What objectives did you find the hardest to learn or understand?

YuckTheFankees

^ that was pretty much the whole question lol. Feel free to add anything else.

brownwrap

I don't know about posts that say, I studied for a month and passed Linux+. This really doesn't make sense to me. It seems a certification should show that you know the subject. How can anyone say they know an OS after a month? I haven't sat down and really studied Linux+ yet, but after a cursory look at the material, there is nothing that stands out as being difficult. I'm not saying I could pass the test right now, otherwise I'd take it. There is a lot of material to cover and learn, but nothing particularly difficult. I do know we hired someone with a Linux+ cert, and the poor guy just didn't know anything. We have SkillSoft at work, and I have taken and passed those tests, but as I said earlier, I wouldn't sit down at take the test. We a requirement to get our Solaris System Administration Certification. I purchased two books, a DVD for Solaris, read the books twice, and attended a class. In addition we had two SPARC workstations we could practice on. I finally took both tests and passed. On the other hand we had a 2nd employees who showed up without any certifications. He too was required to get the Sol Cert. He tried to memorize practice tests and nothing else. He had access to the same workstations I used to set up ZFS, iSCCI, and Zones. He never touched one of them. He failed the first test twice at $300 a pop, and never made it beyond that point. He was finally let go. The point I am trying to make is there isn't any short cut to knowing the subject. I have one Linux+ book, and ordered the Nutshell today. I probably will order some video tapes as well. I want the Linux+ because I am only interested in supporting Unix and Linux. I work in DOD and jobs are always asking for the cert. Even though I can show years of experience in administering Red Hat, DOD wants that cert, so I'll get it. But I don't want to go in and guess at the answers. Plus when I get it, I'd like it to mean something. I think going in, spending a month, passing the test, gives the certification a bad reputation.

YuckTheFankees

I can see where you are coming from about someone studying for 30 days and passing. I've worked with Linux in my current job for 6 months and Ive also passed the Linux+...and I still dont think 30 days is enough to fully grasp the material. Yes someone can definitely memorize what configuration file to edit for changing monitor settings, or what all the directories hold...but I don't think they will retain the information more than a couple months, if that.

I'm just asking this question because I'm thinking about starting a website for Linux beginners, and individuals who want to continue onwards to Red Hat certs.

brownwrap

Well, congratulations on your pass. I feel no where near ready to sit down and take the test and I have been playing with Linux since I loaded Slackware on a 386 with 4 MEG, not gig. I agree with your assessment as far as memorization works, but I was a taught early on that you don't necessarily need to memorize an answer, just remember where to get the answer. And with net access, you can find an answer on almost any of our questions.

ChooseLife

brownwrap wrote: »

I feel no where near ready to sit down and take the test and I have been playing with Linux since I loaded Slackware on a 386 with 4 MEG

Patrick, you are phenomenally humble

Ch@rl!3m0ng

YuckTheFankees wrote: »

I can see where you are coming from about someone studying for 30 days and passing. I've worked with Linux in my current job for 6 months and Ive also passed the Linux+...and I still dont think 30 days is enough to fully grasp the material. Yes someone can definitely memorize what configuration file to edit for changing monitor settings, or what all the directories hold...but I don't think they will retain the information more than a couple months, if that.

I'm just asking this question because I'm thinking about starting a website for Linux beginners, and individuals who want to continue onwards to Red Hat certs.

I would be interested in this. Have been messing about with Centos for a while now at work as our Linux/Unix team said it was just as good as RH. Still dont feel like I know enough to do Linux Plus. I have the book from Comptia but am just getting my M$ certs out the way first so I can spend a few months getting ready for the exam. Then looking at moving onto the RHCSA and then funds and time permitting RHCE (And If i turn out to be good enough as Dont know enough about N*X yet to make an informed choice)

ptilsen

Linux+ is very much an entry level certification. It is A+ for Linux. It does not represent depth of knowledge or a high skill level with Linux.

I have no doubt I could study for and pass Linux+ in a couple of weeks if I wanted. I have used Linux occasionally over the past five years or so, but I'm by no means an expert or even proficient. I may sit Linux+ this year just for fun and to brush up on my BASH (my employer will pay for the exam if I pass).

Any of the Comptia "+" are entry-level and should not be treated as indicative of deep skill with the subject. They illustrate a minimum level of basic knowledge and broad competency with the subject.

YuckTheFankees

Linux + is a entry level cert but it's probably the hardest Comptia cert. Anyone can memorize and pass comptia certs in 2-4 weeks, but actually retaining the information is what I was referring too.

Biznut

I found it difficult coming at the exam as a Linux/UNIX admin for many of the end-user focused questions. Configuring network, firewall, user management, processes? No problem. Changing monitor settings and various ways for setting the time (other than NTP), x windows settings? Not something I deal with regularly.

Passed first time around w/ just under 2 yrs enterprise Unix/linux admin experience

brownwrap

Biznut wrote: »

I found it difficult coming at the exam as a Linux/UNIX admin for many of the end-user focused questions. Configuring network, firewall, user management, processes? No problem. Changing monitor settings and various ways for setting the time (other than NTP), x windows settings? Not something I deal with regularly.

Passed first time around w/ just under 2 yrs enterprise Unix/linux admin experience

This is more like I would expect 2 years of experience and studying. When I see "I studied for 2 weeks and passed", I question the certification's value. That is the type of thing that gives certifications a bad reputation.

Excellent work, hope I can get through it.

YuckTheFankees

brownwrap wrote: »

This is more like I would expect 2 years of experience and studying. When I see "I studied for 2 weeks and passed", I question the certification's value. That is the type of thing that gives certifications a bad reputation.

Excellent work, hope I can get through it.

I agree with you. I think the Linux+ should be a little like the Red Hat exams, where you have to do some basic commands on a test system (edit different config files, or just change into different runlevel..basic stuff but with a little challenge).

brownwrap

Well, I just received the LPI Linux cert book from Nutshell. The Sybex book was just too boring for me. Anyway, I'd like to finish LPI I, II, and III. I think that would be worth something, though many in the industry might not recognize the following two. I still need to get back to my Linux From Scratch project as well. I just got bored with compiling all that stuff. I was more interested in the configuration aspect, like configuring X windows.