Consider the options with open source certification.
Doctors, lawyers and certified public accountants all require certification, and IT consultant Doug Freyburger doesn’t think expectations of Linux professionals need to be any different.
“They are respected and well paid because of their certifications,” says Freyburger, a senior consultant for Collective Technologies who is certified by skills-measurement site Brainbench. “To the extent that Linux certifications have the promise to evolve to the level of the CPA certification tests, I support them.”
Many programs have sprung up to meet growing interest in using Linux certification to validate technical skills. Among them are Brainbench, the Computer Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), the Linux Professionals Institute and Sair Linux, which all offer vendor-independent programs and testing in Linux. Novell and Red Hat offer several courses and tests based on their individual distributions of Linux. And the Systems Administrators Guild, a group of Usenix network professionals, offers basic networking exams and specialized Linux, Unix and Windows modules.
“By obtaining certification, the applicant has a respected third party willing to stake [its] professional reputation that the candidate has a certain minimum level of competence,” says Tommy Reynolds, a Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) who works as a Linux trainer for MegaCoder.com in Danville, Ala. “Certification is an independent endorsement of one’s abilities.”
Ron Gage, a systems administrator under contract to IBM in Southfield, Mich., says certifications are more effective than a college degree because they demonstrate actual knowledge of the subject. Gage holds the Linux Professionals Institute Certification 1 (LPIC1), the CompTIA A+ and Network+, and the Microsoft Certified Professional and says vendor-neutral certifications are the most useful.
“If you were trying to get a job at a company that used Slackware Linux and you had the Red Hat certification, you would be at a disadvantage. The generic certification is much more likely to establish broad knowledge of multiple Linux distributions,” Gage says.
According to Reynolds, the particular certification type matters less than the process required to obtain it. Compared to a multiple-choice exam, “a performance-based certification program provides an additional level of information about a candidate’s skill set by presenting a series of real-world challenges to an applicant in a real-world setting with pressure, deadlines, and all the rest,” he says. He views the Red Hat Certified Architect and RHCE timed lab exams among the best.
Hands-on Linux experience is most important to Joe Poole, manager of technical support for Boscov’s in Reading, Pa. “Certification says to me that the person passed some tests,” he says. “It doesn’t say whether there is enough practical experience to do the job.”
The retailer uses SuSE Enterprise Linux Server on its zSeries mainframe to run his company’s Web site. If Poole has a question on attaching Fibre Channel storage devices to the retailer’s mainframe, he refers to the IBM Redbook: Linux on zSeries: Fibre Channel Protocol Implementation Guide. “Get out the IBM Redbooks, and give it a try,” he says.
Improved options
Reynolds says becoming certified in Linux should help IT administrators get better jobs or better pay. “Obtaining certification in Linux helps distinguish an applicant in a sea of job seekers,” he says. “Certification attests not only to the skill competency level, but also shows commitment and a willingness to go an extra step in one’s professional development.”
But as much as IT pros think Linux certification is a pathway to a better job, they would find that few positions specifically require it. A recent search of positions on job site Dice.com turned up 2,900 positions requiring Linux experience, roughly 5% of the 56,000 or so total postings. As of early October, only 300 of Dice’s job postings required Linux certification. Of these, Red Hat topped the list with 118 positions, while SuSE trailed with only 46 jobs requiring it.
Like other certifications, Linux specialists shouldn’t expect certification to drive up their compensation. “When Linux adoption began, there was a big run on Red Hat certification and then the LPIC2 came out,” says David Foote, president of compensation analyst firm Foote Partners. “There was a bit of a spike in pay, but as the supply equaled out with demand, the price remains stable.”
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