From owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Jul 9 02:19:13 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 CB95537B401 for ; Wed, 9 Jul 2003 02:19:13 -0700 (PDT) Received: from hannibal.servitor.co.uk (hannibal.servitor.co.uk [195.188.15.48]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2943E43F75 for ; Wed, 9 Jul 2003 02:19:13 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from paul@hannibal.servitor.co.uk) Received: from paul by hannibal.servitor.co.uk with local (Exim 4.14) id 19aB6c-000Jjb-8j; Wed, 09 Jul 2003 10:19:18 +0100 Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2003 10:19:18 +0100 From: Paul Robinson To: William Fletcher Message-ID: <20030709091918.GU40220@iconoplex.co.uk> References: <20030709083224.GI97680@tulip.epweb.co.za> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable In-Reply-To: <20030709083224.GI97680@tulip.epweb.co.za> Sender: Paul Robinson 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: Wed, 09 Jul 2003 09:19:14 -0000 On Wed, Jul 09, 2003 at 10:32:24AM +0200, William Fletcher wrote: > I was just wondering what would be a good certification for a person > who doesn't have any. Preferably something with a little bit of challenge. > And, preferably FreeBSD specific. =20 Two years ago when I was working for the 3-employers-ago company, I came up with the idea of a decent BSD-specific qualification program. It got built out on paper to include Apache, Sendmail, etc. configuation and management. The idea was to make it more useful (and valuable) than any of the rather cruddy (IMHO) Solaris or Redhat certs. Delivery and even examination would= =20 be on-line, with the curriculum available to training centres who would wan= t=20 to "value-add" and provide classroom training. In principle however, you=20 would be able to get stuck in from anywhere in the world for a relatively= =20 low cost. Even though it would be cheap, it would be intentionally of a hig= h=20 standard (read: quite hard to do) to keep it's "value" up there above the= =20 rest. I did quite a bit of work on it before realising the market was too small. = =20 That market has grown since though, and it's something that I might look at again next year - I'm happy to look into going into parternship with somebody else who wants to do some work on it right now. Bizzarely, I'm now working for a department inside a UK University developing a brand new e-learning delivery platform, so some of the experience here might rub off and I might end up building it anyway. The biggest problem is that ideally a formal accreditation model needs to b= e=20 drawn up, it should take note of CPD activites already completed, ideally w= e=20 should be looking to see an application of learning, etc. and that's all in= =20 the realms of academia. If there are any academics who want to get involved= =20 in something like this, just get in touch. I feel a tad out of my depth,=20 even though I'm now immersed in the whole environment. Note: tutorials at conferences and reading o'reilly books is NOT the same a= s=20 working through a formal accredited certification. They will address skill= =20 gaps, but they are address specific problem domains rather than providing= =20 you with the information to address new problem domains on your own. =20 > Otherwise, any other interesting courses?=20 Like Terry pointed out, the tutorials at BSD con might be your best bet thi= s=20 year as long as you see them for what they are. =20 > I'd like to get my cissp, before I turn 25.=20 CCNA is a good one to get if you want to work in the ISP/carrier market,=20 even if you don't want to touch the network, just the servers. It's=20 interesting too, I think. I'm planning to do CCNA exams later this year jus= t=20 when I get a little more spare time. =20 > Sorry I didn't check the mailing lists\google. Somebody in the office > suggested I try get my boss to send me on a FreeBSD course. Since > he wants to do redhat certification if he can. Some people really rate the redhat stuff. I don't. I don't rate the=20 Sun/solaris stuff either. And don't get me started on MSCE. Anyway, anybody interested in working on a FBSD certification programme? --=20 Paul Robinson