Is RHCE doable with either no or very little experience?
hiddenknight821
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I tried digging up an old thread on this to see what the others had to say on the topic. I understand that an RHCE with no experience is not favorable, and one would be skeptical about the cert-holder passing the exam. However, I've been reading that RHCE is a difficult test, and it has gotten harder than the previous version.
And not to mention, the test is a practical hand-on test. My question is: What is wrong with passing the RHCE exam with no experience? That person could've been unemployed, labbing numerous times in his mom's basement a whole year. Let's just say he's on the rise kind of like how Scott Morris started out. If there exists a fellow TE member who have done this, I'd definitely like to hear their stories on how they did it without experience.
And not to mention, the test is a practical hand-on test. My question is: What is wrong with passing the RHCE exam with no experience? That person could've been unemployed, labbing numerous times in his mom's basement a whole year. Let's just say he's on the rise kind of like how Scott Morris started out. If there exists a fellow TE member who have done this, I'd definitely like to hear their stories on how they did it without experience.
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Without experience, I think RHCE and other practical exams hold A LOT more weight than multiple choice exams. I also think it's tough to test ahead of your skillset in linux as long as you're honest unlike CCNP MCSE and other tests that can be passed by remembering answers.
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A year of labbing.. while being unemployed? - Wow! I'd say he would be experienced enough to pass almost ANY linux exam even with no prior knowledge!
PS I interviewed several people who passed MS-oriented, CCNA, and RHCA by cheating - got the **** and learned them by heart. (YEAH, there are **** for RHCA - i wuz shocked!). First i didn't realize they cheated. I just could not understand, how somebody with ccna cert cannot distinguish between tcp and icmp protocols, or someone with RHCA cert doesn't know what insmod command is, or a guy with MS cert, who does know MS Exchange server REALLY well, but has no idea about smtp protocol(just to mention a few). Like.. WHAT THE HELL ?!
The answer was simple: some companies get the **** for their stuff -> they get the certs, and then the company gets *some* benefits from different vendors. Personally I know several guys with such certs, but they would NEVER present them on interviews, or mention about such certs in their resume, because they know IT'S A FAKE. By showing a cert, that was earned with ****, one is lowering the value of a certification itself, and undermines the reputation of vendor, which in turn affect on others, - conscientious cert-holders.
Speaking about expierience and rhce exam: perhaps you wanted to ask if someone, who has linux background, but who doesn't maintain\deploy\administer linux servers on a daily basis would pass the rhce exam? - I'd say yeah, it's doable, BUT with neccessary preparation, - read the books, do the labs, and you'll be fine. Otherwise, don't count on tricking ANY exam, whether it's hands-on, or point'n'click. AND - it's totally ok, if you are not maintaining any linux sites at the moment. By preaparing for the exam you gain experience - something that is priceless, especially in IT sphere.
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IMHO
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By all means, if you can study for the test and pass the test go for it. Just don't expect a senior role to land in your lap. There are many soft skills you develop in the trenches that studying for an exam will not teach you.
So because of the 'no-experience' stigma, I was a bit concerned that even a honest RHCE holder may can't break in a junior-level role as hiring managers wouldn't want to bother waste time hiring them as they're more likely to hop to the next job that pays more within a few months after hiring. So if he's already not qualified for a senior-role, then what other choice does he have.
That'd be a Catch-22 situation. That'd be like telling him he's not even allowed to be RHCE certified without experience. Hence, the reason I asked the question. Sorry if my first post was confusing.
Heh! I'd argue that a year is enough to get the RHCA, but that's just my opinion.
I'm rather shocked that one can **** the RHCA exam. That tells me that Red Hat doesn't recycle their exam questions as often as they should or they didn't randomize it enough. Or maybe the so-called RHCA has some sort of anxiety or mental issue where they can only answer questions if you put them in front of a computer rather than trying to interview them.
I think this is a valid concern. Another option then would be to get RHCE-level knowledge and not mention that you have the certificate. After all you should be doing it for the knowledge and not just the piece of paper. It sucks but it eliminates that hiring manager overqualified concern. Of course once you get the job you can then update your LinkedIn and resume
Additionally, in order to be an RHCE one must first pass the RHCSA, which alone should be able to get an individual experience, while they work towards their RHCE.
If you're asking the question about yourself -- because you're hesitant to get the certification based on your own professional history --I think you have more than enough Linux experience to confidently display the cert on your resume. I'd even volunteer to be used as a reference to attest to that.
Certs: RHCSA, LFCS: Ubuntu, CNCF CKA, CNCF CKAD | AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, AWS Solutions Architect Pro, AWS Certified Security Specialist, GCP Professional Cloud Architect
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First you need the associate Red Hat Cert...than go on to the Expert Level.
