RE: Certifications as a means of gaining knowlage

    On Sat, Jun 27, 2009 at 10:33 PM, Steve Phariss
<sphariss@gmail.com> wrote:
    Question to the group.
    I know that certificates in and of themselves are not a good
indicator of skill.  But are they a worthwhile goal for knowlege sake?
In particular, I have been faced with a couple jobs that required
Vertualization skills.  I have very little enterprise experience with
vertulization so was concidering taking a bootcamp course that concludes
with a vertulization cert (Certified Virtualization Expert(tm) -CVE(tm))
    Does anyone have any experience with the CVE or Bootcamp classes
in general?
    Steve
    In the old days, we had what were considered "academics".  These
were the people who could stand around and spout a million useless
details about technology, but in the actual trenches, had no
if/then/therefore logical skills.  They were like autistics, in that
they could memorize rote, but it often seemed as if the people who
actually could excel at the times when someone had to pull raw
intelligence and creativity out of a hat, they failed horribly.
    The people who actually had to work in the fields often found
the certifications to be far from what was required to actually master a
subject - epic fail for those selling technology or selling management
that certifications were actually a good gauge of mastery.  
    So, what started to happen was people who actually were deeply
immersed in technology started to attend bootcamps which were given
often during a convention, where a full immersal of the student into the
subject matter's pure "academics" would occur, whereupon all the useless
facts that are never used when implementing and maintaining the
technology get retained just long enough to pass the certification.  In
this way, everyone could give a Class A subnet answer (even in the days
when everyone only used Class C subnetting) for instance for a Cisco
CCNA (which I obtained in 1999).
    I certified in IBM High Speed Networking Technology in the
1980's at USBank, and it was a complete exercise in rote memorization.
I certified on Websphere V in 2006, and nothing had really changed;
little on the test actually translated to being able to manage
application servers in any real world shop.
    I doubt very much this has changed with regard to Virtualization
quizzes - except that Linux certifications are generally excellent
(especially the RHCE - which is a complete PRACTICAL test, no reference
materials are allowed, and the student must master the subject on a
virtual slice or real machine during the test).  A RHCE is sold to
businesses as a way to get a cheaper rate on their RHEL licenses.  I was
hired in a contract gig to build new application servers (8 Prod/Dev + 1
database all Dell 1950's 2850's) and clean up Apache security and little
Linux issues while they sent their Microsoft staff to RHCE Fast Track
school (Choicehotels.com):  
https://www.redhat.com/certification/rhce/?s_kwcid=TC|3636|rhce||S|p|328
2576651
<https://www.redhat.com/certification/rhce/?s_kwcid=TC%7C3636%7Crhce%7C%
7CS%7Cp%7C3282576651> 
    www.linuxlearningcentre.com/content/prepguide.pdf
    The RHCE fast track (5 day type of bootcamp) is the best way to
certify as well because Linux people generally don't require a 3 month
class, and simply get in and do things quickly to grasp a course:
    Certifications have been critisized for being "marketing
manipulation" rather than actual gauges of skill.  For instance, a
company will sell certifications when a product is big, and require
certifications for cheaper rates.  
    But if you don't already have a good history with certifications
and your goal is simply to get a grasp of the technology, a
certification is suspect, as a solution.
    Currently virtualization providers are fighting it out over a
"new hot market".  And the technology is relatively young (unless you
are IBM).  So, Microsoft, XEN and Vmware --- you get the idea from the
"Products of the Year 2008":
    I would get a general linux certification before I would get a
virtualization certification. 
    And since you are asking, I would point you to the RHCE.
    (503)754-4452 wiki.obnosis.com
    scientology.obnosis.com
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