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Unix Operating Systems Software BSD

BSD Certifications Coming Soon 63

hugo_pt writes "The BSD Certification Group was formed in January, 2005 to create a BSD certification program that is recognized as the industry standard for administering BSD systems. The resulting certification process will provide a measure of excellence in both understanding and the ability to perform complex administrative tasks on BSD systems. 2005 will prove an exciting year as the BSD Certification Group develops certification level(s) and testing methodologies. Stay up-to-date regarding the latest developments by joining the public Mailing List. This initiative will prove very important for BSD administrators, as right now, companies don't have any way of knowning if a person is an experienced BSD administrator."
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BSD Certifications Coming Soon

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  • More info... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Homology ( 639438 ) on Monday March 28, 2005 @10:45AM (#12066091)
    in the thread [undeadly.org]. Several of the comments there are responses from the BSD certification people.
  • as right now, companies don't have any way of knowning if a person is an experienced BSD administrator."
    please. as though a piece of paper is going to tell them that. I can see it now: I go up against... oh, say, Jordan Hubbard ... for a gig. He doesn't have one of the certificates... do you think my having one will make them choose me over him?
    • by ignorant_newbie ( 104175 ) on Monday March 28, 2005 @10:51AM (#12066124) Homepage
      not that i'm slamming this effort, just the poster's expectation that a piece of paper will magically save companies from 'having no way of knowing'.

      the thing is, if a company is using *bsd, they're already somewhat cluefull.

      The main benefit i expect from this is that it'll lend legitimacy to the BSDs in the mind of the clueless suits of the world.
    • The scary part is alot of companys do reguire a stupid bit of paper to say "Blah can do blah".'Whilst it wont help you against someone with name recognition ,where it may help is in letting the company choose you over say johnathn Doe , Plus never forget that this can be a good starting point for people new to the industry or letting some windows admins in a small firm get the certs and persuade the boss to switch over
    • by Anonymous Coward
      please. as though a piece of paper is going to tell them that.

      It might be of more value to actually get some attention from employment agencies.

      I have had some cool interviews where I was quized by some real propellor-heads with pages of scenarios with questions. Have them admit to me that I almost did not even get an interview because I had NO certs, but they were interested in some old obscure system experience on my resume. Then at the end of the interview be told that I raised interesting points on
    • ...future performance.

      This initiative will prove very important for BSD administrators, as right now, companies don't have any way of knowning [sic] if a person is an experienced BSD administrator."

      So, how does one get set up to give the classes to teach the young pups how to ace this "test"? There is certainly money to be made by promoting the merits of having certified staff members to clueless companies and equally-clueless techs signing up in droves to "prove" themselves.

      I say, certification f

  • Which license will the study material be release under?
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 28, 2005 @11:21AM (#12066425)
    As a long-time FreeBSD user, I have to insist on my daily dose of "BSD is dead"-jokes here. Come on, people! How about...

    News: BSD is now certified dead.

  • by Saeed al-Sahaf ( 665390 ) on Monday March 28, 2005 @11:32AM (#12066512) Homepage
    Ah yes... That coveted BSD cert. I've been seeing the terminology come up in headhunter ads and "career opportunity" listings for some time, but never knew where to get one... Good show.

    On a more serious note, when Linux was the obvious choice, but issues of security and stability where deciding factors, I've always recommended BSD (yes, I know BSD is not Linux, thank you).

    • when Linux was the obvious choice, but issues of security and stability where deciding factors, I've always recommended BSD

      I'm intrigued. When are security and stability ever not deciding factors?

      • Her are some... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Saeed al-Sahaf ( 665390 ) on Monday March 28, 2005 @12:19PM (#12066973) Homepage
        It's a matter of degrees. If, for example, you have a laboratory using Linux boxes for custom programs that do functionality related to special experiments or programs, "security" is not really an issue, most of these boxes are not on "The Net". Likewise, equipment on the floor of the production facility are not generally susceptible to HACKERS. Here is a mistake that many here at Slashdot make: All servers and computers are "on the net" or somehow related to net functionality. Not so.
    • Or when compatibility is an issue. I've yet to see anyone implement Coldfusion on a FreeBSD server with any sort of acceptable degree of stability.

      And no, linux binary compatibilty does not work with ColdFusion.

      If there was Coldfusion support on FreeBSD, I'd not need Linux in my server world.
  • by Anonymous Coward
    Wow, another OS has a certification? Does this mean paying a buttload of money just to get a piece of paper saying you're good at reading a book that tells you how to pass the certification? What a joke. You're not going to find real UNIX admins giving a *$&! about certifications. You'll find them sitting in the back room of a corporation writing shell scripts and working or playing with their servers. ...possibly rocking back and forth saying pebkac over and over due to the outstanding number of suppor
  • by zymurgy_cat ( 627260 ) on Monday March 28, 2005 @10:18PM (#12072934) Homepage
    Given what people usually think of certification programs, here's what we might see as some questions on the certification exam:

    1. How do you install a new software package?

    A. make port
    B. make sherry
    C. make install clean
    D. make love ^war

    2. BSD stands for:

    A. Bill Gates Steals our Dollars
    B. Bitchin' System, Dude!
    C. Berkeley Software Distribution
    D. Berkeley people Smoke a lot of Dope

    3. Which version of BSD is the best and why?

    A. FreeBSD - because PHBs like the word "free".
    B. OpenBSD - because the average user thinks clicking on free porn links in emails from Nigeria is safe.
    C. NetBSD - because running it on grandpa's pacemaker gives new meaning to the kill command.
    D. Dragonfly - because it sounds like a cool SciFi series.
    E. Any of the above as long as it makes a Linux advocate feel insecure and act petty.
    • 1. How do you install a new software package?

      E. None of the above

      The correct way to install a software package is "make install && make clean".

      This has been a public service announcement from your local humourless slashdot poster.
      • 'make install clean' does the same thing but without re-forking and with any caches make could have had (which most cleans won't need, admittedly). Learning about make's behavior is highly recommended: don't be like the 90% of stupid guides and tutorials I've seen which insist on using && to do the same thing with more overhead and typing.

        An extra bonus is that arguments persist for all arguments to a make, for instance:
        make -j3 -DDEBUG depend all install clean (all targets get -j3 and -DDEBUG)
        m
  • I mean it's nice, but it's also kinda useless -- especially if you are unemployed. Neither can 50% of German PC "Magazines" spell the word BSD[1] nor does anybody here care about Yet Another nameless Certification.

    It should make a name for oneself first - obtaining acceptance in the industry should be a primary goal of this new Certification Group.

    [1] http://www.bsdforen.de/attachment.php?attachmentid =855
  • When Microsoft started their certification program some years ago, I saw it as an attempt to leverage more money from the Windows platform. Especially when you see the questions relating to specific dialog boxes on specific versions of the platform.

    However, ISO 9002 compliant companies need to document and observe various procedures. And when it comes to hiring, it's easier to list a bunch of certificates required rather than rely on experienced opinion. The hiring procedures become more distant from the
  • Everyone hates certs in this crowd. Somehow they make you less hardcore. Whatever. Certs are good for a couple reasons:

    1. They give someone focus. Some people can learn on a job, others are very disciplined. Personally I drift around wondering what to study next, so even if I don't want a cert (I only have 1 right now) I will pick up that cert's book and work through it knowing I might take the test sometime in the next year or two.

    2. They make you look good to non-geeks. You know, the ones doing th

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