[geeks] RHCE advice

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Mon, 24 Jul 2006, Dan Duncan wrote:

> For work reasons, it would be advantageous for me to get an RHCE cert.

As someone who's had to interview "certified" Unix/Linux admins before,
I'd suggest not wasting your time.

The interviews usually went a lot like this:

   me:  So, why should $company hire you as opposed to anyone else.
   he:  I'm -certified-.
   me:  That's nice--certified for what?
   he:  I'm a certified Linux admin.
   me:  Okay, great, there's a Linux box.  It can't get on the network.
        see if you can tell me why.  I've blanked the root password for
        you.
   he:  That's not a Linux box.  That's a DOS box.  There's no GUI.
   me:  *punt*

Or this:

   he:  I'm Linux certified.  I'll work for $amount.
   me:  Cool.  We mostly run SunOS here, though .  How good are you at
        learning new things?
   he:  Excellent.  I only studied for two nights before the test.
   me:  ...
   me:  Okay fine.  There's a SunOS 5.6 box.  Given an hour, do you think
        you could set up Apache (already installed) to display something
        other than the default page, set up BIND to serve a demonstration
        zone, and tell Sendmail to route all mail through our main
        mailserver?
   he:  Sure!
   me:  Okay, I'll be back in a few minutes to see how you're doing.
   ...
   he:  Hey, are you sure this box it loaded correctly?  I can't find
        control-panel anywhere!
   me:  You're probably right.  Why don't you come back tomorrow?  I'll
        call you later to set up an appointment.

I'm sure there are a lot of factors (it was 2001) other than the
certification itself that weigh in on these anecdotes, but the
impression that stuck with me is that people certified in XYZ -only-
know XYZ.  I can't think of a single time I interviewed someone who
bragged about his certification and found him to know anything beyond
the book/test.  I'm positive that's not a universal truth, but generally
when I hear "certified", I cut right to "okay, then, let's do techie
stuff" to see if I can waste as little time as possible in cutting
through the BS.

Experience trumps paper--Every Single Time.  If a place doesn't believe
you know what you know unless you have a piece of paper saying so, you
probably won't be happy working there anyhow, as that mindset will
permeate everything else that goes on there.

If anything, use it to gauge your own prowess or to convince your
current employer for a raise, but don't count on it opening up new
avenues of income elsewhere.  Personally, though, I just wouldn't
bother; if my employer wants to know how well I know $technology,
presumably something involving $technology will break soon enough that
I'll be able to -show- them.

-- 
Jonathan Patschke    )   "A man who never dreams goes slowly mad."
Elgin, TX           (      --Thomas Dolby, "Valley of the Mind's Eye"