Changes to the Red Hat Certified Engineer program

https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/announcing-evolution-red-hat-certified-engineer-program

by BossingAround • 7 years ago

63 48 7 years ago

aequitas• 7 years ago

I don't know if these exams are still in the same format but I've always found them wildly more relevant compared to other exams as they focus on practical knowledge and problem solving skills instead of your skill to remember command line flags or your skills in multiple choice guessing game.

reallydontask• 7 years ago

I must admit that i've only looked at sample exams rather than actually having taken one but I have to say that I agree with you.

I think Microsoft's exams are changing to be less of a multiple choice guessing game but the Red Hat seem to be the gold standard for certifications. (Speaking from a limited POV)

ratling3• 7 years ago

For now. The IBM sale made it a no brainer for us to migrate off CentOS last year. They 'could' not mess up Red Hat but I'm not betting against IBM's track record.

xaldir• 7 years ago

Linux Foundation exams are quite good on this aspect too (sadly they became quite expensive).

pnutjam3• 7 years ago

Suse uses the SCA certs, I'm not sure if they are any cheaper through Suse.

mgerdts• 7 years ago

Indeed. Back in the dark ages I interviewed lots of sysadmins in a Solaris shop. Those that had a RHCE generally knew their way around a unix box. Other certifications did little other than indicate that the person worked somewhere that required the other certification.

weirdtunguska3• 7 years ago

As a physicist by training that has been working as a data scientist and believing that the data science bubble will burst sooner rather than later, are these certifications a good path to help change course and keep myself relevant?

reacharavindh• 7 years ago

I'm curious to hear others' comments on this as well. Let me share my thoughts.

I'm a sysadmin for a HPC cluster. I do not have any of these certs. I think my day job involves a lot of diagnosing issues which involves detailed understanding of how the system works rather than actually developing any parts of that system.

A second fun part of this job is when designing infrastructure for use by others. To take into consideration all that can go wrong, performance characteristics of hardware, software, and workload and trade one off for other can be really challenging and fun if you're into that sort of a thing.

I'm not sure the RedHat certs will help you all the way through, although they might be a good starter in this regard. A lot is obtained by getting hands dirty and learning by making mistakes.

If you're into managing systems and building/engineering infrastructure, I'd wholeheartedly recommend spending time with small scale infrastructure in a "homelab" setting or if you can afford $$ with VMs in the cloud even.

Cheers!

pnutjam3• 7 years ago

I don't have any certs and I'm a senior Linux admin. I like the Suse track.

I would persue them before RH, https://training.suse.com/certification/

linuxftw2• 7 years ago

They're a good starting point. The Linux side is very broad and there's high demand.

BossingAround3• 7 years ago

They definitely are a really good starting point... Passing this exam (which is positioned as 'intermediate/advanced linux knowledge' exam) will let the possible employers know you've got potential, and that you're not a complete newbie wrt Linux. That said, it'll get you an interview, not a job.

couterSpell3• 7 years ago

I find certifications good for really three things:

1.) Having a structured curriculum to learn something new. All my tech skills are self-taught, and it's useful to have a structured learning path.

2.) Validating your skills, especially when you're changing careers. I went from working in call centers to AWS Systems Architect/Linux SysAdmin by virtue of a couple of certs.

3.) Sometimes employers require certain certifications as a condition of employment (or continued employment). This one can be a bit sticky, though. Make sure those certifications make sense for the role. I can't tell you how many job listings I see wanting CompTIA A+. Unless you're applying to work for Geek Squad, you probably don't need an A+ cert (which asks things like 'What is RAM'? 'What is Bluray?').

If you want to get into Linux, getting a couple of certs won't hurt. Red Hat's certs are probably the most well-respected, but of course are centered around Red Hat Enterprise Linux (and by extension CentOS).

If you want a good cert path for Debian, go with the Linux Foundation certs. Linux Foundation's certs are less well-known, but also practical exams.

