Linux Pro
Bootstrap your LINUX career
Discover how Linux certification can help you. Stuart Burns explains the why and the how, with a few pro tips thrown in for good measure.
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Linux administrators are in demand. Those who are certified get more offers at higher rates of pay. To offer a personal experience of this, several years ago this writer applied for a job with a large well-known company and sailed through the interview. It came down to him and one other candidate, who had a similar level of experience.
The writer had only the RHCSA (Red Hat Certified Sys Admin) certificate, while the other candidate had RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer) certification and got the job. In a post-interview conversation, it became clear that the interviewer saw the RHCE certification as a big differentiator and a proven case of how certificates can and do make a difference.
Depending on how you approach Linux accreditation, it can be costly. Some certifications are wildly more expensive than others. Some are stepping stones to prove enough knowledge to get a foot in the door and an advantage over non-certified candidates.
There are several well-regarded certifications and all have their pros and cons. They chase different types of customers and charge appropriately. So, without further delay, let’s look at the top Linux certifications.
PREPARING FOR THE TEST
Given that these exams are not cheap, you must make every attempt to pass them first time. There are many mock exams available that not only give similar (but not identical) questions to those in the official exam, but Red Hat even provides a test to assess your current skill level.
With Red Hat, a pass or fail result can take several days, which is annoying in these modern times. Red Hat also provides a transcript of where the failures occurred. As it is offering a second attempt gratis, there is a little hack that can be used to boost the chance of success.
If you fail by a small margin and can remediate that issue promptly, rebooking the exam for a week later (the minimum allowable resit time) means there is a better-thanaverage chance that the questions and tasks will be identical to the ones previously sat.
The same situation is also true with Linux+ to a degree, but with that scenario, there is a pool of questions from which the ones to answer are drawn. Over time they are added to, changed and removed.
Don’t let yourself get too despondent if you fail. And don’t leave it too long before jumping back on the wagon, or your experience and skills may get rusty. We speak from personal experience. The alternative is going over the same material again to catch up to where you were.