[luau] Re: RHCE certification

[Warren Togami]

I don't think there are any RHCE certified people in Hawaii at the moment,
but I plan on going to California early August to take the RHCE exam.  There
are no certification testing centers in Hawaii because it isn't a simple
multiple choice exam.  It is difficult for Red Hat to justify the expense of
running a testing center in Hawaii with so few people lining up for
certification classes and exams, but perhaps if we have enough interest they
could setup a temporary training and exam center for us.  Anyone else
interested?

You must also understand that RHCE is not (and not meant to be) anything
like MCSE.  It is 20 times tougher and very (too) expensive, roughly $750 or
$2,500 for the very accelerated class and exam bundle.  You CANNOT pass this
exam without the base knowledge and real world experience to back it up.  If
you are coming from almost no real world experience, it may cost you over
$10,000 to go through their training track from beginner to advanced, while
you spend lots of time practicing with several of your own systems in a home
test network.

Of course their very expensive courses are not absolutely mandatory.  For
most already experienced Unix or Linux people it would be a simple matter of
familiarizing themselves with the layout and tools of the latest version of
Red Hat, a few services that they have less experience with, and they would
have no problem passing the exam.  If you aren't already experienced, you
must teach yourself the individual pieces listed in the requirements on the
RHCE information pages.

For such an expensive certification process, is it worth it?  Yes and no...

Yes:  RHCE is recognized as one of the toughest certifications in the
industry.  Unlike most other certifications, only 33% of the test is
multiple choice, while the other 66% is a performance based test of one's
real world experience in managing the Red Hat Linux platform.  One can be
assured that a RHCE person knows their craft well, while the same cannot be
said about most other certifications.
(i.e. does the MCSE cert alone tell you that a person knows their stuff?  In
most cases the answer would be "Hell no.")
No: Almost nobody hires based on a Linux certification yet.


As for the lack of books and resources on the topic, I think that is
somewhat intentional.  Those who take the exam are required to sign a NDA
saying that you will not tell anyone about the contents of the exam.  As a
result, no exam study guide can be a definitive measure of what the exam
contains.  That isn't to say that it is not possible to write a book based
upon the experiences of an exam taker who secretly breaks NDA, but any book
written to the RHCE exam will become quickly outdated for one key reason:
RHCE always tests on the latest distribution.

Is this unreasonable?  No.  If you are overwhelmed by the thought of
learning a new version of a distribution, then RHCE is simply not for you.

Lack of updated books?  Part of being a good Linux administrator is knowing
how to find resources and teach yourself.  Now you aren't in this alone, we
the group will help you if you have specific questions.  Get started with
the RHCE requirements list and Google.

List of RHCE Study Points (at bottom), be sure to read the FAQ too
http://www.redhat.com/training/rhce/examprep.html

How To Ask Questions the Smart Way (so I will feel like answering rather
than ignoring)
http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan George" <LinuxDan at hawaii.rr.com>
To: <luau at videl.ics.hawaii.edu>
Sent: Saturday, July 06, 2002 10:18 AM
Subject: Re: [luau] News - Want to Make a Living From Linux?


> Do you know any RHCEs on Oahu? I would like to find out about a good study
> plan with the support to get through this. Unless MCSE, which has
resources
> just about everywhere you look, the information for RHCE both study
guides,
> test sites (Oahu) and any RHCE user groups (Oahu) are hard to find.