Date: Sun, 07 May 2000 11:39:09 -0500 From: "G. D. Charnay" <gdcharnay@nfinity.com> To: webmaster@FreeBSD.ORG Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Fwd: Re: FreeBSD Professional Certification??? Message-ID: <4.3.1.2.20000507113725.00ad7ca0@nfinity.com>
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Retransmitted. TS >X-POP3-Rcpt: gdcharnay@nfinity.com >X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise Internet Agent 5.5.3.1 >Date: Sun, 07 May 2000 11:09:11 -0500 >From: "TOM SIMPSON" <toms@chirock.com> >To: <webmaster@FreeBSD.ORG> >Cc: <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG> >Subject: Fwd: Re: FreeBSD Professional Certification??? > >Here are some informative comments from an official of The Linux >Professional Institute, which I hope can be forwarded to the proper >parties in the FreeBSD organization. > >This is FYI and any use you may care to make of it. > >Thank you. > >TS >Date: Sun, 07 May 2000 10:59:30 -0500 >From: "TOM SIMPSON" <toms@chirock.com> >To: <evan@starnix.com> >Subject: Re: FreeBSD Professional Certification??? >Mime-Version: 1.0 >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII >Content-Disposition: inline > >Yes. Thanks, Evan. You gave me much more than I expected, but your >remarks are just about "right on" as to what I expected they might be on >the issues you discuss. > >Please understand that I have no illusions about any of this. If it ever >comes to pass, it will have been a long, hard, and difficult row to hoe >for FreeBSD. > >Thank you again. I will pass your remarks on to the FreeBSD people. > >TS > > >>> Evan Leibovitch <evan@starnix.com> 05/06/00 11:34PM >>> >On Sat, 6 May 2000, TOM SIMPSON wrote: > > > I understand that more and more interest is being expressed in a > > FreeBSD Professional Certification Program. Well, I am also > > interested in such a program. Now, I know there are formidable > > problems in developing such a program, but it could be that at least > > the superstructure of such a program, for FreeBSD, has already been > > developed in an open certification program for LINUX. > > > So, I suggest anyone interested in the development of FreeBSD > > Professional Certification take a look at: > > > > http://www.lpi.org. > > > > This is the Linux Professional Institute (from Canada, I believe), and > > they will be offering the LPIC at three different levels, two tests per > > level, 1 , 2, and 3. > >Hi there. > >My name is Evan Leibovitch and I'm one of the co-founders of LPI. It's >based in Canada (as a head office) for a number of reasons (there are few >jurisdictions in the world that allow a corporation to conduct its board >meetings online :-). But it has board members and volunteers worldwide. > >Basics are covered in a reasonable FAQ at http://www.lpi.org/a-faq.html >I'd be glad to answer any other questions about certification in general, >the fun and obstacles we had to encounter on our way to making LPI happen, >and the possibility of doing something along these lines in the BSD world. > >One thing to consider first -- this process is *expensive*. Despite heavy >participation from volunteers, the cost of developing a program that's >challenging and respected rapidly gets into the multi-six-digits. Despite >a fairly long list of Linuxland sponsors (which can be seen at >http://www.lpi.org/a-sponsors.html), who have contributed up to $50K each >at the Platinum level, we're still nowhere near our needs to complete all >three levels. LPI's significant volunteer support has helped keep our >costs substantially below those incurred by commercial certs (ie, MCSE, >CNE, etc) but is still fairly staggering. > >How much would BSDi be able to kick in? How many others would step >forward? This is a real concern to consider before you start. > >One possible option that might be viable if it clears any political >hurdles -- have LPI and the BSD community on LPI-administered, >jointly-developed BSD exams. That would be far less expensive to the BSD >community that doing the whole program itself. > > > I predict LPIC will eventually become the CNE of LINUX, since it is > > OPEN (like LINUX is supposed to be), and non-proprietary, again, > > keeping with the nature of LINUX. > >That's certainly what we'd like, but it'll take time. Consider that the >real "market" for BSD certification is *not* those who are already skilled >in it, but newcomers who need to demonstrate their skills with a piece of >paper. It's not for everyone, and you can expect to come across a >significant "certification is un-necessary" sentiment. It's part of the >reason why, Usenix/Sage is only now even doing basic research after a >*lot* of years of trying. > > > One could do worse than to ask the folks at www.lpi.org for some > > guidance on this subject. They are really doing it. The FreeBSD > > organization could probably do it too, as the concepts behind both > > LINUX and FreeBSD UNIX are not all that different, when it comes to an > > open operating system, IMHO. > >The concepts are similar. If you look at the objectives of the two >existing exams: > >http://www.lpi.org/p-obj-101.html >http://www.lpi.org/p-obj-102.html > >A BSD user who's never touched Linux will still recognize most of it. > >The issue is one of execution and implementation. A cert program is >extremely draining of resources, and the dollar stakes get high in a >hurry. Consider that the *real* consumers, the target market for >certification, is not even the people taking the exams and getting >certified. It's the people doing the hiring, who will eventually demand >the cert or ignore it. There are some people who get certs for the hell of >it, but generally it's a practical issue of career advancement. If someone >won't think that a cert is useful and won't get them a (better) job, then >they won't bother and the cert will die. > >That's why we decided that we needed to go a route that isn't 100% "open" >in some respects. For instance, LPI exams are delivered by the very >commercial, very proprietary VUE organization. While open alternatives >were considered (and may be pursued in the future), the target audience >simply wouldn't respect a cert that wasn;t achieved through a respected >proctoring network. > >Hope this helps. Feel free to re-distribute. > > > P.S. Here are the contact data for The Linux Professional Institute: > > > > The Linux Professional Institute > > 20 Abelard Avenue > > Brampton, Ontario L6Y 2K8 > > Canada > > > > Phone: +1 905 452 0926 > > Fax: +1 905 452 9754 > > > > Email: info@lpi.org > >FYI, the address has recently been changed: >78 Leander Street >Brampton, Ontario Canada L6S 3M7 >Phone/fax: 905 874 4822 > > >- Evan > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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