We congratulate our UNIX / Linux instructor Igor Chubin on the successful completion of LPIC-3 certification, the highest level certification from LPI!
We had a short conversation with Igor, during which he shared his impressions of the exams, the FOSDEM conference at which he took them, and told other things that may be interesting and useful to those who are going to take the LPI exams.
Alena Disyuk (A.D.) - Igor, hello! First, congratulations on your successful submission. You're doing fine! How do you like the exams? Was it difficult? Although, of course, with your experience in passing exams ... Perhaps these exams were somehow special?
Igor Chubin (I.Ch.) - Thank you very much! Thank you for your congratulations, first of all, and of course, thanks to the training center "Network Technologies" for the interesting work, without which it would be much more difficult for me to pass these exams.
Now about the exams, in fact, were they any special, and what was especially memorable about them.
In general, there are two main ways to take LPI exams: firstly, LPI exams can be taken at any time in VUE / Prometric testing centers, there are several of them in Kiev, one of them is right here. And there is a second way: you can take it at opensource conferences, where LPI representatives come and conduct exams there right on the spot. In the first case, it is convenient: you do not need to go anywhere, the result is known immediately; in the second, it is cheaper (apart from travel costs), because discounts are made for such exams, sometimes up to 50%.
If you take one exam, then the price difference is not noticeable; if you take a lot, then the difference is very significant. I had to take 5 exams at once, so even taking into account the cost of the trip, I had a choice: take exams here or go to a conference.
HELL. - Wait, why did you have to take 5 exams? You already had 4 handed over a long time ago? Wasn't you LPIC-2?
LPIC certifications of Igor Chubin, Linux trainer aws cloud solution architect
I.Ch. - Yes, I was LPIC-2, and indeed, in general, to go to the third level, it is enough to pass one extended exam, but in my case everything turned out a little differently.
The thing is, I was certified by LPI in 2002, at the dawn of this organization; then everything was just beginning, and a lot has changed since then.
For example, there was no certificate expiration date back then. And so it was written: the certificate is valid for life. It is clear that this looks a little strange, because technologies do not stand still, and their knowledge is dulled, without recertification in any way, but nevertheless, at first there were such rules.
In 2003 I passed LPI-2, in the forefront, practically as soon as this certification appeared; There was nowhere else to go, and I stopped there and forgot about her for a while. The organization promised that sometime in the future they would develop an LPI-3 level that would be the top of their pyramid, but when that would be was unknown.
Some time ago, this level finally appeared, and it became possible to take exams on it. But then other news awaited me. It turns out that during this time they decided to make a restriction: the status was limited to five years. And they acted cunningly: the status is not canceled, but simply made inactive. It is valid, but in order to move on, you need to unfreeze it, and for this to retake everything from scratch.
7 years have passed since 2003, so I had to hand over everything from scratch.
In principle, it was very interesting and useful, because the questions have completely changed over these 7-8 years, and these were actually different exams, albeit with the same names.
HELL. - Yes, interesting. Have you compared the results with what was 7 years ago?
I.Ch. - Yes, I did. He improved everything, with the exception of 202. Probably, he was the worst prepared for it, and, perhaps, fatigue affected. I took it last, fifth.
HELL. - Why did you decide to take it last? And how did you distribute them at all?
I.Ch. - Everything that takes place at the conference is divided into many parallel streams, in each of which there are sequentially different sections, which in turn are divided into time slots. Any event (performance, exam, keysigning party) is tied to certain time slots in a certain stream. The exams were also tied. The examinations were allocated two places on Saturday and three on Sunday.
I decided to take the first two warm-up exams, 101 and 102 on Saturday, to start simple; on Sunday I'll start at 201 to warm up; then the most difficult one, 301, so as not to take it last, when you are already tired; and then 202.
HELL. - Five exams in two days, that's cool, of course. Isn't it all mixed up in your head?
I.Ch. - Well, I almost did not prepare for exams on purpose. At LPI, I like the fact that they ask those things that you already constantly encounter in your daily work. And it is very easy for you to answer such questions, it is even a little offensive that such simple questions; however, it quickly passes for you when questions begin on a topic that you almost never encountered.
Then you start thinking and remembering frantically.
HELL. - Do the topics overlap strongly with what you have to do at work?
I.Ch. - Yes, a lot. And with those topics that we consider during training, and with those things that I have to deal with while working on projects at Techexpert.
For example, exam 301 is almost entirely about LDAP and how to build scalable systems around it. You have to deal with this a lot at work. The LPI 304 exam, which is dedicated to virtualization systems, should appear in the summer. I think I will have to pass it too.
HELL. - That is, it turns out that the exam really well reflects the availability of the knowledge that will be needed for work? Did a lot of people pass the exam?
I.Ch. - As for the reflection of knowledge, this is a difficult question. It really reflects knowledge, but there are two big buts.
Firstly, the exam is paid, and not everyone who has knowledge will definitely take it, because the full line of certification costs approximately the same as a monthly salary, and if you consider that the certificate itself does not guarantee anything, and is only an option, then you can assume that far fewer specialists are certified than there are.
Secondly, the exam is just an exam, and although many measures are being taken to combat dishonest methods of passing, they cannot be completely overcome; and there is always the possibility that the one who passed the exam simply trained on him by cunning methods. This is also better than nothing, but it is worse than real preparation.
There were not very many people, compared to how many people were at the conference. There are 20 people in each session, for a total of about 100 people in total.
HELL. - And at the conference? In general, can you tell us a little about her?
I.Ch. - The Fosdem conference where I passed the exams, the biggest opensource event in Europe. It is held every February in Brussels; it was the tenth anniversary conference. This time several thousand people took part in it. This is a really huge number of people.
Firstly, there is a very cool atmosphere, and secondly, there you can learn a lot of new things.
The conference is completely free and does not even require registration. It is organized at the expense of sponsors (who do not even have the right to make sponsored reports), including from LPI, and through voluntary donations.
The venue is provided by the ULB University.
During the Fosdem conference, the university and the adjacent territories are transformed. You can feel the presence of something like that nearby. On Sunday morning you get on the tram, and already on the way to the university you realize that everyone around is ours, Linux users. You don't even need to listen to what they are talking about, they are immediately visible.
The university is also changing everything: from classrooms, corridors and wardrobes to toilets. Well, where else can you find such inscriptions on the doors of the toilet cubicle?
I learned that at Fosdem, at the opening, the organizers perform such a cunning ritual dance, the Fosdem Dance. This is a sequence of jumps, runs and some other tricks on the stage, which are performed synchronously. The dance should symbolize difficulties in preparing the conference and overcoming them. Looks cool.
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