Ubuntu Certified Professionals

[email.listen at googlemail.com]

Hhhm, here your mail don't show up at ubuntu-devel list yet.
Therefore I may answer per cc to the list.

Am Fri, 7. April 2006 11:35 schrieb Ante Karamatic:
> email.listen at googlemail.com wrote:
> >> RH offers a good exam, and people who pass it are justifiably proud of
> >> it. I have some inside contacts into how they do it, and I'm assured
> >> the process is rigorous and quality is the only thing. The PR
> >> department seems to make some claims about the exam that they can't
> >> back up, and they are especially fond of bashing other programs, but
> >> that doesn't detract from the work the technical folks put together.
>
> As an RHCE, I would like to see UCP exams being more (drasticly more)
> complicated than RHCE exams. Questions in RHCE are good and cover
> different aspects of RedHat distribution, but they looked too easy for
> me (answered 100% of exam in half of dedicated time).
>
> It should be noted that no one with RHCE considers it self better than
> anyone else. This certificates are needed for the company. They help you
> get a job, but tell nothing about you. But, if the company has X RHCEs,
> then that company becomes RedHat Partner. As a RedHat partner it has
> higher market value, meaning getting bigger and better jobs. That
> company invested money in RHCE exams, and bigger market value is outcome
> of that investment.
>
> This has absolutly nothing to do with coding. Most of the time good
> sysadmins aren't good coders. They can make something fast (in C,
> Python, Perl, whatever), but that's only to make their sysadmin life
> easier.
>
> As I understand, LPI3 would be about coding.
>
> >> Nothing in the Ubuntu exam overlaps with LPIC-1, we even had to omit
> >> Postfix - it looks and feels so much like sendmail that the results
> >> wouldn't measure much. So it was dropped to make way for other stuff.
>
> Doh... :(((
>
> >> computer delivered exams. Clerical staff need to be paid, proctors
> >> have to be transported to the exam venue to supervise, etc, etc. $100
> >> is dirt cheap, compare what it costs to write some other exams.
>
> 100$ is unbelivable cheap. You can double that to 200$. At last, Ubuntu
> foundation has to make living out of money :)
>
> > What is disappointing to me is the fact that a man like the so called
> > self believed dictator who stands for a very well reputated educational
>
> self apointed benelovent dictator for life (sabdfl)
You saw my note about 'dictator' as ironic oxymoron? This becuse I don't 
really think sabdfl has any habits of a real life dictator...

Living in a country which has seen two dictatorships in the last century the 
term 'dictator' has no room for humor, not even for sarcastic and iroic 
humor.

And I will bet this is seen so in most every country which had been under a 
dictatorship. We don't tend to make jokes as 'the benelovent Hitler', 'the 
lovely Stalin' or 'the self apointed benelovent PolPot'. Not only those of us 
who lost their beloved relatives by slaughter, torture and tyranny.

And I'm not talking about political correctness here, bloodcurdling and nausea 
might better describe what is the effect of such terms for us.


> > foundations /projects (shuttleworth foundation SA, schooltool project)
> > and by this should be able to have a wider foresight of what in the long
> > run may result in such a (<sarcasm>stupid</sarcasm>) decission.
>
> I would really like to hear what OP thinks reasult would be :)
Who is OP ad what result, please?
:)



But back to the topic...


You mentioned the RHCE exams which IM can't be compared to a LPI exam.
RHCE targets a professional qualification but LPI don't, not even the LPI-II 
exams.

In my eyes we a far beyond having a professional certification (professional 
in the meaning of a training on the job) except RHCE and may be within this 
year the Novel certified Linux Exam which also plans to examine educational 
institutions where courses have to be done to take part on a online test via 
VUE test centers.


What I'm talking about is more to be seen as a base structure which in the end 
may become a status as the RHCE exams have today. 
But which is anchored in a mutual platform as the ubuntu community.

If you have a look to exams which targeting a professional examination, e.g. 
RHCE or from Cisco all those are anchored in institutions who offer their 
training against cash, most of them for a lot of cash, e.g. Cisco courses for 
more than 10.000EUR per course. E.g.  one year course 


All those certifications don't care for the first mile of education, better 
known as  'lower' education for private users. By this all those exams are 
missing the chance motivating beginners in an early stage of knowledge.

What is missing in general is a training and qualification which starts at the 
first beginning. The only one I know about in the moment are the selfstudy 
groups of NLGG.
What IMO makes this concept very interesting for a community based movement as 
ubuntu is the circumstance that it has an interesting aspect of motivation to 
participate. And by establishing such groups in the ubuntu world may be a 
chance to avoid the disadvantages of LPI which exist, nevertheless what LPI 
claims to be or not.

Anyhow such a selfstudy group concept has place for later professional 
education as it is offered by educational institutions who need to make money 
with courses. And they have a lot of bills which must be payed if you offer a 
professional education. I've been at such an institution, one who mostly 
passed away due to braindump test training stores...


Not to forget the potential to reinforce or establish local user groups, what  
is more and more of importance if you ask me.
Important on one hand for regions as Europe where we can see a tendency that 
user groups disappear and on the other hand for region as Africa, south 
America and Asia-pacific where user groups will be a very important 
base/platform for future GNU/Linux advocacy and for establishing a free 
software culture and educational infrastructures in the IT field.


I would assume that such a project will very soon become as big, complex and 
expensive as Negroponte's 'One Laptop per Child' (OLPC) project. But if the 
OLPC computers will run a GNU/Linux System as planed in the moment a project 
like a 'Ubuntu Selfstudy Project' will be one of the best amendments / 
endorsements we can have. May be that those who are involved in the OLPC 
project may be interested to have such a Ubuntu project aside.

So the planed launch of the OLPC project in 2007 will give a year to establish 
an Ubuntu self study group concept.


regards,
Thomas

-- 
I need a faster keyboard, seems that some keystrokes don't make it into my 
posting...