Approved some more new Linux training centers that submitted entries to LinTraining. This batch of approvals were in:

• India (4 entries)
• Phillippines (3 entries)
• Belgium
• USA
• Brazil
• Peru
• Bolivia
• Sweden
• Nigeria
• Bosnia-Herzegovina

Interesting the number from Latin America and also India and the Phillippines. I have to wonder if there was some article written in the Phillippines or India that accounts for all of those coming in at the same time.

Tags: certification, lintraining, linux, training

It's been ages since I've written here about the Linux Professional Institute. Ever since I stepped down from being a member of the 3-person Office of the CEO (OCEO) back in December 2005, I've not honestly had a whole lot of contact with LPI. I've been watching from afar and continued to be very impressed with how the organization has been growing. After recently reading this Certification Magazine article by LPI President Jim Lacey, "Linux Professional Institute: Influencing the IT Landscape Through Regional Enablement", I thought I'd just mention that article here. Partly because it provides an update on what's going on with LPI... and also that it speaks to LPI's renewed focus on helping foster the growth of usage of open source software. That's always been part of what we viewed the mission of LPI to be about, so it's good to see that continuing.

If you are interesting in Linux, open source or the whole space of training and certification, it's definitely worth a read.

Tags: certification, linux, lpi, training

As one of the creators of a professional certification program, I have always been intrigued by how other cert programs are constructed. One of the interesting aspects of the CISSP credential is the requirement for ongoing Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits to demonstrate that you are keeping up your knowledge about security issues and trends. After you have attained the CISSP credential, you have to earn a sufficient number of CPE credits over the next three years - or retake the exam. When you first look at it, the process can seem intimidating... but I have found that if you just remember to record things you do on a regular basis, it's not actually that hard. For instance, yesterday I listened to Microsoft's webinar on the June security advisories... ta da... 1 CPE. Read a security book lately?... ta da.. 5 CPE credits (but you can only get this credit once a year (or else that's all people would do)). Wrote a security article published in a magazine or online? 10 CPE credits.

And so on... you get the point... if you remember (and that's a key thing), it's not hard to do. I mean, here I am with 8 months to go and I need 6 CPEs... :-)

One question I do have to ask of ISC2 is whether you can earn CPEs for podcasts. There is a category for "articles"... is a podcast the audio equivalent of an article? What about contributed articles to a blog? All interesting questions to ask...

Tags: certification, cissp, isc2, security
Current Mood: certified

Approved more submissions to LinTraining tonight... quite a range of countries:

• 2 in Germany
  
• France
  
• Mexico
  
• Tunisia
  
• Belgium
  
• Brazil
  
• Nigeria
  
• Indonesia
  
• Taiwan
  
• Maryland, USA

I almost thought we were going to have a day without any from the US until that last one came in... all good to see.

Tags: certification, linux, lpi, training

I received the word today that LPI has now issued over 30,000 certifications to Linux professionals.  This comes only a bit after the news in November that LPI had given over 100,000 exams, which was impressive enough.  But this latest news is, to me, even more impressive.  This is the number of people who are actually certified.  There are 27,000+ people who have passed both exams to become LPIC1 and close to 5,000 of those people have gone on to become LPIC2.

27,000 people! 32,000 certifications!

Pretty darn cool given that: a) three years ago there were only 5,000; b) LPI is a community-based nonprofit that doesn't even remotely have the marketing budget of companies like Red Hat or organizations like CompTIA.

Congrats to all the folks at LPI... and it's great to see this recognition within the larger IT world.

Tags: certification, linux, linuxprofessionalinstitute, lpi, training
Current Mood: impressed

Finally took a look today at the queue of submissions into LinTraining... quite a few.. new Linux training center submissions from:

• Chennai, India
  
• Hamburg, Germany
  
• Maryland, USA
  
• Ankara, Turkey
  
• London, UK
  
• Catazaro, Italy
  
• Karachi, Pakistan
  
• Quebec, Canada
  
• Austin, Texas, USA
  
• Mexico City, Mexico
  
• Irving, Texas, USA
  
• Zurich, Switzerland
  
• North Carolina, USA
  
• Caracas, Venezuela
  
• Bursa, Turkey
  
• Singapore

Nice to see the global spread of the new entries.

Tags: certification, linux, lpi, training

As I unfortunately need to do some work on my blog page and my need to drop my link list a bit, I want to record here for my own reference some of the LPI-related blogs that are out there:

• Tabatha Marshall
• Big Story (Dave Edwards)
• Linux and Unix Training (Ross Brunson)
• Paul Tader

Hopefully there will still be room here on the list after I reorganize, but in case I need to drop them...

