Linux Certification

[Jonathan Hutchins]

I've been watching the certification saga, both Linux and otherwise, for a
while now.

There came a point where companies suddenly realised that no, the sales
team couldn't just double up on engineering to handle all the PC issues,
they really needed skilled professionals to handle the computer
infrastructure that had moved outside of the computer room.  They needed
people who actually knew something about PC's, and the computer room guys
were still busy with the mainframes.

For a while there in the late 90's, companies were scrambling to get
people who could work on PC's, and they had no clue how to tell the
bluffers from the pro's.

Then, for a window of maybe three to five years, certification really
meant something.  It meant the difference between whether or not you got
the job.  Novell certs were probably the first big tickets, but they were
quickly replaced by Microsoft certs.  After all, just about everybody knew
something about Microsoft systems (or at least thought they did), but if
you hired someone who was certified, you could point to that as due
dillegence even if he turned out to be all paper and no knowledge.

That period didn't last though.  More and more candidates turned out to
know the MS Tests really well, but to be totally useless in the field. 
The certs became a nice thing to have in addition to proven work
experience.  They became somethign to earn to please the beancounters, or
to qualify your company for certain Microsoft perks.

As far as I know, that's where they've stayed.  I haven't seen a job in
quite a while were a certification was the make-or-break qualification. 
Yes, certification is pretty much expected to go with a certain level of
experience - you don't get a lot of Cisco background without grabbng a
cert or two along the way.

More and more though, Certification is something you do within a position,
not as a qualification for a new position, not as a ticket to the next
job.

I think that's where it remains, and when someone asks "what's a good
certification to go for?", I say "Whatever your employer will send you
to".  If you don't have the qualifications to get the job without the
cert, if the prospective employer isn't convinced that certification is a
formality, for you, and isn't willing to pay for it, I think it's a bad
gamble.

I don't think there's a certification out there, whether it costs $300, or
$3,000, or $15,000 that will, by itself, pay back the cost of earning it. 
It won't get you a job.

Certification ever really get you a job, you have to do that by convincing
the people doing the hiring that you're the kind of guy they can work
with.

Get the job first, then worry about the certification.