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Another Linux Certification Program
Feynman writes "Digital Metrics has released the first level of certification for the
Linux community. The dmCLA--Digital Metrics Certified Linux
Administrator--is a non-distribution specific Linux certification for
system administrators. " Who is Digital Metrics? Red Hat
might be aligned with a distribution, but they have a name.
I mean, if I start a certification program does that make it
meaningful? Should Linux International
do this sort of thing? That's at least an impartial group with
a valid name. Anyway, its to early on a monday for this many questions *grin*.
Send $100 to:
Unethical Company
P.O. Box 1313
Redmond WA 90210
and I'll rush you your very own Linux(TM) certification to prove to companies everywhere that you're worth at least $50/hour!(!!!)
Forging a certificate would be unethical. Send me $100.
This group, that does the CCP certification, has a very platform-neutral and cross-disciplined approach, with a slightly more corporate geared program. Plus, at least there are established CCP benefits out there; mostly more-money related.
This certification group only offers a full color certificate and the use of a logo license. Hmm, sounds like they're catering to the independant contractor types.
It seems to me that not every thing can be free. For support from those people besides us fanatics, there needs to be some monetary possibilities in the Linux/Open Source world.
I think these possibilities are there, particularily in servicing systems or custom applications for business based on OSS (and re-released as OSS when it is finished, if you like). Certainly, the talk above about $50, $75, more per hour seems "not-free".
So why would you pay to be certified? So that you can claim a higher salary? hmm.
It takes money to distribute and support the certification process, why shouldn't you pay for it?
+LO (LoppEar, at a public terminal.)
Well, the amount charged to companies for qualified consultants is usually much higher than $50 or even $75. My company gets to charge anywhere from $150 to $250 per hour for my work depending on what the job entails. Now what the employees make is another question entirely. But experienced people usually don't get paid by the hour anyhow, I certainly don't. So the question is moot. Charging $50 for an "engineer," if you can actually call them that, will get you what is generally referred to as a "PC tech." Meaning they know how to install fix and troubleshoot generic PC problems, but are not an expert in any one particular field. This doesn't sound like an expert Linux administrator to me.
Hey, along with a Devry degree I think
my future is set.
--
Patrick "stilldizzy" Mendoza
vishual@sonic.net
Hmm, I was charging $50 and later $75 per hour back when I did independant pc repair/consulting work (5 years ago)...and thats in the small areas of lower arkansas, in fact for many companies I did emergency weekend work for $200/hour. I think the going rate for such work even in larger working environments is $75-100, and for independant uncertified work I'd charge $100 at least. I think the going rate for a certified anything is at least $300/hour...though most is on a per job basis most of the time. In fact just last year I charged $1500 to put in a linux firewall (they provided computer). It took me an hour to install it, but I did have to drive 3 hours there and 3 back, and they fed me lunch when I got there.
If you want it to be free, maybe YOU should run it...
...oh, good idea for someone else, not for you..
Ever hear of the expression: "If you can't beat 'em join 'em"?
As a sellout myself, may I heartily recommend getting your "MSCE" certification, go freelance, rip off companies that insist on the stupid certification and make a killing?
There is a work ethic in America that is still very strong, but there is no pay ethic. Instead of trying to change how your dimwit boss thinks, outhink your dimwit boss and take advantage of him. For example: I personally think that Linux (or BSD) are better and faster and cheaper than this pile of crap HP on my desk. If I were to voice this opinion I'd be labelled 'nuts'. So I keep my mouth shut, and deploy linux systems when and where I need them. My boss is happy, and I'm happy, and well paid - which is more important than job satisfaction nowadays.
According to their FAQ, they started out to be the Linux Foundation. It appears that they found the paperwork associated with a non-profit organization to be too burdensome and organized themselves as DigitalMetrics instead.
What is known about the former Linux Foundation?
A certification can provide credability if it actually tests, and gains a reputation for testing, the necessary skills.
Have you looked at the test objectives? Do they have sample questions?
I dunno where you hail from, but there *is* a certification you must take if you want to carry the title "Professional Engineer" on your b-card.
I took the bloody thing 4 years ago when I graduated, and now I don't even remember what it was called! EIT?
All a cert. does is give you some sort of documentation of your knowledge for when the lawyers come after you.
The CNE and CNA became Novell profit centers, where almost any luddite could get a "certificate" if they had the cash and crammed the answers.
We don't need that kind of certification.
