08.27.04
Holy Great Mooby the Golden Cow!
2004, August 27th
I have just been through a life- and perspective-altering experience. OK, not just now, but over the last week. In particular, it took place today.
First, a little background: I have always considered the professional certification process to be, largely, a waste of time. People who have proudly announced their attainment of an MCSA or MCSE (or ZZRN or whatever letters sounded impressive) on their resumes have always amused me. When I was interviewing prospective employees, the only certification I ever took seriously was a CCIE or better from Cisco. My coworkers and I frequently joke that an MC?? is the least qualified person for just about any computer job. I know recruiters that will not consider a resume with MCSE on it unless it comes with a personal recommendation from someone they know.
My perspective changed today when I took the RHCE exam. I reiterate, HOLY … COW! That was a tough exam. In the future, when I see a RHCE on a business card, I’ll consider that person to be a worthy sysadmin type. This is a tough test.
RedHat has honestly impressed me in the following ways:
- The test has absolutely no multiple guess questions.
- The test takes most of a day to complete.
- The test actually has real-world(tm) applicability.
- The test is HARD.
- Did I mention it was HARD?
Not to toot my own horn, but I consider myself to be a competent trouble-shooter. The first part of the test I completed in (literally) 40% of the allotted time and scored 100%. I had actually passed in 20% of the allotted time, but decided to “go for glory” and complete some optional items. These took as long to complete as the part I had already passed. These problems were similar to ones I had seen in real life. This probably explains why I found this part of the test to be straight-forward.
Then, in a room full of computer professionals, not one of us left the second part of the exam before time ran out. Not ONE!
This is not intended to indicate what losers we are, but exactly how tough this test really is. I may have passed. I don’t know yet. (A follow-up is almost sure to come.) I think/hope I did, but we will see. The point is that we all took the fully allotted time to try and eek out the last shread of credit that we could, just in case.
No one walked out claiming to have aced it.
If you have RHCE on your business card (especially for Enterprise 3,) you have my respect. You have passed one helluva tough exam.
Peace.
And to Ralph (you know who you are:) Great class. It was fun. I learned a lot. And have fun in Boston.
Out.
Follow-up
2004, September 1st