[nylug-talk] certs and such

[Paul Robbins]

>From my experience in the recent IT market (especially being a unix/linux
programmer/admin) is that 95% of the emails or phone calls I receive for job
openings are coming from a third party group. The hiring company pays
another company to find 4 or 5 possible canididates rather than the hiring
company wasting the effort on interviewing 40 people.  That being said, I
think these firms search online job sites for keywords, which definately
includes certs.  I am not a big fan of certs, but as you said, you are
looking to get hired. They jump on monster or dice and search for RHCE or
Linux+ or LPI and then filter through the results.  RHCE would be great, but
it is very expensive, especially if you look at taking the courses. I
suggest instead LPI. It is about $100 a test, and 2 or 3 tests for each
level.  Plus there are some good study guides out there.

Hope it helps.

~Paul



On 10/3/06, Ron Guerin <ron at vnetworx.net> wrote:
>
> etamme at optonline.net wrote:
>
> > I am about to graduate with a BS in computer technology.   I am
> > looking to become less of a "jack of all trades" and become more
> > specialized, specifically in linux systems administration, to make
> > myself more marketable.  I am looking at RHCE and LPI certs to both
> > gain some credibility, and to further my learning.  I have used linux
> > soley for about 5-6 years, and have used in in mission critical
> > server environments too.. but only on small scales, 2 servers or so,
> > and for small companies.  I am essentially looking to move up from
> > the power user to the systems professional administrator level.  I
> > dont believe a cert ( or a degree ) will make magically make me
> > better, but I think that at my age (23) and only having "jack of all
> > trades" experience working for small companies, studying for cert
> > such as the RHCE might help me to learn some more specialized skills,
> > and make me a more credible to an employer.  Any path I take, I am
> > going to invest some time and money, so I wanted to get some feedback
> > from some of the people who do this stuff for a living already.  I
> > really appreciate your constructive advice and feedback.-Eric Tamme
>
> We've beat this horse far beyond dead on this list many times.
>
> Q: Will certs help me get a job?
> A: Yes. It makes you look more credible to the human resources people.
>
> Q: Will they make me better at what I do?
> A: Extremely unlikely, though you probably will learn something.
>
> Q: Overall, aren't certs a scam on both employers and employees?
> A: Yes, but that's really beside the point. You're trying to get hired.
>
> - Ron
>
>
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