SuSE 103 and 203 exams?

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Fri, 2004-06-04 at 16:32, "Herbert Grüner" wrote:
> Hallo Mr. Smith,
> the SuSE 103 and 203 Exams are only available from SuSE. 
> It is a certification created by SuSE.

Yes, I understand this.  I knew of the previous announcement with
UnitedLinux awhile back.  The idea that 103 and 203 exams geared towards
UnitedLinux would be created.  I'm glad to see SuSE has moved forward
with these, even if they are aligned into SuSE's own programs.

> Naturally you cannot find any questions by SuSE because SuSE
> don't publicate these questions.
> The only way you can get these questions 
> is to take a SuSE course for these exams.

I'm curious why you are asking if I'm looking for questions?
I don't think I even suggested that.
I was merely looking information on their program.
I did find the pages at SuSE via a Google search.
That's all I wanted.

> The LPI organization doesn't support these exams. 

Yes, again, I understand this.  But I figured this was as good of a
place to ask as any.  Especially since the SL 103 and 203 exams are
designed around the LPI program.

> But i don't understand why you need these exams. 
> On my mind I think it is better to pass 
> the LPI exams than to pass any other exams.

I'm not about "better."  I'm all about what will get me work.
Until mid-2002, I _loathed_ the IT certification industry.

That was until I wasn't awarded a job because I didn't have a Linux
certification, despite the fact that I had been doing Linux 100% at my
job for nearly the past 5 years (including being a paid member of a
major embedded Linux project, a contributing author on a major Linux
book, major early adoption of Linux for supercomputing clusters in the
aerospace industry, etc...).  They just wanted a Linux certification.

And I had to change my views.  It's not about "better."  It's about what
the client wants.

Right now, I have a plethora of potential clients who are eyeing the
purchase of SuSE by Novell, the Novell Nterprise and the fact that
Novell NetWare 7 will be SuSE Linux-based.  They are talking about
requiring a SCLE, even though it's not available yet (as I've now found
out).  These are things I just recently researched, hence this thread.

I'm not likely to stop there.  I'm most likely going to update to the
CNE on NetWare 7 when it comes available, and take the CLE as well. 
Why?  Not because I think it is "better," but because it's a credential
a potential client expects me to have.

-- Bryan J. Smith, LPIC-2
   (and 27 other certifications obtained in less than 17 months)

<rant>
If I was worried about "better," then I wouldn't be advocating IT
certification.  I'd advocate everyone get a 5-year engineering degree
and work 30+ hours/week while in college -- coming out with both a BS in
engineering (always the foremost representation of academics and applied
science) and a total of about 3-4 years of "real world" technical
experience.

Why?  Because that's what I did and I think the combination is the most
potent.  It means you have the theory, the practice and the fact that
you can handle the load of going to school and working full-time.

With that said, I have the utmost respect for the LPI approach to IT
certification.  I sure wish it would spread throughout the IT
certification world, but it won't.  Why?  Because vendors don't push out
experts, they push out product and the people who can support the
product.
</rant>

-- 
Bryan J. Smith, E.I. -- b.j.smith at ieee.org