What it be safe to say?

ITrascal

I'm familiar with linux on a moderate level. But was leaning toward the RHCSA. I prefer debian but do to demand in my area i'mma go the redhat direction. Is is safe to say that i can kinda put my knowledge of deb on the backburner so to speak since this is all or mostly rpm content? That way i can concentrate on one package. Or do i need to strive to master both?

masq

I know one guy with RHCE cert, who -really- loves Debian, and he uses only Deb-based distros in production(i mean, he works with real productions, not some home-labs , or works for some company that can afford only a single cheap All-in-one server - but thousands(!) of servers around the world). As he says - it's not much difference, what distro you choose, it's only a question of personal preference. I totally agree with that. As you master the basics of Linux Administration, it gets a lot easier to dig into another distro, like switching from deb-based to rpm-based distro, or vice versa. Most sysadmins I know stick to one distro in the end, but of course they can work with many. - It all depends on your IT "environment" so to say, on the positions you were, and will be in the future(yeah, you should at least try to predict what will be valuable in the IT labour market in next years. )
But, i would say you should definitely go with RH, - If there is such a "demand", that means that you are expected to have experience working with rhel/sles/centos distros, and companies(read = employers) in your area are using these in production. Simple as that. - It's totally ok to stick to one distro, especially if you are a beginner.
Just my opinion.

Verities

If you want to pursue the RHCSA I can guarantee that your Debian knowledge will help you with learning Red Hat. As Masq said once you know Linux fundamentals, you can move from one distro to the next without many hurdles. Having previous experience with Debian, helped me learn RHEL, and having that combined experience I was able to learn HPUX and Solaris. I do recommend keeping notes (I use One Note tabs) for each distro you use so that if you ever need to reference back to a command or conf file you don't have to search too hard for it.

Bodanel

If you know Debian it will not be dificult for you to go RHCSA/RHCE. One of my formers employer only had Debian in production but specifically asked for an RHCE certified because of the practical nature of the exam. As a matter of preference I use RHEL/CENTOS in production but I use an ARCH on my home rig.
I recommend cherrytree application for note taking. Is cross-platform and is very rich in features.