Thanks, Adam! A little confirmation goes a long way when I'm trying to learn new things. I have a good job already, I'm set for the next 20 years if I like. But its not in tech so I dream these dreams.
I realize a cert is not the silver bullet I need to swap careers but its a nice goal to shoot towards. The more I read about what I'd need to know for LPIC 1, the more excited I get.
Looking forward to discussing this more as I progress. Thanks again!
On 2019-04-26 9:56 p.m., Adam Thompson wrote:
Hi, Chris.
I used to teach the LPI curriculum, and I've been a hiring manager.
LPI was not based out of Canada in the past, but I see their head office has moved. What country they're based out of has relatively little impact.
LPI is not awesome, but if you're looking for something that's widely-applicable, they're the place to go. RHCE has been around for years, of course, and is excellent if you want to hitch your horse to the Red Hat cart and no-one else's. I didn't even know the Linux Foundation had a certification program until I read your email... so that gives you an idea how widely-recognized it will be :-).
The key thing here is that being an LPIC-1 will only get you in the door for an interview, maybe. It does not have broad industry recognition. RHCE is more limiting, but has much broader recognition.
Also, keep in mind that there are probably less than 100 jobs in all of Manitoba that involve UNIX all day long, every day. If that's what you're aiming to get (a UNIX-specific job), you should move to a better market for that before you worry about what certs & training to obtain.
Pluralsight is ... OK, from what I've seen. You probably aren't wasting your time there, on average.
Bottom line: yes, Linux certification will get you somewhere, but not as far as you might imagine. It would most likely open doors to $35-$45k/yr entry-level jobs that wouldn't have otherwise looked at you. But jobs where LPIC and/or RHCE are mandatory? I don't believe those exist here. Nor do jobs exist where having ANY certification, no matter how rare or esoteric, jump you straight to mid-range or top-end salary scales.
So if you really want a job in IT using UNIX/Linux, and you've budgeted time/$$ for self-directed training, then, yeah, I think the LPI program is probably your best bet, and Pluralsight is definitely not the worst way you could spend your money.
Hope to see you in May!
-Adam
On 2019-04-26 21:23, Chrinkus wrote:
Hello, I'm a newer member to MUUG, I attended my first meeting in March. I left that meeting with a lot to think about but excited by the talk and discussions I witnessed.
(I keep typing out a big long story about my desire to learn more about UNIX, and more specifically Linux, but it gets long and I delete it. This email has been in my draft folder for a few days now, I'm getting to the point.)
Anyway, I'd like to work towards some level of certification. There seem to be a few "Big Certs" out there, Red Hat's, LPI's and the Linux Foundation's. For the moment I've decided to work towards the LPIC-1 due to the cost and apparent credibility. I have a book and am starting my free trial on Pluralsight to kickstart my learning.
My question is perhaps just more me seeking confirmation that I've jumped to some decent conclusions. LPI is Canadian-based and usually #2 on the best-lists I've found. I'm loving the book, The Linux Command LIne, 2nd ed, but haven't used Pluralsight before. I landed on it mostly because its ads annoy me the least out of all of the online learning sources.
Thank you for your time,
Chris Schick
- I missed the April meeting because our kids were both sick and I
didn't want to leave my wife alone with that mess. Looking forward to May!
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