Any Value of LPIC ?

zobo88

Is there any value of having LPIC certification ?

It seems to be that it has very little 'brand value' and most of the time the prospective employers are not even aware of any such thing as LPIC and there is never a job ad which states LPIC certification as a Plus point

so it is worth doing ?

I have done LPIC 1 and LPIC 201 and preparing for LPIC 202 but now it feels that I am just wasting time by trying to remember obscure command line switches and conf file options

chrisone

I cannot elaborate much on the market for such skills since I am not in the field for the area of system/server support. However I would assume Linux skills are demanding, however i am not to sure how deep or expert wise one needs to be for job hunting recognition. Maybe perhaps you are going too deep into the linux and need to focus on some Microsoft certification? Perhaps a network+ wouldn't be to bad in order to get a start on your network foundation.

lordy

If you already have 201 done there is no point in quitting now. Finish 202 and consider LPIC done.

rogue2shadow

lordy wrote: »

If you already have 201 done there is no point in quitting now. Finish 202 and consider LPIC done.

I agree. LPIC-2 definitely a feat and its definitely something to be proud of. I'm not too familiar with the value of LPIC but I would have to assume it would definitely look good for LINUX/UNIX administrators; also gaining the skills you gain via training for it will be priceless and rewarding in years to come.

brownwrap

zobo88 wrote: »

Is there any value of having LPIC certification ?

It seems to be that it has very little 'brand value' and most of the time the prospective employers are not even aware of any such thing as LPIC and there is never a job ad which states LPIC certification as a Plus point

so it is worth doing ?

I have done LPIC 1 and LPIC 201 and preparing for LPIC 202 but now it feels that I am just wasting time by trying to remember obscure command line switches and conf file options

I have worked nearly exclusively on Unix and Linux since 1988. I don't know the value of certs in general, rarely have I ever been asked for one, but I am pursuing LPIC for what's in the cert. I have been asked to set up Apache, and have done so. Sendmail too. But when I was looking for a job, I was asked about BIND and didn't know a thing about it. That's what I don't like about certification. If its just a bunch of memorization, like I did with Security+, then its useless. But if I actually learn the topic, there is some value to it.

UnixGuy

zobo88 wrote: »

... most of the time the prospective employers are not even aware of any such thing as LPIC and there is never a job ad which states LPIC certification as a Plus point

...

+1 that's my observation

zobo88

UnixGuy wrote: »

+1 that's my observation

which means that having or not having a LPIC certification does not make any difference?

UnixGuy

zobo88 wrote: »

which means that having or not having a LPIC certification does not make any difference?

No I never said that, but I just notice - as the OP said - that a lot of employers are not aware of this cert. Of course if you learn the material in this cert and built new skills, then it's definitely worth it.

zobo88

UnixGuy wrote: »

No I never said that, but I just notice - as the OP said - that a lot of employers are not aware of this cert. Of course if you learn the material in this cert and built new skills, then it's definitely worth it.

I am the OP
the point is that the LPIC certification itself does not seem to add any value to your resume, the only value is from the skills that you learn and you can learn them even without the cert

UnixGuy

zobo88 wrote: »

I am the OP
the point is that the LPIC certification itself does not seem to add any value to your resume, the only value is from the skills that you learn and you can learn them even without the cert

Hi OP

yes that's exactly what I think: the value is in the material rather than the cert, most employers aren't even aware what the LPIC is. If you want recognition for a cert then go for RHCE

iSpaZZZ

I realise that there aren't a great deal of employers asking for the LPIC, (I've only seen a few) but i really think it's worth doing.

Some of them say thing along the lines of some Linux experience certification desirable. It's a great way to bolster say 1-2 years of experience, even if the employee isn't asking explicitly for the EXACT cert. It's simply a way of objectively measuring you skills - which is always a plus!

Bl8ckr0uter

I have wondered about the value of the cert myself. Good to see others are on the same page.

Chris:/*

I have seen more requests for Linux+ vs any of the LPIC but more often than not they want Red Hat certifications. This is true even if they do not use Red Hat because of the transportable skills that you have proven during the test.

brownwrap

Chris:/* wrote: »

I have seen more requests for Linux+ vs any of the LPIC but more often than not they want Red Hat certifications. This is true even if they do not use Red Hat because of the transportable skills that you have proven during the test.

Prior to this job I used RH for five years, but once it was set up we didn't touch it much, so there were a number of things like DNS that I wasn't exposed to. I'll use Linux+ to get LPC1, then move on to LPC2 and 3. I figure that will fill in the holes.

I'd like the RH cert because I do see it asked for. The other I will use just as learning tools. I don't really care to pile up cert just to put them after my name. I see too many people doing that already, and to me that is what makes the certs worthless. I studied to get the Sec+, but have already forgotten a chunk of it. That test is simply memorization. At least with the Linux certs I can try to set up bind, set up Apache, MySQL, and the like.

Chris:/*

I do agree that the RH certs are very good for teaching out to work in Linux and appropriately configure and troubleshoot. The certifications material really does not teach much theory or architecture though as you mentioned.

learn2success

I would also agreed! if you study and pass the LPI exam it is definitely worth it. it is not so popular right now but gaining attention.
have experience in Linux is always a plus point.

onesaint

I took a Linux+ class at my local CC. It's was nicely detailed in some fundamental topics. Things that are good to know. It did not touch things that a mid level Linux Admin should know though. The RHCSA touched over the Linux+ things briefly, but went over a broader scope of admin duties, with maybe a tad less detail. I found this interesting.

Most interesting is that neither touched on many things that need be know to pick up a mid level Linux admin position (e.g., scripting, regex, PAM, LDAP, etc.). It seems you need a collection of books with animal pictures on them for that.

certs4me

I did LPIC 1 some years ago when the cert was new and thought it would gain more recognition. It has but not as much as I'd hoped. I still like it since it's distribution neutral and I'll probably renew the cert at some point. It never helped me get a job but I did use the skills when I had to occasionally administer CentOS servers.