[TriLUG] RHCE

[Shawn William Taylor]

+1

Shawn
Carl Wrote:

It's a tough call. I went and got an MS cert while working for an ISP that
used MS and Linux servers, that was 7 years ago. So I was "in the field"
already, as well as having 2.5 years prior experience working for AT&T and
shuffling through the ranks. The certification jocks have always been a
problem. I've worked with them, and they, well ... kinda suck. On the 
other
hand, I personally run into the issue of "you don't have a CS degree" ....
which in essence, is another piece of paper.
 I know some of you aren't going to like that comment, but I have a lot of
real world experience
and have worked with [and do work with] plenty of CS graduates that are 
just
as lost as the
certification jock. Sometimes it's worse, given that the CS grad has the 
"I
knows" burned into them from school. The last one I worked with couldn't
configure switches with the manual in his hand. He did, however, build a
massive bittorrent server and sell burned DVD's to workmates.
 Personally, I've taken the years to learn and apply skills, both on the 
job
and in my personal home lab space. What I'm getting at is that anyone that
is truly interested will need to learn the ropes, and not the test 
answers.
I could stack certifications to the sky, but with 10+ years and no degree 
I
still get the same canned answer from Universities and the bigger gigs ...
"does not meet our education requirements". This stinks, but I deal with
it.**
 In the end, I'd say that a cert can't hurt you, as long as you can back
that up with real hands-on experience, and refer to the cert within the
description of said experience. Sorry if any CS's were offended, but you
guys in the field know what I'm talking about.


**It also doesn't help that I get really nervous in some interviews, but 
I'm
working on it. :)