Linux Foundation Certified Sysadmin

This article was originally posted at Medium

At beginnings of last December I got an offer for LFS course and LFCS certification for under $90; considering its normal price is above $400, that was a really good offer that I couldn’t resist if we also consider that I’m a Linux fanboy.

So, I bought the course and started taking the classes in a kinda regular weekly basis. Starting April, I finished my classes, so, I decided to schedule the test; April 27, 20:00. Some days after I scheduled it, I read some documentation about it and I discovered that the test covers more topics than the studied ones in the test; so, I was in sort of trouble.

I knew I had to practice a lot, but I couldn’t get the time to do it; so, 2 days before the test I followed this guide as a base for studying and I should say, IT’S GREAT!

The day I took the test I found I really had to practice more; however I feel I performed well except for 2 big stupid errors that took a lot of time (bzipping and fdisk).

Some insights and facts about the test:

• I’m not a sysadmin, but I feel that if you are one, it would be a piece of cake for you.
• Instructions are clear and you have freedom to choose how to accomplish them.
• Proctor will ask you to stop singing or even talking to yourself/thinking aloud if you do it (I still don’t understand why).
• Man pages and — help are your greatest friends.
• You will have a list of exercises (some of them with subtasks/specific requirements) that you should accomplish in given terminal.
• It’s possible that terminal fails to receive input (it happened at least twice to me but idk if it was an internet issue); so, you should click reload button.
• Proctor doesn’t fully know the rules: I thought my Internet connection was crappy the first time that terminal failed; so, I asked for permission to open my system terminal just to ping anything in Internet and he took about one minute (I assume consulting the rules) just to answer I couldn’t do it.
• Proctor will remind you when you have 15 minutes left (yes, you have a timer in your main panel but he will still remind you).
• The time used while setting all the previous stuff won’t be discounted from your total time.
• You are supposed to get exam results 3 days after taken.
• If you love Linux like me, you’re gonna enjoy the test ☺ and learn a lot while doing it :-P (yes, it’s better if you learn that lot prior to take it but…).

As an ending: I haven’t received the results yet (I took the exam today), and I’m not fully sure I’m going to pass it, but I really should say it’s worthy no matter the test result (I don’t believe so much in certifications and I have a free retake if I don’t pass it), so; if you’re planning to take it, do it! (Disclaimer: I don’t know anything about other Linux certifications)

Update: I passed the test and now I’m officially a Linux Certified Sysadmin :D