[Sussex] Linux job opportunities

[Jon Fautley]

Geoffrey Teale wrote:
> Jon Fautley wrote:
> 
>> Chris Jones wrote:
>>
>>> Hi
>>>
>>> On 10:26:09 pm 23/08/2005 Alan Delaney <hairy.one at virgin.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> regard or can anyone tell me how recognised are the LPI certs and
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I'm job hunting at the moment and looking at Linux related jobs...
>>> I've yet
>>> to see one ask for LPI. Almost none ask for any kind of Linux
>>> certification
>>> - my guess is that it's just too new to be cared about as much as a
>>> bit of
>>> experience.
>>
>>
>>
>> Have you considered the Red Hat certifications? When I was job-hunting,
>> one of the things asked was if I had any Red Hat certification, such as
>> RHCE (companies OTHER than my current employer asked this, too ;) )
>>
>> Maybe worth having a look at?
> 
> 
> OK.  My 2 cents as someone actively reading CV's and interviewing people
> for technical position using and administrating Linux systems.  This is
> not meant to cause anyone any offense, but here it is:

S'alright, I'll take the email how it's intended :)

> From the point of view these qualifications are of very little
> interest.  We certainly don't look for them and have never asked our
> employees to go on such a course.

I think you need to differentiate the types of employers (and, more
specifically, recruiters) that IT folk are exposed to. You're a techie
(I'm sure you'd agree with this) and as such, you look for the technical
things in a person, as I would. You're not an HR manager, or manager of,
say, a sales team.

Most of these people wouldn't know BIND from Sendmail - so they have to
rely on certifications as a 'benchmark' of the candidates knowledge. The
problem I've found on a number of occasions is that recruitment
companies will always 'push' certification to the company looking for a
new hire. Why do they do this? Well, because it a) makes them sound good
and b) earns them money (someone w/certification may get hired for more
money than someone without a certification, and as such, the %age of the
candidates salary that the recruitment company takes away == more £££)

> They probably are a good way to get some exposure to the ideas involved
> and to be able to demonstrate that you have done so on your CV.  As a
> raw recruit they would differentiate you, but time, exposure and actual
> demonstrable knowledge are worth ten times as much as one of these
> qualifications in our eyes.

Definatly - but the whole point behind certification is to prove that
you're at least 'on par' with other people with the same qualification.
It stands to reason, certainly with Red Hat certifications, that someone
with an RHCA (Red Hat Certified Architect) is going to have more
exposure/knowledge of certain topic than someone with an RHCE (Red Hat
Certified Engineer).

While I understand that there are some totally crap certifications out
there (I mean, what's a 'European Computer Driving License'? It seems to
prove that someone can open up MS Word, as opposed to proving they can
use a computer), but if you look for, or have, the correct
certifications then you're going to get more interview than if you don't
(in my experience) - especially if your 'commercial experience' is
lacking slightly.

> From long experience of people with certification from various vendors I
> (and many other senior technical staff) have formed the opinion that the
> ability to pass an exam is not the same thing at all as the ability to
> perform a task competently.  I also think that the over-confidence a lot
> of inexperienced but newly certified people demonstrate is at best
> annoying and at worst extremely dangerous.

Agreed. There's an excellent Dilbert strip that sums that paragraph up -
sadly I don't have it to hand at the moment :(

I have an A-level in Physics - but do I know more than someone that's
been working in a nuclear power plant? Probably not...

> If you do decide to take one of these qualifications I'd advise you to
> balance the following contradictory points:
> 
>  - Unless the company in question is actively running Red Hat, or Novell
> software then taking a qualification that is specific to that vendor is
> perhaps not the best idea.  (Even if the course isn't specific, the name
> makes people think it is)

Red Hat certifications are, obviously, Red Hat software-orientated,
however, they do teach the skills required to administer any Linux
system. We aim for 'this is how this service works, and this is how it
would be used' rather than 'this graphical thing makes this work'.

> -  LPI certification is not something many people have heard of
> generally, names Red Hat and/or Novell are known.

Agreed. I've looked at the LPI stuff in the past, and haven't seen
anyone ask for them - I have, however, seen people ask for RHCE
qualifications.

> I'm sure Jon would vouch for the quality of the Red Hat course (bear in
> mind that Jon is a Red Hat employee however), but I think you'd be far
> better off taking _any_ sys-admin job and getting some experience rather
> than spending cash out on a course.

Yes, I do indeed work for Red Hat - so whatever I say, it'll be bias -
however, I was pleasantly surprised (as a techie) at the quality of the
Red Hat courses, and would recommend people to attend them if they're
after a recognised qualification. Red Hat's won several awards for their
training program, and occasionally beating the 'king' of IT
certification - Cisco.

Obviously, I should point out that any and all opinions in the above
email are mine and mine alone, and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of my employer.

Regards,

Jon
-- 
Jon Fautley <jfautley at redhat.com>     direct: +44 1483 739615
 Presales Technical Consultant        office: +44 1483 300169
 Red Hat UK                           mobile: +44 7841 558683
 10 Alan Turing Road, Surrey Research Park, Guildford GU2 7YF