Linux certifications, are they worth it?

[discofro]

I've been looking into a few of the linux certifications available, and I am wondering - how useful are these? For example, the comptia linux+ exam says that you should be able to pass if you have six months of basic experience. So is this really enough?

What kind of certs would be "I know how to use linux" and what would be "I can set up a 2,000 terminal RAID backed up server network system that coexists with windows" (That probably sounded really stupid to you smart people, but I think you get my point)

And lastly.. is the cost of the exam worth it in payoff to your career, even if you go into a job not specifically as a linux specialist but just a network engineer or systems specialist?

I know nothing about this... I've tried checking online and all I can find are generic "Linux is causing great change in the PC market today and so you should get certified" speeches that don't have any real usable data/experiences.

[nsa_767]

Hi there,

Well, I've been looking into Linux certification and it seems that there are only two serious options, namely Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) and LPI-certification. (Novel has one also, which might be worth a look.)

These are all geared towards system and network administration, so it is quite a bit more than just "I know how use Linux for e-mail and stuff..."

It is a personal, long-term goal of mine to achieve some form of Linux certification but it is not necessary for the line of work I'm going to enter.

Hence, it looks like LPI is the best for me, since I can self-study for it and the exams aren't too expensive. LPI is also distro-independent.

Oh, LPI exam questions aren't trivial (even the level one exams), you won't be able to answer them after merely six-months of casual Linux use.

RHCE is somewhat more expensive and I doubt whether I'd easily switch to a non-Debian based distro.

As for the worth of these certifications, I'm not really sure... But both seem to be held in very high regard.