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Linux certification gaining ground but Cisco still on top
Mon Dec 13 17:21:25 2004 Linux
certification gaining ground but Cisco still on top
Posted by Tony Lawrence
Search Keys: certification
Referencing: http://www.thechannelinsider.com/article2/0,1759,1739049,00.asp
I was interested to see that RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer) was listed in slot 3 of certifications IT professionals want to get. CCIE ( Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert) is at the top, which I think shows tremendous short-sightedness. Folks, networking, routing and firewalls are still "hot" skills, but that's not going to last. All this stuff is going to be packaged up into teeny little hardware bundles that any idiot can configure - in fact, it is close to that point now and really is already for the home user. Yes, corporate networks demand a bit more, but not all that much more. In a few more years, you won't need any high-cost certified type to control even a fairly complex network.
But OS support and administration has longer lasting legs. Any random idiot can't necessarily install and configure a server or maybe even a desktop PC if it is part of a larger network. Not yet, anyway - though zero brain configuration of desktops is often possible, servers are a long way from that. Will it stay that way forever? Of course not - that's one reason I'm glad to be getting close to retirement age: servers are already starting to become appliances, and the trend will continue, requiring less and less knowledge and intelligence at the point of use. If I were in my twenties or thirties, I would have to be thinking realistically that the market for my skills may be slowly drying up. We old geezers and young whippersnappers alike can count on at least another decade of being needed, but my crystal ball gets cloudy after that.
I have a lot of certification related links at http://aplawrence.com/Tests/
Go to a ccna training course to get all the knowledge you need.
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---December 13, 2004
OK, so should I start thinking about a career change :-)
- Bruce Garlock
---December 13, 2004
Well, I think you need to always be ready for that possibility. I may be way off -it might be two, three decades away, but the day will come.
--TonyLawrence
Well, this old geezer can probably last a few more years without paying someone to give him a piece of paper that says that he seems to know what he's doing -- 'seems' being the operative word.
I'm not Cisco certified (although I do remember back when he was a Kid on TV, riding with his Mexican buddy), I'm not sure which part of a Red Hat goes in front, and my hands aren't fast enough for me to become an MCMMC (Microsoft Certified Master Mouse Clicker).
Certificates are all well and good, but in reality, just prove you stayed awake in class and made the right multiple guess choices on a test or two. None of that demonstrates that you are actually able to fix a PC, set up a routing table or design and install a new system. If it did, I *would* be unemployed.
--BigDumbDinosaur
---February 1, 2005
Some of what he says may be true but there doesn't seem to be much thought given to what engineers mostly do anyway. In my practicle experience it's design and troubleshooting. Things have gotten much easier to install meaning that more and more people can get things "started" without knowing much but implementing advanced features and troubleshooting things when they don't work requires advanced knowledge and skill sets. These are things that will never be attained by just anyone. The easier things are for the end user to implement the less they really know about the technology. We all know how things break often or expand in features and that will require knowledgable people to fix. Our jobs may evolve in scope but they aren't going anywhere. The more people believe incomplete articles such as this the less people will be incentivized to get into our field and therefore the more valuable we become. Keep on writing.
-Unconcerned
---February 1, 2005
Well, I will keep on writing, but I think you've totally misunderstood my points here.
Technology changes, and it always get dumber: http://aplawrence.com/Opinion/dumbdown.html
Nobody can earn a living today configuring home routers, and nobody can configuring small business routers either. That might still be PART of what you might do for a customer, but it sure won't be much of it. Bigger clients, sure: for now anyway. But that WILL go away, and in my opinjion will go away faster than general OS/App consulting.
--TonyLawrence
---February 1, 2005
Well, applications will always drive purchasing, and people will try to wish away spending on infrastructure. But what I see is networks getting more complex because of the little boxes not less complex. After the present way of doing network melts down, there will be a simplification, but the cheap little boxes are only going to kick up more chaos, not eliminate it.
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