I would avoid LPIC and CompTIA Linux+ certs (NOTE: I am Linux+ and LPIC-1 certified). They are multiple choice exams and really emphasize based on rote memorization of command flags, which really isn't useful to be an actual Linux SysAdmin. Then's the last time you ran into a bzip2 archive? I can't remember the last time I did, but I still remember that tar xjf will unzip one. But, of course, if I did run into a bzip2 in the wild, I can just as easily read the tar man page. Thanks LPIC!

linuxftw2• 7 years ago

In the latest versions of tar, no need to specify compression type if it has a valid extension.

k__4• 7 years ago

This.

There are some good certs, like AWS and RHCE and some really crappy ones.

Talk to people before doing them to get a feeling if they're worth it.

lowken10• 7 years ago

I don't see the data science bubble bursting. Data is the fuel of the 21st century economy and I don't see that changing.

weirdtunguska3• 7 years ago

From a data scientist that has been working as an architect for data systems for some time now, the way that data science was done 2 years ago changed considerably to how we do data science and design data systems geared to machine learning today. Data can be the "fuel" the economy, but the extreme demand for data scientists that need to know a huge number of things, from statistics do machine learning to programming, databases and so on, is reducing, and more specialized roles, like machine learning engineer, is growing. That´s the reason for my comment: the bubble of data scientist highly skilled over a vast number of areas is dying, and data scientists need to start to specialize to survive.

robbyt• 7 years ago

I do not agree that data science is a bubble. However, I think everyone who uses Linux professionally would benefit from training, (and the redhat training/certification is quite good).

zantana2• 7 years ago

For what its worth I would, as a system administrator, I would say falling back to infrastructure administration on the level that the RHCE helps with, won't keep you relevant, unless you're moving into an area which specifically requires it.

I go my RHCE 5 years ago and it was a great primer on how Linux systems run and I recommend it to anyone interested in modern Linux. It will give you many insights which will help you in the future in understanding how Linux works. I was moving over from Windows administration and it was a godsend.

That said this lower level of administration is becoming harder to break into, with automation, containers, ease of use improvements and the cloud, the need for the properly managed system is dwindling. I'm sure there will be a need for a long time, but they generally won't be good jobs. If you have some technical proficiency already I would say there are better places to improve your prospects.

Also the test is hard to prepare for so there is a time commitment and it does expire (I'm no longer an RHCE :() so there is that.

I hope that helps.

uneasy-sausage2• 7 years ago

I was hoping you could expand on your statement of prospects for those with technical proficiency? What are your thoughts on proper skill investment if some of the skills associated with formal RHCE seem to be decreased.

kbenson• 7 years ago

I go my RHCE 5 years ago and it was a great primer on how Linux systems run and I recommend it to anyone interested in modern Linux. It will give you many insights which will help you in the future in understanding how Linux works. I was moving over from Windows administration and it was a godsend.

I'm not sure it entirely still works, but for anyone that wants a much deeper look into how a system Linux is put together and how a lot of the parts interact (at a higher level, but still a level often not covered), check out the Linux From Scratch project.[1] Around 2001 or 2002 I was helping to design a small custom Linux distro with some friends, and going through this project was invaluable for learning a lot of how a GNU/Linux system was put together and functions as a whole.

There really is something to be said for manually going through every step, and compiling every software package, and experiencing the functionality it provides, since a good chunk of the work is done in a chroot after you've bootstrapped it enough to make it minimally viable.

1: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/stable/

rambojazz• 7 years ago

Can I ask you why it's a bubble? I don't work on "data science" but I feel like data, and in particular working with large amounts of data, is valuable.

weirdtunguska3• 7 years ago

Sure. I consider that the way we do data science and hire data scientists is a bubble because it´s unsusteinable and business are asking more and more about the returns of the large, expensive investments on "artificial intelligence". No doubt that working with data is getting more and more valuable, but the way it is done today is changing, and fast.

CraigJPerry• 7 years ago

Hands down the best examination format I have ever taken. I have a few certs in this area but the RHCE is an excellent model of how to examine someone's skillset.

I wish more, maybe even most, technical certifications followed this model.

