Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Overview of Novell's Linux Certification Slate

Steven Vaughan-Nichols summed up the new slate of Novell's available certifications after speaking with Jim Henderson of Novell. The newly developed certifications and some of the details are listed here .

The key is in the final paragraph. As it states, the Novell Linux Certified Engineer (NLCE) and the Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) are the ones that individuals should focus on if they are looking for assistance in their job search. While it is fine that they offer different levels below these two certifications, such as the Novell Certified Administrator (NCA) or the Red Hat Certified Technician (RHCT), do not expect companies to be explicitly looking for people with these certifications. The only value that can be gained from these is if you feel it is necessary to achieve this level of knowledge before you go for the more senior certifications. Otherwise, I would not bother spending the money for this level of certification.

Monday, June 2, 2008

How Google Values Open Source Work

A couple of interesting pieces of information, as it results to recruiting, came out of Stephen Shankland's interview with Chris DiBona from Google. They are as follows:

SS: Is it easier to get hired at Google if you have experience maintaining your own open-source product or patch?
CB: If you have made a name for yourself in open source, clearly it helps. If you have a healthy project in open-source, I believe it helps. One thing I see on hiring committees is when somebody has an open-source history, it's really great. You can just look at that history. Interviews are great, but they're not very deep. They're only 45 minutes long. So how can you really get a feel for if a person is good at programming, at computer science?

SS: Or at social relations, for that matter.
CB: Open source really reveals that incredibly quickly. You can look at their code, at their activity on mailing lists, how they deal with bugs from real people, and real user problems. That's an incredible resource.

Just as has been discussed many times in the past, open source project work has the ability to assist you greatly in your next job search. Your next potential employer will be able to get a look at your programming skills, but just as Chris mentions, they also view your community interaction closely. I have seen a lack of professionalism hurt developers in the past. So, always remember, somebody is watching you!