Linux certification

[DCT Jared Smith]

The whole certification process is antithetical to the methodology
of Open Source, or Free Software, with the following explanations:

1. At its core, Free Software allows _anyone_ to participate, and
by their merits alone (not through money, or fancy marketing
techniques, or passing some exams), they are able to build software
that people all over the world contribute to, and use. Thus the idea
of 'certification' is already built in to the way Open Source works,
yet there is no official list being kept. It stays organic, this way.
For instance, does anyone question Linus's ability to administer
a Linux installation? No. He wrote the thing, for God's sake. Same
with any of the other Open Source wizards; their abilities certify
them automatically.

2. Some won't see it this way, but Certification is a process of
excluding some people from participation... and it is in a manner
which can be cheated more easily than raw competition between
programmers, who are challenged by the fact that if their code
doesn't work well, it gets forked into something that works better,
not for malice or money, but for the benefit of all users. When you
start Certifying people, you create whole new way to exclude
people, and it's not entirely merit-based.

3. Certifying people who know Linux is like certifying people
who know how to write. Authors usually become popular because
of their natural ability, not because they passed an exam certifying them
to be able to write. Whenever you begin certifying people, you create a
new layer of people who are able to pass certification exams, but unable
to effectively administer Linux, ie 'paperware' admins. This is true,
and sad when it happens.

4. The whole idear of 'Certification' is created by people who do not
understand these points--at heart, they are interested in marketing, and
they
hire geeks to help them: ie, they have found a way to make money
by creating something out of thin air (Certification Standards), and then
demanding students pay money to meet those standards. This is
a marketing technique which is not the way Open Source actually
works.

H o w e v e r ,

To be a purist about certification, when the whole world is
clamoring for certification, is one approach. Thus, you could say
"Certification is Anti-Open-Source, therefore I will not participate."
End of discussion.

Another approach is, "Certification is Anti-Open-Source, but
employers cannot grasp that concept, and will soon be asking
all new Unix admins to be certified... therefore, let's do what we can
to make sure the certification process is grueling and difficult, unable to
be passed by people who have no clue about Linux, because it
involves a deep array of real-world examples and situations which
will challenge a 'paperware' candidate, but be fun for a person
who is like the current Linux gurus."

I hope you followed me there. What I mean, is, as 'Certification'
folks sweep into town, offering 'Certification courses', which
employers will be impressed by while actual admins will find them
to be annoyingly shallow,

why not put together a rock-solid Certification Preparation course,
as part of KCLUG's activities, which ensures QUALITY of
knowledge above QUANTITY of knowledge. This is a difficult
challenge. Raise the standard; for if not us, who else will? I personally
believe
that Linux is best learned, not from books, but from actual use. I think one
of
the reasons people are attracted to Linux is that it is FREE TO LEARN IT.
So, charging lots of money to learn Linux creates a layer of people who miss
the point of Open Source. That is a waste of resources, if you ask me.

The Certification Prep course put together by KCLUG would have
a reputation of being the most difficult, but also of producing the
highest-quality graduates (no matter what Certification they finally
pursued). And we would make sure the standard was so high,
the 'paperware' courses would always be striving to meet that standard.
It's possible. Thus, the whole certification process becomes another
Open Source project... :-)

To do this, the Certification Preparation course needs to provide LOTS of
hands-on Linux'ing. And students should not be 'babysat.' Let em sweat,
that's the best way to learn Linux; but not sweat so much they give up...

It believe part of the course should involve a full-on hacker Honeypot,
administered by some serious Linux gurus, for the purpose of teaching people
security issues--give the students something to 'hack' into, yet do it
legitimately,
evaluating their progress all the way, and providing informal mentoring
(the way real hackers learn) and you will create a group of people who
KNOW SECURITY, not just _know about_ security. Firewalls built
by such graduates will be comprehensive, detailed, and flexible, not
out-of-the-box click-here firewalls.

(What's a honeypot?) Here's a honeypot link:
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/resource_files/intrusion_detection/network-intr
usion-detection.html#11.

I believe part of the course should involve creating and managing a
real live mail server, creating and managing a real live webserver,
a real live network server, and all of this could be linked together in
a real-live setting which is running on a local area network that doesn't
need to cost a million, that webserver needs to have  some serious
scripting happening on the server side, to keep graduates from knowing
administration without knowing at least PHP, Python, or Perl, definitely
configuring a whole new install of Apache from the makefile on upward
(not using precompiled exes).

These are examples from my own very limited knowledge of Linux,
we need a lot more examples of this kind of information in order
to build the kind of excitement which will make this whole idea come
to pass.

Kansas City can give something distinct to the world: A group of
Certified Linux folks who really know what they're doing. It will
require a collaboration of many, many people to make this happen
well, but that's what Linux is all about, is it not? Surely, others
are facing this same challenge, so let's build on what's out
there, but keep the Quality High, and the flavor distinctly
Barbecue.

If we do this, it needs to be done right. Otherwise, why begin.

It should be inexpensive, not driven by money, but then again,
what fifteen people have ten hours a week to spare for the next
few months, to make this happen? It will not be easy, but the
final result will be a blessing to us all.

Thanks for listening.

-Jared