I am using RedHat Linux for the last 3 years and comfortable with the OS, but not yet got any ceritification.

Can anyone say (i) how can I get certified, (ii) what are the pre-requisite or preparations, (iii) what are sources available and how much is the time to invest, (iv) what is the actual cost, (v) what are the alternatives available, (vi) what is the future benefits and scope?


Regards,
Joson

All the info you're looking for can be found on the RedHat site.

http://www.redhat.com/training/rhce/courses/

to quickly answer your questions:

(i) Pass the exam
(ii) http://www.redhat.com/training/rhce/...00_prereq.html http://www.redhat.com/training/rhce/...e_content.html
(iii) I guess you'll need to put in as much time as required so that you think you can pass the exam.
(iv) for just the exam - US$750 (The reason for this is that it is a full day exam, with 2/3 of it being practical hands on work, so a RedHat Cert trainer is required)
(v) You can do a 5 day rapid course that is 4 days training with the exam on the fifth day.
(vi) Depends on what you think the future of RedHat and Linux in general is.

I'm taking the RHCE through the unemployment office here in Norway and i'd say that if you want to take that certification in 4 or 5 days. Read a shitload on shellscripting first.
The books you get to read are not good boks. It's just a short explanation about functions and so on.. It's nothing that makes you look at it, smack your head and say. "Aha? So this is how it works."
That's the worst part..
Other than that.. Go for it..
It's worth it if you pass it. Even if you just get the RHCT nstead of the RHCE
At least i think so.

Check the RedHat pages for more info.

Your explaination of why the exam is expensive is accurate except for one correction worth knowing for the prospective test-taker: The exam is now 100% hands-on as the multiple-choice section was removed when we switched to RHEL. Just fyi.

Note/Disclaimer/Whatever: I am a Red Hat instructor, so take anything nice I say about the exam with a grain of salt =;)

Hehehehehe usernamenumber
So everything is hands-on now?
*breathes out* Then there's a chanc for me to pass too
I can't stand the instructions books that we got. They're made to at least make me loose all initiative to read them. Bad explanations when there's one...

Hmm. Were you getting training from Red Hat or from some other company? Obviously I'm biased, but I think the Red Hat courseware is good as long as 1) you use it along with the lectures, which it's a suppliment to, 2) you do the labs, which are where most of the real learning is done and 3) you read the notes below the slides in the lecture portions, not just the slides themselves. The slides are just there so you can follow along with what the lecturer is talking about. The notes flesh it out and provide more in-deph explanations and the labs are where you actually get into the "here's how to do this" stuff.

If it sounds like I'm describing different courseware then maybe you were working with a company that claimed to be doing official Red Hat training, but wasn't. Or maybe the courseware just didn't work for you as a student. If that's the case, then while I doubt there will be any enormous changes in the near future I'm certainly open to suggestions.

It's another company and the whole thing is really bad.
Like shell scripting. You got the exsample in the book, Like IF and ELSE and it's not much to look at. Then you are supposed to write a script that uses that doing something most of frankly have no idea how to make. And we're taking this over 20 weeks... *sighs*
The only time i was good at programming was with the good old Commodore 64.
Basic was nice
The books say "RedHat RH033/133/253 RHCE Custom Course"
I've found the perfct solution to the problem though..
I watch the slides, Got other books about scripting, webpages and pdf files up and that makes it easier to me to understand how to use it. Seeing the code in more than just one line doing something that you never would have thought about is making more sence to me.

Like, why write 20 lines in a script to find out if your homedirectory exists and is a file or a folder?
Eh? What's the use in that??