LI should be the licensing body that certifies the instructors that an organization uses to teach Linux Certification. The teaching org would teach both theory and practice. Those that passed the practicum, as evaluated by the instructor, would be eligible for theory tests. LI would send randomly generated test instruments pre-labled with the students name to the certified org doing the training and grade the tests when they are returned. LI would receive a percentage of the teaching org's gross fee for the classes (not their net) and use that money to support Linux, fund critical software development and protect the GPL and various copyrights from infringement. Anyone could then inquire from LI as to the licensing status of an individual and be guanteed of their skill level.
Jerry
Anyone who claims to understand Linux and Linux based systems to the point of of being able to certify others should be able to get the following two VERY BASIC questions correct:
Q1: Is x86 installitation of Linux and LILO both not distribution specific?
Q2: What is "Linux"?
The Digitalmetrics website show that they do NOT understand approbate answers to EITHER of these BASIC questions:
DM Answer 1: (taken from the DMFAQ and dmCLA exam objectives) "The dmCLA exam is not distribution specific..." and the the dmCLA exam objectives include "install on the x86 platform" and "basic lilo concepts (mbr, bootdisk paritition)"
DM Answer 2: (taken from the DM Certification Agreement) "Linux means the operating system which was written and is owned by Linus Torvalds, 3665
BENTON STREET APT. 36 SANTA CLARA CALIFORNIA 95051"
Problems with their answers to these questions include:
Problems with Answer 1: (taken from MILO HOWTO and the Yellow Dog Linux distribution FAQ and Linux INFO-Sheet from the LDP) Not all Linux distributions are x86 based. As Linux kernel development progressed the code has become more modular and as a result much easier to port. Ports exists to the Motorola 68k, DEC Alpha, Sun SPARC, PowerPC, MIPS, and ARM CPUs. The LILO method of booting is very dependant on the assumption that the machine has a x86 processor and uses a BIOS for the boot process. Other architechures do not follow these assumptions. For the DEC Alpha a *firmware* (non-MBR) method called MILO is available to accomplish booting of a DEC Alpha based Linux distribution. For Yellow Dog Linux which is designed for the Macintosh PPC, BootX provide a method of selectively booting MacOS or the YDL distribution.
Problems with Answer 2: (taken from the Linux INFO-Sheet) "[Linux} copyright is owned by Linus Torvalds AND OTHER CONTRIBUTORS..." "Linux, per se, is only the kernel of the operating system..." "There are several combinations of Linux with sets of utilities and applications to form a complete operating system." Based on how DM defines Linux, they are certifying people against a product that DOES NOT EXIST. There is no *OPERATING SYSTEM* which is the sole ownership of Linus Torvalds. The "basic unix utilities" and "tar, gzip, grep, cut tail, head, find..." are not written or owned by Linus. However, these basic utilities are REQUIRED to make up what we consider a complette operating system. In addition, going back as far as kernel version 1.0, parts of the kernel itself where not the ownership of Linus. By Linux kernel v1.2 and 2.0, large chunks of the kernel where authored by a large number of other people which each hold the copyright (and submited to copyleft) to their own contribution. Linux kernel v2.0 has approx. 50 maintainers, each of which deserves recognitation for having ownership of parts of the kernel. This defination show NO understanding of Linux, OpenSource development, or Linus' greatest accomplishment (to have convinced others to become involved in the project).
The CLA is described to be semi-adaptive with a incorrect answer to a "level 1" (on a scale of 5 levels) question to be an immediate failure. I would consider the two questions above to be "level 1" in nature and that Digitalmetrics themselves to be a failure in showing themselves to be able to author a legitimate certification test. The fact that DM fails to admit that their test IS distribution dependant to the degree of being architechure dependant is disappointing (wouldn't it be nice to be able to hire someone who is certified with an understanding of the concepts behind the Cobalt Cube?). The fact that no distribution or operating system that fits their definition of "Linux" suggests to me that this is a "blind leading blind" Certification program. If asked by an employer if AIX/Solaris Certification or dmCLA is a better indication of knowledge of Linux, I would suggest that based on what I have seen of DM that an AIX or Solaris Certified employee would be preferable and dmCLA is worse than meaningless.
The dmCLA is a JOKE and not a very good one. The parodity of a certification company just isn't funny.
Oh, joy! Another meaningless, useless "certification" program that will produce a slew of people that possess a certificate in lieu of actual skills. What a great idea!
I guess the certificate is to 'certify' you're too naive, stupid, or aware to hold onto your cash, and avoid scams.
Certifications mean next to nothing anyways... All they mean is you're able to memorize and pass a test involving a set of multiple choice answers. (REAL certifications that require some type of demonstrated experience in a lab environment, like the Cisco CCIE, are the exceptions of course.)
