I’d like to present you the book I am trying to finish reading for some time now; a very dense book, with good practices and interesting details on how to keep planet-wide systems up & running with a bunch of very well prepared people.
What are the lessons one needs to walk away with, from this book? A few bullets:
As I mentioned in the first text of the certification series, I went further upstream and got myself the second level of what LPI has on offer – LPIC-2 (verify). Was it easy? Was it hard? Let’s start.
Introduction
The LPIC-2 certification is granted by passing 2 exams, but only if one already holds a LPIC-1 certification. This means that in order to get LPIC-2 certified, one must pass a total of 4 exams.
Exam 201 – with a focus on advanced system administration topics such as kernel and boot loader configuration, filesystems and troubleshooting.
Exam 202 – focusing on a couple of common services such as e-mail, http, proxies and file sharing.
As with LPIC-1, the exams can be passed in any order, certification being granted when passing both.
Logistics
I have passed both exams with a Pearson VUE test center (actually 2 of them, as I have gone to 2 different locations for the exams). In this setup each exam normally costs around EUR 150; the second was paid by my current employer.
Preparation
What I have mentioned, preparation-wise, in the first text is still valid. Books alone will not help pass such exam, neither a light hands-on experience. The questions themselves are by no means tricky – if one actually used that particular piece of software or went through that usage scenario, then the answer comes fast; otherwise it won’t and the coin toss won’t help either. What I have also noted is that some questions are (randomly) asked at both 1st and the 2nd level; it’s very likely that the border between “harder” 1st level topics and “easier” 2nd level ones is very shallow.
Trying to start a career in a Computer Sciences field is a challenge by itself; starting with a good company is, most of the time, a matter of luck. I’m not trying to provide an alternate view to this – yes, one needs a ton of luck in order to get on with a good start. I’m just trying to show you where the train you just boarded may lead you – or where it may not. Switching trains is by any means possible, but it becomes harder as one gets older.
Without looking in depth, companies may be divided in 2 main categories:
Product Owners: companies that build products for an actual market; they either sell software or provide services to private or business users through their internally managed infrastructure.
Outsourcers: companies that sell “work units” directly or indirectly to either companies from the first category or to other businesses.
There are nuances to this classification; government contractors and start-ups may actually deserve categories of their own.
What can a fresh graduate expect out of each company type?