The one down side was the fact they weren't willing to give performance feedback. I got 96.4% overall and was absolutely gutted I couldn't find out the reason I missed (still a respectable score - I believe the average score is a fail).

There was a section at the end with 3 different tasks and you should choose 2. I finished pretty early so I decided to do the 3rd, i reviewed and reviewed my work before I left that workstation, I can't see what else I did wrong. Would love to know.

mrbill• 7 years ago

I got mine back in the RHEL4 days, got a 97%, and yeah its bugged me for years as I want to know what I got wrong.

Probably the "hardest", most involved, "gotta know your shit" certification I've ever done.

I definitely felt like I'd earned it.

flukus• 7 years ago

Could an employer reliable use this as an indication that an employee is at least competent? If so I'd love a programming equivalent and be able to avoid FizzBuzz like tests.

BossingAround3• 7 years ago

This has changed nowadays; they'll give you feedback on what you got wrong.

ausjke2• 7 years ago

I have been interested in linux certification for a while, but I'm not a redhat user, I use debian/ubuntu.

How does RHCE compare to LPC certification? I'm not even sure if Ubuntu has similar certificates for testing.

couterSpell3• 7 years ago

I'm assuming you mean the LPIC certification?

LPIC certification: "Vendor neutral," meaning you need to memorize (note I said memorize, not learn) how both Debian and RHEL do things. For example, you'll be tested both on YUM and APT.

LPIC certifications are multiple choice, and really come down to rote memorization of flags. You're also tested on stuff of questionable relevance, like X11, desktop environments, and CUPS. If you're supporting Linux desktops, that stuff is probably important. But Linux deployed mostly on servers.

RHSA: RHEL/CentOS-only, and performance based. You can use man pages during the exam, so you can concentrate what commands do what and how to configure things. This is opposed to LPIC, where you're more focused on obscure flags.

Ubuntu has no vendor-specific exam. If you really want to stick with Debian/Ubuntu, go with the Linux Foundation certs. They're performance-based and you can choose to do it on Debian.

ausjke2• 7 years ago

Thanks a lot. I was unaware of LF certs.

mancerayder• 7 years ago

Hm. I have mixed feelings reading this. I'm a very experienced Linux admin that rebranded to DevOps, and I can tell you no one outside of government/academia or slower organizations like (some legacy groups within) banks cares about your awk and zsh skills, or even kernel internals.

They do care about coding, very very much. I get slammed with coding challenges, sometimes even before talking to a real human, and once three separate rounds, in interviews.

Think they care you can set up a mail server, troubleshoot IO issues, read a tcpdump. Well the answer is they might. But Docker, extensive AWS and Python or Ruby at the software engineer level? They will.

RIP systems administration and RHCE relevance.

Don't waste your time if you're looking for a new job, for instance. Your time is better spent on the examples above. And soon, Kubernetes.

rurban• 7 years ago

They change it to "Red Hat Certified Ansible Specialist", no kidding. Relevance going from 80% to 20%.

technofiend• 7 years ago

So I attended Summit the past few years and each time sat on an education panel run by the head of Red Hat's education program. Most recently we discussed Red Hat Learning Subscription and the relative difficulty of the Red Hat Certified Architect track. RHCA requires the student complete certified sysadmin, certified engineer and then 5 more courses.

In previous years RHCA required passing two gauntlet exams: Performance Tuning and Troubleshooting. These exams are no joke and will trip up senior sysadmins. Many RHCAs were upset that Red Hat lowered the bar by removing those two exams and not creating equivalent exams on the other tracks which are for development or devops concentrations instead of classic system administration.

In my personal opinion Red Hat should have instead created multiple red hat certified engineer certifications for each of the various concentrations which could then feed into Red Hat certified architect certifications.

Last year the head of the education program stated he wanted redhat certified architect to eventually be the equivalent of getting the notoriously difficult and rigorous CCIE. As a RHEL 6 and 7 RHCE with this move I feel like they've gone the other direction.

Changes to the Red Hat Certified Engineer program

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