This "Anonymous Coward" auto-naming is annoying. Why do I have to give names, passwords, and other info to everyone? How about just "Anonymous"?
But in reply to the above anonymous poster, yes, the definition of Linux in the agreement is surprisingly way off.
But the point about distribution-specificity is overdone. It is only proven that the certification is not wholly distribution unspecific. It certainly is possible for it not to be completely d. specific or completely general. In fact, hat else would you expect? We can expect a distribution unspecific certification. We cannot expect that in that cert., every version of every past distribution for every architechture to be covered. That's nonsense. "Digital Metric" can't be faulted for this or their wording here.
It is conceivable that some competent people are putting together a good cert at digital metric and that some secretary or legal fellow wrote up the flawed agreement.
I hope that when some people take the free cert test (those 1st 100), we'll get to hear about it.
What bothers me most is the name, "Digital Metric" It sounds like an alternative to Sylvan Prometric, but it is not Sylvan Prometric that authoritates the certification, it is the original manufacturer, i.e., Novell, Compaq, Microsoft, etc. "Digital Metric" is unheard of as any kind of authority on Linux. Might it even be a scam? Time will tell.
Yes, I do think there should be an official, LI sponsored certification program. Otherwise there'll be hundreds of programs, some truly awful, which is certainly worse than none at all. LI's impressive list of members gives it legitimacy and clout that it can lend to a "good" program that has genuinely sprung from the community and is run in an open way, such as http://www.linuxinstitute.org/ . I'd also like to see someone (either LI or Linux Institute) try to maintain an index of all the certs they know about - there already seem to be quite a few...
http://www.redhat.com/ and http://www.caldera.com/ both run certification programs; I think that's fair enough but there's room for some generic Linux cerificates too
http://www.linuxinstitute.org/ sprang from a discussion in Linux Gazette
http://www.linuxcertification.org/ (Tobin Maginnis isn't IIRC one of the bad guys - yes, I've just noticed that he references the Linux Gazette discussion, so it looks like the good guys may be duplicating effort)
http://www.digitalmetrics.com/ (anyone happy to see poor Tux wearing a tie? - they don't reference anyone else's efforts, I've never heard of them, smells like the bad guys to me.)
http://www.linuxfoundation.org/ (who turn out also to be Digital Metrics)
And I expect it's only a matter of time before fuckers like Mike McLagan and Ian Nandhra of the LSA announce their Official Linux Certification Program and start promoting it through linux.org.
Yes, I do think that LI is run by the good guys.
--
Xenu loves you!
I wish someone reputable would set up a distance learning-type thing. I just don't have the time to travel. Also, the cost would go down better w/ management if I could do it at work. Just a thought.
I would like to get a piece of paper that says I passed a battery of tests on Linux. It would show not only what I know, but what I need to learn in the future. Good for the resume as well.
"shop smart:shop s-mart" ash
The certification you receive from anyone (yes, even a four-year college degree) is only as valuable as the reputation of the institution that granted it.
-russ
Who cares about the name? What is important here, is that you have something to prove that you at least have some kind of validated expertise.
;-)
Thinking of MCSE, I don't believe that a major brand name has to stand behind a certification program.
Oh. First post or what?
...if I accepted your offer and only got $50 per hour afterwards, thanks. :-)
Re: your suggestion.
If Red Hat or Linux International decided to do this it would probably take forever to get going.
Actually Red Hat talked about this as a "hook" to get people to join the support program they were pitching last year.
After most who enquired realised that RH was putting no resources into this, charging us $1000 a membership (per year), and did not even have a framework of a certification program designed we spent our time in more productive ways..
Hey, besides, have you seen "bugzilla"?
Looks good until you try and use it. That is where the content ends..
Maurice W. Hilarius Voice: (778) 347-9907
From the Picky-dept.
--
Certification Agreement
DIGITAL METRICS LINUX EXPERTS
NON-DISCLOSURE AND CERTIFICATION
AGREEMENT INFORMATION
Digital Metrics requires that all certification applicants agree to and sign two (2) separate agreements as a
prerequisite of being certified: (1) the Non-Disclosure Agreement and General Terms of Use (the
"Non-Disclosure Agreement') and (2) the Digital Metrics Linux Experts Certification Agreement (the
"Certification Agreement").
You must consent to the terms of the Non-Disclosure Agreement before you will be allowed to register for a
certification exam and receive an Candidate Login Name. Assenting to the terms of the Non-Disclosure
Agreement may be accomplished during the on-line registration process by clicking the "I Agree" button during
the Candidate Login creation proces. You will again be asked to consent to the terms of the Non-Disclosure
Agreement immediately prior to taking the exam for which you have registered. Failure to consent to the terms of
the Non-Disclosure Agreement at this juncture will prevent you from taking the exam for which you have
registered and your application fee will be returned.