I'd like to see a more in depth explanation of the commands/functions and how to use them to do somethng sensible. We got a lot of people in my class that's never used Linux before and that doesn't make it easier for the rest of us.
A cd with examplescripts and so on would be really great
referably one with working stuff on it. *still got a cd with "how to make good html-code" that hasn't got one page that works *

Well, I'm glad to hear that it's not the official Red Hat courseware that has these problems, but unfortunately that means there's not much I can do about it except suggest you go with Red Hat's fine training products instead =;) (see disclaimer above)

Also, something helpful might be for you to follow the links someone posted above and as well as these:

Red Hat's RHCE prep guide (note the "study points" section. The rh300 outline linked to above is a more fleshed-out version of this):
http://www.redhat.com/training/rhce/examprep.html

and the RHCE FAQ
http://www.redhat.com/training/rhce/rhce_faq.html

Good luck. =:)

Thanks.. And specially for clearing out on the "official Red Hat courseware"
Can i quote you on that one? Since our teacher is putting the blame on RedHat and saying that even newbies should be able to take that certification in 4 days.
i don't believe it and i've been on linux since 95. That was the day my Amiga 4000/40 died...
*still mourns that loss*

I'll lok into the pages and i'll share them with the rest of my class.

*xdcc sends you a cold norwegian beer*
Skåål

Well, unfortunately you can't quote me too much since I'm not authorized to speak on behalf or Red Hat or anything, so allow me to quote from the RHCE Program page (http://www.redhat.com/training/rhce/courses/):

"Certification in the context of professionalism
Becoming a successful technician or engineer requires years of experience in heterogenous, networked computing environments, coping with day-to-day issues, and developing best practices. This kind of experience does not result from taking one course or exam, but it can be measured during training and in a certification exam, especially if these are administered using hands-on exercises in a lab. That's why the RHCE and RHCT exams are lab-based, performance-based practical exams. "

<myopinion>
I have seen people with little or no prior Linux experience (but usually some experience on some kind of network OS) pass the RHCT exam after taking a 4-day prep class, but they're the exception and not the rule. It's a certification designed to demonstrate competency with using Linux, not test-taking or memorization skills. One doesn't usually go from zero to competent in 4 days.

And even if that was the case, I don't see how newbies not being ready after taking a 4-day class we didn't design is supposed to be Red Hat's fault. =;)

One last thing, excuse the sales pitch, but if your teacher is interested, Red Hat does have set of classes called Red Hat Academy, which are designed for schools and colleges. They're more general Linux classes than cert classes, but taken all together they are designed to cover the RHCT (but not RHCE.. yet) material. More info at http://www.redhat.com/training/academy/
</myopinion>

Hehehehehehehe
Well some of the newbies in my class are totally new to anything apart from reinstalling windows.
Telling them to partition a disk manually and they lok at you as if you've got antennas growing out of your head.
I've passed the links to the ones in my class hoping that it might help them a bit too.
No quoting at all

think our worst problem is that the teacher actually knows what he's doing, but ain't experienced enough as a teacher to make it understandable for most of us. If it's something i know then there's no problem, if not i'm just left there.. After all the teacher is just over 20... Can't expect that much from him

Thanks for the links and tips.

You can give them this as a quote:

The best way to prep the exam is to know the OS. Install Linux on a machine at home and give yourself a project to work on each evening. Your first project can be just getting it installed. Then try adding some users and learning about chown, chgrp and chmod. Find somethign that interests you and explore it, even if it's not an RHCT/E topic. Don't forget about the tons of resources out there like linuxquestions.org, the freenode irc network, search engines like www.google.com/linux and complete books like the rute guide (rute.sourceforge.net). Eventually (and it will take a while, but hopefully be very rewarding) you'll find yourself ticking off the checkboxes on the RHCT/E lists and then you'll feel confident with the exam. If you find doing the above too frustrating then maybe Linux isn't your thing and doing the exam wouldn't be worth the investment for you anyway.

Glad to be of help. Enjoy.

http://www.redhat.com/training/rhce/examprep.html

Exam prep guide:

from what I heard If know know this stuff really well... you can pass.


-Nex6

what I would do, is:


Go thru the exam prep , and work on each and everything on the list. and then I would also get the RHCE books and go thru them to....



-Nex6