[ILUG] Global Knowledge

[kevin lyda]

Mary Hurley wrote:
> Global Knowledge are delivering training in Red Hat's Linux Systems
> Administration (RH133)

i'm not one for the "oh dear linux is going commercial" rantings, but
this certification thing has been grating me for a while.  and it's not
so much just linux, but the computer industry as a whole.  begin rant...

you know, we were discussing this the other day at laid.  there are a
lot of people here with high linux clue factors (and that's definitely
not to imply that others are clueless, just not so in this single area)
who would make amazingly excellent linux developers and admins.  now
sure, the stephen tweedie's, alan cox's, and others who are well known
won't have to answer questions like "are you certified?" but others here
will.  if, for example, a potential employer looking for an admin was
looking at some recent grad with a redhat linux certificate (circa 2001)
and the certificateless kenn humborg, would they really pick the former?

it would seem more meaningful to me if companies like globalknowledge
poked about in lug's (many have mail archives), credit files in source
packages, and other such areas to see who's been working on or with
linux over the years.  then they should approach those people to offer
amazingly low prices perhaps coupled with a request to audit
courses/tests to draw on the experience the long term people have.  i'd
be much more interested in taking a mail systems course from some
company if it had the brains and recommendation of kenn and donncha on
it, or an os internals course if it had alan or stephen recommending it.

no offense to the global knowledge folks, but i don't know them, i
haven't seen their stuff, and i don't see what they've contributed. 
even with redhat behind them, i'd like to see more 
*people* involved.

in the states there's a magazine called "consumer reports."  over
several decades it's built up a reputation for quality reviews.  so
first i'll take my friend's recommendations, then consumer reports, and
then maybe, as a distant third, i'd take a random commercial.  in my
mind most certification programs are like random commercials for
employees.  now if they kept stats on the people they certified, or if
they had obviously knowledgable people on their side.

ah...  rant done.

this isn't an indictment against gk, or anyone in particular.  it just
leaves a bad taste in my mouth from all perspectives.  i think as a
profession (admins and developers) we should come up with a better
system.  www.acm.org has some thoughts on this i'm sure.

kevin
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