RedHat Blues

Originally posted May 12, 2006

It's been a week now and the thought of it doesn't depress me quite so much, so I might as well write about it now. Last Friday I took the test to become a Red Hat Certified Technician (RHCT) at the Red Hat training facility in Tyson's Corner.

I failed miserably.

The first half of the test is compulsory. If you don't get 100Àyou don't get certified no matter how good you do on the second half. I didn't get 100àThe worst of it was that I overcomplicated one of the problems to the point of impossibility. I was one step away from getting it right. Further, it was a step I knew about and was postponing because I thought I had to do other things first. I never completed the step because I never completed the impossible steps I created first. The other one I missed because I did not go as far as I should have in the solution. Again, I could have got it right if I had just done what I knew needed to be done.

Why am I being so vague about the problems? It is not because I worry that my readers won't understand. I am sure quite a few of you would. No, it's because I signed an NDA. Given MySpaces' track record in legal issues (teacher screws underage student, murderer blogging, etc.) I don't need to incriminate myself. I now return you to your regularly scheduled self-pity session.

I only needed 70n the second half of the test to pass. It didn't matter for certification at that point, but I wanted to see if I could have been certified had I passed the first half. I got a whopping 63.7àI don't know what was more depressing, failing or getting so close to succeeding.

University class, 10 straight work days, family life, and a general funk have prevented me from posting any new blogs until now. I think I am over it. I am scheduled to go to the next level of Red Hat training for the engineering certification in July. If I pass the RHCT portion of the test, regardless of the results of the RHCE portion, I will be a certified technician. My goal is to pass both, of course. Not only will having an RHCT and RHCE help me get further in my current job, but if I am ever laid off, I'll have those certifications on my resume. I actually plan on going farther than the engineering level. I would love to become an architect. There are only about 50 of those right now. Unfortunately, that certification requires 5 or 6 more courses with their own tests, each costing a couple thousand to attend. My employer will only pay up to the engineer level. I will be footing the bill for anything further. We'll see how far I can get myself.