First results in getting my Linux knowledge certified: LPIC-1 and CLA

After passing my Bachelor of Computer Science I never took the time to take any specific Linux exam. But I’ve been working with Linux for about 14 years, so I know a lot about it. Now that I started my new job this month, I thought it was also time to get Linux certified.

I’ve been given the opportunity to get some training from SUSE (which is the distribution we use at work), and I’m really happy about that. Yes, I do have a nice employer 🙂

Let me tell you a bit about the different certification options for Linux. LPI is vendor neutral, whereas Red Hat and SUSE focus on their specific distributions of Linux. Still Linux, so the underlying knowledge is the same. The LPI Netherlands web site has a nice overview of all Linux certifications available (thanks!) that I’ve copied below:

One has to take the exams in the right order: start at the so called ‘Junior’-level, and work your way down. That’s why I decided to do some self-study and take the LPI-101 and LPI-102 exams to become LPIC-1 certified. I passed the first exam last week (730/800), and the second one today (700/800). As a bonus, I also received the Novell/SUSE Certified Linux Administrator (CLA) certificate. So this is a nice first step.

I’ll be taking the SUSE Certified Linux Professional (CLP) and SUSE Certified Linux Engineer (CLE) exams next month. Before that, I plan on doing some more self-study and take the LPIC-2 exams as well.

From what I’ve seen so far the LPI exams are nice and fill up some blanks in my knowledge. Especially LPIC-1 wasn’t too hard and I had fun going through the objectives. In fact, I already started looking at the LPI-201 exam and am looking forward to it. I come across most objectives in my day-to-day work; some more often than others of course. It’s nice to learn a new command or parameter and be able to use it from then on to do your job better. That is going forward!

I’ll keep you posted..