from Hacker News

Ask HN: Will a Linux certification make a difference to my career?

by big_data on 7/6/12, 12:31 AM with 7 comments

• by tom_b on 7/6/12, 10:03 PM

  For better or worse, there are employers and fields where obtaining a certification is an important signalling mechanism.

  Carefully consider whether or not a Linux administration gig is one of those - I personally don't know. I know in a search for a senior Linux sysadmin at my workplace, certification has not been mentioned at all.

  In other areas, particularly high-end customer support gigs in network hardware (e.g., supporting Cisco and/or Juniper gear), certifications like the CCIE are a de-facto requirement for many. Oracle work used to be this way, especially for consultants, but I don't know if that is still true.

  In a more general sense, self-study and the time investment in getting certifications has intrinsic worth. Just don't think magically adding a cert tag to your resume will result in a magic increase in professional opportunities and pay.

  Work on building your experience portfolio. If you want to use a certification as part of that, I don't think anyone should tell you not to.

• by gabeguz on 7/6/12, 1:32 AM

  I don't feel that certifications in general help much. They can be useful to an employer that's looking for them, but in general if you know what you're doing and you can communicate that to the people who are hiring, you will have a bigger advantage than someone who has certificate x. Granted there are some places that require certifications x, y, and z, but generally those places have issues hiring great people.

• by big_data on 7/7/12, 7:09 PM

  Thanks for the discussion! These are all great points to consider.