I was considering taking some courses from the linux foundation to get certified to improve job hunting prospects. Are they worth the money? Do employers take them seriously?
It depends very much which certifications you are referring to and which part of the world you live in.
I work in IT and certifications like Cisco certifications and high-end Security certifications are valuable.
Things like A+ certifications are not, at least where I live/work.
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the linux foundation has a sysadmin cert I was thinking of starting with and then possibly doing the cloud engineer cert they have. does this sound like a good idea or waste of time/money?
To be honest, I don’t know. That being said I have seen a lot of certs on resumes over the years and do not recall ever seeing anyone with Linux Foundation certs.
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good to know
Depends greatly on the certificate (many are utterly worthless) and on the employer and the industry (different companies have different requirements).
If you choose your certificates carefully, you can get much more value for your money and time than getting a college degree. Of course, a college degree tends to be more valuable in absolute terms, but it costs much, much more, and requires more time. Of course, there are many exceptions to this (many college degrees are utterly worthless, too) and it is very difficult to speak in general terms.
The best way to get specific information is to talk to people in your industry, and in your geographical area.
The absolute best way to get a certificate is for your employer to pay for it. You can’t go wrong that way, even if you end up with a relatively worthless certificate. Of course, this assumes you’re already employed…
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I’ve recently started going through the Linux Foundation courses myself. However, I’m really just doing it to “Linux better”, I don’t really care about the grade so I’m taking the free version without the testing. I’ve been tinkering with Linux since the mid-late 90’s when you still had to compile the kernel so, thus far, I’ve not seen a whole lot of “new stuff”. I suspect that will change as I get into the system admin courses and other more specialized topics though.
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Here’s a list https://hackr.io/blog/best-linux-certifications
Do you guys have experience with any of these, is it possible to get a job with them?
I’ve been working as a sys admin for the last 5 years, but not as an employee. I have a small business and doing all kinds of linux related tasks for a few dozen local companies. I just don’t see a long term future in this, so I’m thinking about preparing for something if I need to get a job, working as a sys admin would be nice.
It depends on the specific type of job, what part of the world you are in and the individual employer.
Where I am, CompTIA will only help you with the extreme entry-level jobs. I have seen a small percentage of jobs that are interested in LPIC/RH/LF certs but I think in most places those certs will do very little for you. It may be different in other parts of the world though.
As a general rule, experience is much more valuable than certification.
The only exceptions in technology that I have seen are Cisco certifications for Network Engineers, Security certs for Security professionals and cloud certifications. Some employers like PMI certs for project managers but that varies by employer.
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If you have an eye on something specific, I would first try to talk to people working there. Maybe you have a friend who has a friend inside?
In my case at least, that never failed, whereas applying blindly for a job listing was rarely successful.
Getting random certificates and applying for random jobs is almost certainly a waste of time and money, and the chances of actually getting a position you’ll be happy at in the long run are pretty slim.
In my country, we call this “Vitamin B”, wherein B stands for “Beziehungen” (i.e. relations).
(Sad, but unfortunately true.)
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I didn’t mean anything unethical or corrupt. Sure, there is plenty of that, and it usually works, but that’s not what I meant.
Having a friend on the inside is useful for the information – you learn what to expect on the job and what is expected of you (which is important when deciding whether you even want to apply for such a job), you get the idea of what is going to be discussed at the job interview, etc… And if someone on the inside recommends you to the HR, that’s obviously a big plus. But you have to be worthy of that recommendation, of course. If you are not, your friend is risking a lot by recommending you.
Thanks for your update. I didn’t necessarily mean anything unethical or corrupt, either.
Seems to me, the rat-race is becoming fiercer by the hour.
Glad to be retired, here.
Good, I got that impression when you said:
Personally, I don’t think there is anything unfortunate about good networking. It’s a good way to avoid making uninformed decisions.
Me neither. - It is the situation in general that bugs me. More people and less (paying) jobs.
Plus! - In my country, it always went like this: You had to have some credentials to bring along. Mostly manifest through your education (for beginners) and/or job-experience, where experience always was/is a plus…
Today, I get more and more of an impression that, regardless of what you may have accomplished, it simply doesn’t matter that much anymore.
Looking at my kids, they’re doing fine, but yet, still.
That’s how it is everywhere. If you know someone, you get ahead… Unfortunately, I don’t know anyone in the industry.
I was just curious, how often do people show up with certifications? And how much does an employer care about something like that?
Also, can you learn anything valuable by doing something like Red Hat’s certification and going through the material, instead of just spending 10 minutes on google?
That can’t be answered in general. Employers often have highly specified needs for specialized tasks, and they only keep seeking that match. Secondary skills (teaming, etc.) are next only. - So, it depends…