[TriLUG] LPIC-1

[Scott Chilcote]

On 03/22/2014 11:54 AM, Milton Bryant wrote:
> Greetings all,
>
> What are some of your opinions on this cert? I hear it's rather good from a
> number of sources and decided to start pursuing it. I'm looking for
> something to add nicely to my goals of becoming more effective as a
> "full-stack developer". At the moment, my prime directive at work involves
> some admin work on our servers and custom PHP development for solutions
> through the Joomla CMS.
>
> Regards
> Milton
Hello Milton,

The lack of response may have something to do with the fact that we had
a thread on this last September:
http://www.trilug.org/pipermail/trilug/Week-of-Mon-20130909/069748.html

I passed the Comptia Linux+ cert last July, which is equivalent to the
LPIC-1.  In fact, if you take any of the three certs (with #3 being
Novell Certified Linux Admin), you can receive the other two just for
asking.

This is obviously a first  level certification and it tests only rote
memorization, not ability.  In my opinion, someone who is good at
cramming could pass it with no Linux experience, and it may even help. 

The reason I think that it might help is that it requires you to
unhesitatingly provide pat answers that are not completely true in all
circumstances, answers that are bordering on out of date, and some
answers that are more true for some Linux distributions than they are
for others.  A few of the questions had nothing that appeared to be even
close to correct among their choices, but I'd have to see them again to
cite examples.  The test is a combination of multiple choice and short
answer questions, and is provided in two sessions. 

The test is not easy, even for someone with many years of Linux
experience.  This is primarily due to the fact that you have to have a
lot of information in your head that takes moments to find out on a
Linux system.  For example, a list of commonly used services, their port
numbers, and whether they use TCP or UDP.  You need to know a lot of the
command line programs that system admins, use along with several of
their parameters.  Add to that system installation and configuration
tools for the more popular distributions, both command line and GUI
based.  And lots more.

I needed to take this test because a customer on one of my employer's
contracts required it.  The impression I have is that LPIC-1 is a
starting point, kind of like the prerequisites needed for a college
course.  LPIC-2 and higher are tests of ability, not just memorization. 
So while the LPIC-1 might be necessary to get you into a technical
interview, it is unlikely to impress the person performing that
interview.  You will likely need to have a higher cert, or demonstrable
experience to go further.

Scott C.

-- 
Scott Chilcote
scottchilcote at ncrrbiz.com
Cary, NC USA