# The Ubuntu Forum Community > Ubuntu Community Discussions > The Fridge Discussions >  Ubuntu Certification from LPI

## TheFridge

<p>The Linux Professional Institute (<a href="http://www.lpi.org/">LPI</a>) and Canonical Ltd. have <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/news/ubuntucert">announced</a> the development of a certification exam for the Ubuntu distribution. The certification will consist of a single exam on top of LPI’s existing 101 and 102 exams. Jim Lacey, President and CEO of the Linux Professional Institute, had this to say:</p>
<blockquote ><p>We have long considered LPIC-1 to be the entry-level professional certification for all Linux distributions. This collaborative initiative with Ubuntu clearly demonstrates how Linux software developers can leverage our existing distribution-neutral program to create professional certification programs for their own software packages</p></blockquote>


*Link To Original Article*

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## troyDoogle7

I think its really great that they are pushing the professional aspect. 

However it seems a bit strange that an open source, community based operating system should rely on professional companies to charge quite a lot for certification and training.

I think an interesting project would be, perhaps under the guise of the documentation team, to put up some basic training videos on something like Google video.  The objective should be to give training to ALL human beings instead of a select few that can pay.  I've looked around the site and am curious, does ubuntu have a video documentation team?

examples include
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...ubuntu&pl=true

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...ubuntu&pl=true

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## thegreedyturtle

How do they actually pay for the tests after that?


 :Brick wall: 

I guess the knowledge is more important than the diploma right?

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## elemental666

You're paying for the test.  Are you suggesting that the people who administer the test, teach the training courses and oversee the requirements of the those resources should not be compensated for their time and effort?  Compensation for services is where you make money in open source.  Should that service be support, training, adminstration, development, etc. etc.  These are the jobs that keep Open Sources advocates out from under the bridges.  In a perfect world it would all be free (monetarily) and we wouldn't have to pay for groceries.  But this isn't a perfect world and we all have bills to pay.

The idea behind having to pay for a cert exam is in that the orginazation administering and perparing these exams serve as a point of accountability.  If the tests and training were free, then obtaining such certs would have no value.  LPIC certs require you retest periodically in order to maintain your status.  This acts as a proof that you've put out the effort to stay abreast of new developments and are capable of implementing them on some basic level.

Open Computing means that the tools are free, the ability to learn how to use the tools is free.  It does not however mean that I, having put out the effort to learn how to use these free tools, should be expected to "donate" my time and expertise.  I should be compensated so that I can feed my family.  Hey, you guys just saved a but load of money by using open solutions, that means you can afford to pay me what I'm worth.

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## rbroen

> However it seems a bit strange that an open source, community based operating system should rely on professional companies to charge quite a lot for certification and training.


You don't have to rely on expensive training. A good book here in Europe would cost 30 to 50 euro's and the exam is 125 euro's (=$150). Except for your computer, the rest is free (as in free beer). That's a lot better than most other certifications.

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## cmnorton

> <p>The Linux Professional Institute (<a href="http://www.lpi.org/">LPI</a>) and Canonical Ltd. have <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/news/ubuntucert">announced</a> the development of a certification exam for the Ubuntu distribution. The certification will consist of a single exam on top of LPIs existing 101 and 102 exams. Jim Lacey, President and CEO of the Linux Professional Institute, had this to say:</p>
> <blockquote ><p>We have long considered LPIC-1 to be the entry-level professional certification for all Linux distributions. This collaborative initiative with Ubuntu clearly demonstrates how Linux software developers can leverage our existing distribution-neutral program to create professional certification programs for their own software packages</p></blockquote>
> 
> 
> *Link To Original Article*


Is there any word about training materials, that is books or audiovisual specifically for the Ubuntu certification that is taken after LPIC-1 exams 101 and 102 are passed?

tnx
cmn

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