By the way, check them out if you are interested in Linux training and/or certification...

Tags: certification, linux, lpi, training

More updates to LinTraining today... new Linux training centers submitting entries in:

• Massachusetts, USA
• Taiwan
• Chennai, India
• New Jersey, USA
• Rueil-Malmaison, France
• Caracas, Venezuela
• Makati, Philippines
• Quebec, Canada

Most are again focused on LPI certification. All good to see.

Tags: certification, linux, training

It was a pretty momentous day for LPI today. This morning at LinuxWorld in Frankfurt, Germany, LPI announced that over 100,000 certification exams have been delivered.

(silence)

I don't know quite what to say really, which, for those who know me, is quite a rarity. Even knowing about the release in advance (heck, I approved the release), it still blows my mind to read it again and think about that. 100,000 exams.... there have been 100,000 times that someone has either sat down in front of a terminal at a Prometric or VUE testing center - or taken a paper-based exam at a show exam lab... it makes me both incredibly proud, honored, humbled and simply amazed to have been associated with launching LPI. 100,000.... I can remember when we got all excited about 1,000! And 10,000? That was just the most incredible thing. And now here LPI hits 100,000. Pretty darn amazing.

And then there's the quotes.... I mean... look at this release: Bob Bishop, Chairman and CEO of SGI. VPs at IBM and Novell... NEC... I mean, these are NOT little tiny companies....

Simply................ incredible...............

Kudos to all involved at LPI who have done so much to bring the organization to this point. Amazing.

Tags: certification, linux, lpi, training
Current Mood: impressed

A few more additions to LinTraining today... new Linux training centers in UK, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan and several instructors added from Germany. (Curious that two instructor submissions both came in from Germany - I wonder if there was an article out in Germany.)

Tags: certification, lintraining, linux, lpi, training

If any of you are near Utrecht, Netherlands, or Frankfurt, Germany, and are interested in obtaining LPI certification for a reduced price, you can participate in the exam lab at LinuxWorld Utrecht (November 9-10) or the exam lab at LinuxWorld Frankfurt (November 15-17).  Kudos to LPI-German for helping organize the exam labs and booths at both events.

Tags: certification, linux, lpi

It amazes me that it has been seven years since I wrote an article in the Linux Gazette about the need for independent Linux certification.  That article was read by Dave Sifry who, as part of this startup called Linuxcare, offered a mailing list and eventually wound up employing me to head up what would eventually become the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) which is by pretty much any measure today the largest certification program for Linux professionals worldwide.  That article attracted a good number of folks, many of whom became strong friends and great partners as we collectively built LPI.  It led to a continued series of articles (midway on the page) and brought me into so many other different and amazing experiences and opportunites - and introduced me to so many fantastic people.  Looking back, it truly was an amazing time and is something I am still very honored to have had the privilege to be a part of.

And my part of it all began with a simple little article, published in a niche publication...  it does go to show the power of taking that step to put your ideas before other people.

Tags: certification, linux, lpi

Finally got a chance this morning to login to LinTraining and approve a range of new Linux training center submissions. Interesting and wide ranging selection: 4 from Germany, 3 from Brazil, 2 from Egypt, 2 from the US and 1 each from Canada, Ecuador, India, Peru, the Phillipines, Portugal, South Korea and Singapore.  It was nice to see that with maybe one exception they were all offering LPI certification.  I did note a rise in entries indicating that they offer Novell/SuSE certification in addition to LPI, which is good to see.

Tags: certification, lintraining, linux, lpi

As part of our ongoing relationship with LinuxWorld conferences, we are offering free LPI certification exams at LinuxWorld UK coming up in a few weeks in London.  If you are going to the show and want a free crack at LPI exams, registration instructions are in the news release. (If you aren't going to the full conference, you may be eligible for reduced price exams if you are just attending the trade show.)

It's great to do this to help people get certified, so I do hope some folks take advantage of it.

Tags: certification, linux, lpi

"What's the Point of IT Certifications?" was asked on Slashdot in a brief article by an author who had written on a similar subject on her own blog a week earlier.  In typical Slashdot fashion, the signal-to-noise ratio was pretty high in the brief scan I did.  It was nice to see this comment from someone when a person asked whether LPI certification specifically was worth it:

It is really good and tough as heck to pass. I wouldn't even start to compare it with MCSE sort of stuff

We'll take those kind of messages being stated out there!

Tags: certification, linux, lpi