[Tuxaloosa] Linux Proficiency

[Beddingfield, Allen]

Michael,
I have been looking in depth at the various offerings for Linux
certifications and training recently, since our new CIO is a big fan of
certifications.  
Why not go ahead and get certified as well?  The Redhat (RHCE) and SUSE
(NCLE) track ones would probably be the best way to go to increase the
chance of $$$ in the future and to look good on a resume.  Whether we
like it or not, those are the two distros that most employers are
looking for experience with.  The LPI certs are distro independent,
though, and focus on concepts and the standard way of doing things.

I agree 100% with the previous reply.  I have learned more by repairing
broken systems and actual experience than I have ever picked up from any
books (but they are a great reference!).

Anyway, I suppose it depends on your long-term goal.  If your goal is to
just learn for your own enjoyment (which is the way I got started doing
anything with Linux...), grab a copy of Slackware and Debian to start
with...learn to do everything the "hard way" to begin with.  Then, grab
a copy of OpenSUSE and CentOS...configure them, and you will have an
understanding of what the config utilities are doing in the background
based on your experience doing it manually.

Once you have done that, then you can dive into the world of
BSD....OpenBSD and NetBSD to start with, followed by FreeBSD and the
variants.  The init style will look vaguely familiar after spending some
time with Slackware :)
Then if you are really feeling masochistic, you can delve into Solaris
x86...

Just a few thoughts...
Allen B.

-----Original Message-----
From: tuxaloosa-bounces at tuxaloosa.org
[mailto:tuxaloosa-bounces at tuxaloosa.org] On Behalf Of Michael Ramm
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 10:07 PM
To: Tuxaloosa; BALU Linux/Free Software Discussion; Alabama Ubuntu LoCo
Subject: [Tuxaloosa] Linux Proficiency

I am not a goals kind of guy, but I have decided that in 2009, I would
like to become proficient in the Linux operating system.

What exactly does that mean? I am not really sure, and that is why I
bring the question to the lists.

I have been using Linux full time on my work laptop since late 2007. So
I am at about 1 year of using Linux everyday. I am light years ahead of
where I was when I decided to move to Ubuntu. I have stayed with Ubuntu
on my work laptop, but my desktops at home have seen Ubuntu, Crunchbang
[1] and Arch Linux on them. I have settled on Crunchbang 8.10 for my
desktop, and possibly my next work laptop.

When I first started thinking of metrics that I can use to measure
proficiency, I thought of some sort of Linux certification. There are
two Linux certifications that I found. CompTIA Linux+[2] and Linux
Professional Institute [3] has a three level certification program as
well. I am thinking that I would not get the actual certification, but
instead just pass some of the practice tests. I have heard from a
twitter friend who is also a Linux trainer that both of those certs are
out of date.

What are your thoughts on metrics for Linux proficiency? What can I use
to gauge my progress through this trek?

Thanks for your help.

Michael
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