yourself the same question...
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/
If you really did this all by hand and got a nice working bare system you really know what drives a GNU/Linux machine.
Evaluate the existing certification programs: LPI and RHCE, any others out there. Look at their methodologies and tests, interview certified engineers, see what you think.
If in your opinion they're certifying wankers instead of quality engineers, you'll need to do your own certification program. The CNE was a pretty decent program IIRC.
IMHO you'll find that LPI and RHCE are pretty good programs and are probably good enough to run with or to build your own program around.
On a side note, I certainly hope Novell can make a comeback.
"Nothing was broken, and it's been fixed." -- Jon Carroll
Its sad that novell dumped their Unix division just when I joined them, and then :)
they are embracing Linux few years after I dumped them
That apart, I think if Novell is really serious about Linux and Linux specialists, please
do not follow RHCE or any other certification. You should identify what aspects
of linux concerns you most. Then identify the contributions made by the concerned
parties to this field. Also, IMHO, it is much more sensible to identify specialists with
their contributions to the open source community. Redhat certification is very
commercialised, and is for people entering Linux to prove their worth to the world.
What you are looking at is to identify real specialists, many of who may not even bother
to prove themselves to anybody, and their works speak for them.
Identify broad areas such as:
Linux Kernel (Accomplished in kernel development)
Linux Device (Someone who is a wizard in getting any device working on Linux)
Linux Installation (Someone who can troubleshoot all kinds of installation problems,
who knows, redhat, debian, gentoo and what not on the back of their palm)
Linux Application (Someone who specialises in applications, KDE/Gnome, etc.)
Linux Ultimate (Accomplished in all the areas)
Now come up with different titles such as Specialist, Master, Guru etc. These titles identify the
extent of their skills. A Linux Kernel Guru might indicate kernel developer whereas Linux Kernel Specialist
might refer to someone who is good at managing patches, troubleshooting the kernel, installing modules etc.
Of course, people who have not contributed to open source should be able to prove themself by either
working with Novell on some projects, or by taking some certification exams. I think it is necessary to differentiate the two categories.
Infact if Novell starts a centralised Linux forum to attract newbies and experts to discuss (like linuxquestions.org) it will be easy to identify the gurus by their contributions and newbie testimonials.
Hope this helps.
DO NOT PANIC
I don't know a single technical person who is a) reasonably good at what he does, while b) being certified as such. Said another way, all of the people I know who have a clue about any specific technology are almost certainly not the people who hold any formal certifications in that area. By and large, I don't see much evidence that the technical community in general thinks too highly of certifications. Sure, some certifications can be difficult to achieve, and can be crafted in such a way as to filter out everyone but the experts. But creating such a test would be difficult to do, and it would take a lot of time to evolve (especially something so diverse and varied as 'Linux'). And even once you get there, you still have the problem that the technical folks don't value the certification anyway.
/. is a good step towards getting useful feedback, but I think the right step would be to source a few tech heads (full-time, contract, whatever) and task them with the problem.
From what I hear in the questions posed in the original post, it sounds like there is a group of non-technical people who are searching for a way to bless some small subset of the technical crowd. I think it would be far wiser to hire some technical people to do this job for you. If you're still committed to building a certification process, get your technical people to do it for you. Posting on
Very interesting question. Five years ago I would have said that certifications were about as useful a predictor of knowledge as swirling tea leaves in a cup. I've seen some really good MCSEs with a thorough knowledge of networking and their specialties and just as many who can't properly subnet a network. Five years ago, anyone who was seriously into Linux was *usually* a competent sysadmin in their own right and didn't need a piece of paper to prove it.
I think this has changed. There are a lot more people getting into Linux for the money than there has ever been before. This has upsides and downsides. Upside -- Linux is growing. Downside, it's no longer an arcane science. I can live with the downside though.
Alas, we peddle our skills to non-technical types who don't understand that a cram session and the ability to prepare for a test does not predict the knowledge of a consultant or future employee. They, for good or bad, use keyword filters or head hunter resume databases to choose candidates. Those who have magical letters on their resume get noticed. The rest, regardless of knowledge, get filtered out before ever being seen by a human.
So are Linux certifications a good thing? Maybe. If done right and don't end up as a certification mill as happened with the MCSE, then sure. They can help show a certain level of competency and could ensure that the certificate holder has the broad level of knowledge required to pass the test. In the next five years I'd expect that more executives will start asking for some certification anyway.
This will only work if the certification process in itself does not become an industry. The cost of taking the test should be low (under $150) but it must be difficult. Ideally it would include a practical, hands-on section instead of a bunch of multiple choice questions. The course work should be openly available and reflect not only real-world knowledge but some theoretical and philosophical aspects of using Linux.
While that's great and such.. What on earth does that have to do with their ability to properly run a server? We're not talking about giving someone a college degree here.. Random knowledge really just says to me that the person got bored and looked it up.. I mean I'm good at a lot of things I don't know the history of. It's not that I don't care about history, it's just that since when do you have to be fanatical about something to get a job? I'm glad all of my job interviews left out the trivia questions, or else I'd never have gotten any of the jobs I had fun and did very well at..
Check on their resume if they put "GNU/Linux" instead of Linux.
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