After receiving your Candidate Login Name, you must download and sign the Certification Agreement from the
Digital Metrics Linux Certification website. An original, signed copy of the entire, unadulterated Certification
Agreement must be mailed to Digital Metrics at 30928 Valley Center Rd., Valley Center, CA. 92082 USA prior to
your being certified as a Digital Metrics Certified at any level of certification. Failure to sign and send a copy of the
Certification Agreement to Digital Metrics will prevent you from being certified despite a passing score on a
certification exam.
Please note that if you are a minor under the laws of the state or country where you sign either agreement, your
parent, court-appointed curator, or legal guardian must countersign such agreement. Such agreement will
automatically terminate when you reach the age of majority unless you affirm the agreement by completing and
signing the relevant agreement then being used by Digital Metrics and returning it to Digital Metrics. If you allow
either agreement to lapse, you will be decertified.
DIGITAL METRICS LINUX CERTIFICATION
PRE-EXAM REGISTRATION
NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT AND
GENERAL TERMS OF USE (THE "AGREEMENT")
Prior to being allowed to register for any exam offered by Digital Metrics, you, the potential examinee, must agree
and consent to the following:
1. The exam for which you are registering is Digital Metrics' confidential information and is protected by copyright
law. It will be made available to you, the examinee, solely for the purpose of becoming certified at a particular
Digital Metrics Linux Certification level. You are expressly prohibited from disclosing, publishing, reproducing,
distributing, or transmitting this exam, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, for any purpose, without the
prior express written consent of Digital Metrics.
2. Registered examinees may write, publish and distribute exam study materials for the exam for which they are
registered, so long as such study material covers all of the exam objectives stated for that particular exam on the
Digital Metrics Linux Experts Internet website and provided that said examinee(s) shall have obtained prior written
permission from Digital Metrics. Any such permission granted by Digital Metrics shall not constitute an
endorsement of the study material by Digital Metrics.
3. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed to prohibit a Digital Metrics Certified Linux Instructors (DM CLI)
from discussing examination questions in specific forums on the Digital Metrics Linux Experts Internet website
restricted to use by Digital Metrics Certified Linux Experts only.
To continue with the Digital Metrics Linux Certification online exam registration process, you must assent to all of
the terms of this Agreement. To consent to this Agreement, please click the "I Agree" button below. Be advised
that you will again be asked to consent to the terms of this Agreement immediately prior to taking the examination
for which you are presently registering.
--
No mention about the usage of name and address information either, not here, on main page nor on the FAQ.
I think, therefore thoughts exist. Ego is just an impression.
I don't know who this lot are, or where they've com from, but I thought that the Real(tm) Linux Certification exam was hosted by the University of Mississippi.
If LI are going to get into the certification game they would serve us better supporting a non-commercial effort!
Macka
certification in any realm is a CROCK!
I'm a certified hewlett packard laserjet III operator/tech as I have built 4 of the things from the ground up from several broken carkassess, I can run rings wround any A++ certified computer tech and MSCE's are morons to begin with. Now we have a linux cert shoved down our thoats. If you can do the Job then you do it, I personally think having to get a piece of paper to prove this is an insult to me,and to every person that has learned computing and electronics in their home. Prime example... at work we only have MSCE's in the computer department, they cant keep the company email working for more than 2 weeks at a time, the proxy server crashes every other thursday and is down for at least 5 days at a time and servers are always dying/puking (I blame NT as much as the MSCE's) EVERY MSCE I have met was a worthless turd that only has the Job because mommie or daddy was rich enough to get them the certification, while the guru's in the old Data processing department that have 10-20 years of expierience in the computing and network field are ignored.. Let's pile certified people with the lawyers when they are dumped in the ocean... WE dont need certification, we need real GEEKS and intilligent people in the companies/ offices ones that can figure out a problem that isnt highlighted in a MSCE study manual!
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Soon you are going to be required to have various certificates to get a linux job. Now you can still fake it "They aren't any certification programs for Linux" but sooner or later the suits will find out that there are, and you'll be unemployeed unless you are a "RedHat Certified Engineer." Just like today for example, even if you know how to work on a cisco router, you still have to have a pricey cisco certification before anyone will believe you. It's all a scam.
Quote:Who is Digital Metrics? Red Hat might be aligned with a distribution, but they have a name. I mean, if I start a certification program does that make it meaningful?
I kinda like the idea of "Slashdot Certification"... kinda caries a geek badge of honour...
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