[TriLUG] Red Hat System Admin class

[Matthew Lavigne]

<snip>
>
>
> Was the guy a RHCE? Also what about all the Debian users out there that
> would not take the test in the first place? I agree that you cannot pass the
> test without knowing the Red Hat distribution, however I firmly believe that
> it should not be weighted heavier than practical job experience etc. In my
> opinion you limit your pool of candidates to a relatively small subsection
> of people.


Yes he was, and overly qualified for the position.  To understand the
environment that I was a lead in you need to understand that it was for IBM
in RTP testing Intellistations(specifically the video cards/drivers).  I
would interview anyone that nearly mentioned linux on their resumes because,
the simple fact is that, there were so few candidates that had any linux
background and teaching linux to a skilled windows user can be both
difficult (concept wise) and frustrating (because if they don't know dos
they likely have never seen the command line).  I was interested in the
effort that was made and the OS level skill set that the candidates
presented and not necessarily what distro that they used, the RHCE was a
flag that let me know what the level of experience/skill was (just like the
LPI certs is) and not necessarily how well the individual can work with the
OS.



As a side point I wonder if there has ever been a study on the demographics
> of the individuals who take the test...


Don't know, but likely a simiar question could be asked about the LPI and
the MCx tests.  The difference to me is that this test is a hands on
completely and like most of the pratical tests in the world, is usually
separates those who know, and those who know AND can do.

That is out of more then about 20 candidates.  That
> | guy
> | didn't get hired because of his attitude about the position but his
> | skill
> | set was up to snuff.
> |
> | IF you are interviewing the certification is only an indication, now
> | with
> | the RHCE, if you have yours or have had someone explain to you what it
> | takes
> | to get it,
>
> How do you explain the test? Could you explain how the test is graded? And
> if so what it represents?



Could I? maybe what I can say is that the examiner has no say in the grading
process, from my understanding (and understand that I am not an instructor)
there is a grading script that checks each task to verify that the task
completes, per discussions with my past instructors.  The results are they
uploaded to RH and graded from there.  Is it invisible, and nebulous? Yep,
is it consistent, likely.  Will it matter if you do it the RH way or the
debian way, likely not as long as the end result is that what you are told
to accomplish can be done by the script.




>
> Sounds like a good deal for Red Hat.


Well it ended up that way, though that was not what I was trying to
accomplish.

Matthew