From owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jul 25 13:37:48 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 01A5C37B401 for ; Fri, 25 Jul 2003 13:37:48 -0700 (PDT) Received: from hawk.mail.pas.earthlink.net (hawk.mail.pas.earthlink.net [207.217.120.22]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 83EDD43F85 for ; Fri, 25 Jul 2003 13:37:47 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from mooneer@translator.cx) Received: from pool0324.cvx10-bradley.dialup.earthlink.net ([209.178.183.69] helo=D6T8V231) by hawk.mail.pas.earthlink.net with esmtp (Exim 3.33 #1) id 19g9Ju-00057j-00; Fri, 25 Jul 2003 13:37:43 -0700 From: "Mooneer Salem" To: "'Matthew D. Fuller'" Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 13:37:44 -0700 Message-ID: <000201c352ec$9aa8f770$1300a8c0@D6T8V231> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook, Build 10.0.3416 In-Reply-To: <20030725201850.GH11494@over-yonder.net> Importance: Normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165 cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: RE: BSD certification. X-BeenThere: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Non technical items related to the community List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 20:37:48 -0000 Hello, I guess the only way you can avoid being artificial would be to order services at the candidate's place of employment (like servers) and randomly monitor how the box is administered throughout the year. Even then that'd have problems (what if the guy/girl going for the certification isn't currently working?) Not to mention the extra expense the exam would then require. The way I outlined would probably be the closest approximation to a real systems administration situation (the prevention aspects of it could be covered in the multiple-choice/written portion). In short, there's really no perfect way to determine a candidate's competency other than through experience and their references. Thanks, -- Mooneer Salem "The 8-ball won't tell me if I'll pass the final!" lifeafterking.org: Life after HS -----Original Message----- From: Matthew D. Fuller [mailto:fullermd@over-yonder.net] Sent: Friday, July 25, 2003 1:19 PM To: Mooneer Salem Cc: 'Paul Robinson'; freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: BSD certification. On Fri, Jul 25, 2003 at 01:08:43PM -0700 I heard the voice of Mooneer Salem, and lo! it spake thus: > > Does anyone see any kind of fault with such a system? How could such a > system be improved? I think that the biggest fault is that the greatest measure of a sysadmin is more in how they avoid problems, and how they maintain systems long-term when there are no immediate 'problems', than in how they fix problem X in isolation. So, that practicum ends up being kinda... I dunno. "Artificial" is probably the best word. -- Matthew Fuller (MF4839) | fullermd@over-yonder.net Systems/Network Administrator | http://www.over-yonder.net/~fullermd/ "The only reason I'm burning my candle at both ends, is because I haven't figured out how to light the middle yet"