[TriLUG] EVEN MORE OT: Certifications - Education

[Rick DeNatale]

On 8/30/05, Shane O'Donnell <shaneodonnell at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> So the updated cheer would go something like:
> 
> Two bits, Four bits, Six bits, a byte?
> 
> Shane O.


You know this whole thread is making me feel really old.

1) Because I remembered that a bit was 1/8 of a dollar, and when stock 
prices used to be quoted in bits (I mean eights).
2) Because it dredged up the recollection that I actually knew the guy who 
invented the term byte. If my aging memory serves his name was Wernher 
Bucholz. We were both active in the IBM Poughkeepsie Microcomputer Hobbyists 
Club back when the IBM PC hadn't quite come out and we were a mix of guys 
who build homebrew systems (usually S-100) and early adopters of Trash-80s 
and Apple ][s. Actually the the term byte was coined, during the design of 
the IBM 7030 "Stretch", perhaps the first "Super"computer, it usually meant 
6-bits. It wasn't until the IBM 360 that its common meaning of 8-bits was 
settled.

Which brings me back to the original topic of certifications, education, and 
experience. In my case I've got a 31 year old BSEE in Computer Science, and 
I'm retired after a 31 year career. As such I know an awful lot about 
computers and software, and object-oriented programming languages and 
applications in particular, but I'm a relative newbie when it comes to 
practical experience with Linux and Posix systems. Back when I started 
programming in college, UNIX was still emerging from the fingertips of Brian 
Kerninghan, Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie, and most computers from Digital 
Equipment Corporation (I wonder who many here even remember them) were still 
running various DEC operating systems, and the VAX didn't yet exist running 
either VMS or UNIX.

While I've crossed paths with UNIX/POSIX systems over the course of those 35 
years, I really didn't start to gain any real competency until I started 
playing with Linux at home a couple of years ago. I'd like to get into some 
consulting, and right now I look at the various certifications and 
certification prep books etc. as a way of organizing what I need to catch up 
on.