On Mon, Sep 7, 2009 at 9:56 PM, Dave Koelmeyer <[email protected]>wrote:
> Hi All, > > Not really a relevant question for this particular forum but I figure it's > worth a crack, I've asked something similar in the past (pre Oracle > acquisition announcement) and got really useful replies from the likes of > ux-admin et al. > I'm not sure that the Oracle announcement would change my thoughts on this one way or another. For various reasons now is about the best chance I will get (time wise) to > study for and eventually sit SCSA certification. I figure if the Oracle deal > goes through Solaris 10 (and eventually OpenSolaris I imagine) certification > would be a invaluable qualification to have. However the training materials > obviously cost quite a bit (esp. in my neck of the woods), and I am pretty > much beholden to purchase the course material amongst other things. > The training materials are free, so long as you don't feel the need for slideware. The last time I checked, the course objectives for the courses that are on the certification track are specified in enough detail that you can crack open the sysadmin guide (and potentially others) from docs.sun.comand map the chapters there to the course material. Instead of spending a bunch of money on instructor led courses, spend a lot less money on an x86 box that is capable of running a couple virtual box instances and an older but not ancient (i.e. something with a UltraSPARC III or IIIi or newer + 1 GB or more RAM) box. Throw in a used Cisco switch while you are at it. Use this equipment as you try to set up the various scenarios mentioned in the course overview and related Solaris documentation. What is the POV from the long-time sysadmins here about investing in > certification at this particular point in time? I figure if I wait until > this deal closes or whatever for some degree of certainty I end up > potentially wasting time I could spend training etc, but I also figure > however things turn out there would be enough Solaris shops around to keep > smart people busy for years to come (vis a vis this possible/probable FUD I > hear about Sun shops mass migrating to IBM etc etc). > Again, the acquisition has no bearing on my feelings. I have very little respect for Solaris certifications because they are just multiple choice tests. A person with some computer knowledge, a decent study guide, and good test taking skills will succeed even if they have never used Solaris. Such a person is useless as a sysadmin. Someone that hasn't studied for the exam but actually knows Solaris quite well has no advantage over a booksmart person. I do value the Red Hat certification because it tests your ability to apply knowledge. If you can pass the RHCE examination, there is a pretty good chance that I can give you a specification for a system to install/configure and you will be able to do it. If you are on the on-call rotation, there is a reasonable chance that you will be able to diagnose basic problems that come up. Many of the topics covered in the RHCE exam apply directly to Solaris systems and as such I view a RHCE as more likely to be a capable sysadmin than a SCSA. The one reason that I would suggest getting a Solaris certification is to satisfy the requirements of an employer that doesn't share my views. For instance, many consulting companies use the line "we have x thousand highly skilled and certified MSPCE (microsoft point and click engineers) that are available to work your account." Such companies are highly motivated to be sure everyone has a few certs. -- Mike Gerdts http://mgerdts.blogspot.com/
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