[TriLUG] LPIC-1

[Milton Bryant]

Hey Scott,

Thanks for the response! I was beginning to wonder if my post even made it
through. I've looked through the old topic and it looks like the LPIC-1 is
as you say. This actually makes me feel a little better about struggling to
get all of the objectives into my head.

I'm no long-standing Linux veteran by any means. I use it semi-regularly
during my downtime and through shell during work hours, to interface with
our servers(since about 2010). I'm not actively looking for another job,
but I figured the knowledge from the objectives would help me immensely(and
why not get the cert while I'm at it?). Maybe even get LPIC-2 sometime down
the road to have that additional ability accreditation.

I have a ton of resources for learning the LPIC-1 objectives and I don't
know exactly which one to swear by. On one hand, I have a ton of notes and
the ability to practice extensively through virtual machines. Then I have
some free resources for memorization like jMemorize and Anki with
intelligent flash cards. Are there open online study groups for these
objectives? I'd likely feel more comfortable with my progress if I have
others to play ideas off of, and of course I can in turn share what I know.

Regards

Milton


On Mon, Mar 24, 2014 at 8:34 AM, Scott Chilcote
<scottchilcote at ncrrbiz.com>wrote:

> 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
>
>