[clue] linux certs? [TALK]

Raymond DeRoo rderoo at deroo.net
Fri Jun 24 13:31:26 MDT 2011


Mike--

> (whistle)   I'm starting to think certs are an amazing scam.  Usually once you're hired, nobody really gives a damn about the letters behind your name, they just care that you solve more problems then you create.   But to get past the bureaucrats and headhunters you have to pass all these exams that have little to do with the knowledge you need to do the actual job.   400 bucks a test.   And compared to the certs I have looked at, 400 bucks for RHCSA is actually comparitively cheap!

LoL, the only Cert I hold that means anything to me is my CCIE. The rest ( I can go toe-to-toe with David Wilson on letters after the name ;) really don't mean much. Heck, I even hold a MSCE back when NT 4 was the primary Windows server OS. But regardless, you are correct. If you don't have someone to vouch for your, then the certifications often are important. But the word of respected peers means more than anything. I interviewed last week for a DBA job, the company has two people I worked with when I was at MySQL. In five hours of interviewing I wasn't asked a single technical MySQL specific question. Their reasoning was that my former co-workers vouched for me, what I know, what I can do. So all that they needed to figure out is wether or not I'll fit in with the existing teams.

So, do your homework, get your certs. Then as you said, show what you know, it will make getting future jobs that much easier. And as a general word of advice, no matter how good you get, or how much you know. Always be humble and reasonable when dealing with peers. It's a lesson I which I learned many years ago. :(

.r


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