I’m going on garden leave soon (due to being affected by a big tech layoff). I thought of maybe doing a Linux certification of some sort while I’ve got the free time. Are there any that are actually worthwhile?
I’ve daily droven Linux for ~3 years and learned a lot, but I’d like to formalize it and hopefully have that help with my job hunt.
I’ve daily droven Linux for ~3 years and learned a lot
I don’t have any thoughts on certs that haven’t already been shared, but some thoughtsnfornany interviews you may land:
- The person interviewing you has probably daily driver Linux for 20 years, and that’s okay. We all have to start somewhere.
- There aren’t going to be many others (if any) interviewing who have daily driven Linux for three years.
So be humble, but not too humble. Haha.
We’re a neat bubble here, but running Linux as a daily driver is still pretty rare, and puts you way ahead of the pack of other candidates, at least for entry/early Linux systems jobs.
Edit: And if you find an organization that uses AI spicy autocomplete to do entry level Linux admin work, run far away. There’s not enough money in the world to make it worth working with people that stupid (who choose to use hallucination for problems that demand reliability, haha).
There are the Linux Foundation certs, some of which (e.g. Certified Sysadmin) are well respected, relatively hard to get, and also very expensive. There are some cheap and some free ones as well, but I don’t know if recruiters care about them at all. They are just a formal way of showing ‘I know <thing>’ instead of you just saying it after all.
Depending on your domestic laws you may be able to deduct them from tax, or even get some kind of government subsidy for doing them. I would look into that if you wanna go after the really expensive ones.
There is also Red Hat, I don’t know if those are worth it thought. Probably not the worst to have either.
As a tech manager I’d value any certificate from LPI or Red Hat. Linux + also works if you’re just trying to prove basic competency. What kind of role do you think you’d be looking for?
I think it will depend on your location. In the Midwestern US it seems that CompTIA certifications are more sought after. I’m not sure about other countries or regions.
I’m from the Midwest but I believe CompTIA is also popular in Arizona and California though I’m a web developer so I’m not 100% sure, but I’ve heard it thrown around by IT friends kind of a lot.
Look at job listings and see what they ask for. Red Hat is probably the most common. Comptia certs too, though not usually Linux+.
