Certifications as a means of gaining knowlage

[Lisa Kachold]

On Sat, Jun 27, 2009 at 10:33 PM, Steve Phariss <sphariss at 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™ -CVE™)
>
> 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):

http://www.supershareware.com/info/whizlabs-rhce--red-hat-linux-certification--exam-simulator.html
http://www.scribd.com/doc/16314048/RHCE-Red-Hat-Certified-Engineer-Linux-100-Success-Secrets-on-RHCE-Linux-Test-Preparation-Study-Guides-Practice-Exams-Braindumps-Certification-Exa
https://www.redhat.com/certification/rhce/?s_kwcid=TC|3636|rhce||S|p|3282576651
www.linuxlearningcentre.com/content/prep*guide*.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:
https://www.redhat.com/courses/rh300_rhce_rapid_track_course_and_rhce_exam/

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":


*GOLD AWARD:* VMware ESXi 3.5
U2<http://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/productsOfTheYearWinner/0,296407,sid94_gci1345772_tax312925_ayr2008,00.html>
VMware's free ESXi leads the virtualization platform market by continuing to
offer the greatest functionality and highest value of all hypervisors
available on today's market.
 READ MORE<http://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/productsOfTheYearWinner/0,296407,sid94_gci1345772_tax312925_ayr2008,00.html>

 *SILVER AWARD:* Microsoft Hyper-V
1.0<http://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/productsOfTheYearWinner/0,296407,sid94_gci1345773_tax312925_ayr2008,00.html>
"Microsoft's standalone Hyper-V is a great option for a free hypervisor,"
one judge wrote. "I give Microsoft a lot of credit for such a strong new
showing."
 READ MORE<http://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/productsOfTheYearWinner/0,296407,sid94_gci1345773_tax312925_ayr2008,00.html>

 *BRONZE AWARD:* Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5.2<http://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/productsOfTheYearWinner/0,296407,sid94_gci1345774_tax312925_ayr2008,00.html>
If Linux is your bag, then the Xen-based virtualization bundled with Red
Hat's enterprise offering is a high-performance virtualization option and
excellent value, judges reported.
 READ MORE<http://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/productsOfTheYearWinner/0,296407,sid94_gci1345774_tax312925_ayr2008,00.html>

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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