[vox] LUGOD's own Linux test certificate

[Michael J Wenk]

On Mon, Sep 15, 2003 at 11:12:37AM -0700, Mark K. Kim wrote:
> What do you guys think about creating a LUGOD Linux test?  It can be used
> to set some amount of standard we want our members to reach, show members
> what Linux facts they are missing out on (or not missing out on), and it
> can be a cheap way to get another certificate on our resumes.  We might
> even want to contact local LUGs and make it a regional test, which would
> give it more credibility (though LUGOD kind of has a good credibility
> already.)
> 
> We can gather test questions from everyone, pick the good and relevant
> ones and compile them, have all questions be reviewed in fragments by
> random people, create multiple versions of the test, etc.  We can charge a
> nominal fee ($5?) for the test as a way to raise some money, too.  From
> what I heard about the other tests from Peter, really, those other tests
> are so low-quality *and* charge way too much.  We can do a much better
> job, I think.
> 
> We'll have to get someone in charge of this test (a semi-officer position,
> perhaps), setup a test cycle (is once a month too often?), decide whether
> it'll be a computerized or paper test, setup a review process for creating
> and scoring the tests, etc.
> 
> Just an idea.
> 
> -Mark

My problem with these kinds of tests is they really don't show much.
What I don't think would be a bad idea would be a Linux(possibly
subclassed into Linux programming/using/admining) assessment where a
member or a person in the gen public can go online and assess where they
are in learning the OS(or subclass of the OS.)  But an actual
certification to me would not be very useful(speaking both as a
professional and a guy who had a lot of say in hiring unix sys admins.)