Now back to the real world, and let's assume you mastered the exams.
You will NEVER EVER get a job in that field WITHOUT that exam, because you can not prove Linux skills. With the exam, you can.
Don't apply for senior jobs in first instance, yep, experience is needed. But you could start with a non senior job and gain the experience.
No BA, no Doc, no Master...no one learns Linux stuff in that deep like the RH track offers you...everybody needs to start somewhere without experience.
If you find a HR guy who tells you that you are useless due to the lack of experience,... present him this .|.. !!!!
If you're dead set on a Linux certification for something entry level then try the RHCSA first. Since you would have to obtain it prior to going for the RHCE anyways. In my opinion with the Linux field, you don't need to have certifications, but you need to know Linux inside and out. The learning curve is much steeper than Windows since its designed in an entirely different way.
I bridged the gap from Windows admin to Linux admin about a year and a half ago by studying Linux + and labbing like a mad man (FYI I've obtained Linux + and RHCSA). Not that I needed to get the certification, but they certainly helped. The biggest thing is experience or showing where you've developed experience. There are other ways of gaining experience like volunteering as an extra set of hands for repetitive tasks, possibly with a Linux admin at your job place or in your area?
In summary, the Linux field is very hard to get into because a lot of positions require 3 years of experience working with it and having scripting knowledge or programming knowledge. I'm still having trouble finding higher level Linux based positions that will accept my skill set because I lack programming experience.
It seems impossible to get a mid-senior level Linux position without at least some basic shell scripting experience now. Most Linux jobs seem to put all emphasis on automation and orchestration of [large] distributed systems. But just a few short months of picking up a language and/or popular configuration management system can take an individual far in the Linux side of the field.
Certs: RHCSA, LFCS: Ubuntu, CNCF CKA, CNCF CKAD | AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, AWS Solutions Architect Pro, AWS Certified Security Specialist, GCP Professional Cloud Architect
Learn: Terraform, Kubernetes, Prometheus & Golang | Improve: Docker, Python Programming
To-do | In Progress | Completed
I agree. Learn scripting to automate and orchestrate and you will go far.
Even Microsoft is moving towards PowerShell and non-GUI environments. The default install option for Server 2012 is server core (i.e. no GUI) and GUI option is not even available for new Server 2016 install (you can add in back via PowerShell after installation is complete). Some of the newer Windows Server 2012 configuration settings can only be accessed via PowerShell scripts. And Microsoft did announce Nano Server
That's the absurdity of the market...you need experience in scripting but you get no chance to obtain it....scripting is something which hard to learn in a private lab environment.
Reading books is a start and following examples. Trying to automate or script even the simplest tasks will show you some challenges that you may come across. I am far from a scripting guru but showing a base knowledge got me past the initial interview stages.
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity
I disagree. As weird as it may seem, most technical interview questions for Linux positions seem to just want an individual to know what grep, sed, and awk are and use cases in when you'd need to use them. Even if you can't get the syntax down pat but can display you know what a man page is and/or what to Google to get the syntax, they'll be fine with that. After that, knowing what exit codes and arguments are, and how to display (echo) what exit code a script returned and what arguments were passed are enough. Almost all of that you'll learn just by using Linux. They'll then write you off as someone who has "scripting knowledge."
When you start going into languages other than shell scripting, it's as easy as taking a Python/Ruby/Perl/PHP/Java/Go/Scala etc MOOC or reading a book. Comp Sci students go straight from graduation into becoming full on developers, without any on-the-job experience. I don't think it's too hard to learn some basic scripting on your own within 2 or 3 months and then refine what you've learned at work from there on.
Knowing only Shell Scripting is usually enough to land a Linux job. Knowing say Shell Scripting and Ruby will get you extremely far. You don't need to be a polyglot programmer - just know 1 or 2 languages and have the drive and know-how to fill in the gaps when needed to automate a specific task.
Certs: RHCSA, LFCS: Ubuntu, CNCF CKA, CNCF CKAD | AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, AWS Solutions Architect Pro, AWS Certified Security Specialist, GCP Professional Cloud Architect
Learn: Terraform, Kubernetes, Prometheus & Golang | Improve: Docker, Python Programming
To-do | In Progress | Completed
I mostly used linuxacademy for coursework. The course is good, but has few gaps. One thing that really helped was automating all RHCE objectives to learn scripting and experience with git.
If I cannot find a job, I will finish the few AWS projects I am working on and continue building my github repo.
Armed with RHCE, there will be a job for you somewhere. Good luck.