[aklug] Re: Linux Certification Courses

Shane, that made me laugh out loud! My list has some overlap ... I went a little overboard here, but it was a useful re-grounding for me.

OK, here's my list. Michael, I'm sure this is waaay more than what you were looking for, and probably not exactly what you had in mind, but it's what I think would really be helpful.

Gear and environment:

* Clearly-lit room. ;-)
* Full-ear-coverage sound-suppression earmuffs (for when sounds get distracting, but easy to don/remove).
* Clean desk: random cruft and side projects packed away.
* Clear schedule: chunk of inviolate uninterruptible time ... and a partner who will help protect it.
* Clear head: a place to note random tasks, thoughts and worries to review later.
* "Flow music" (ambient, industrial, whatever energizes without distracting).
* Fresh supply of whatever you use to brainstorm (paper/pencils, etc.)

Equipment:

* Beefy virtualization hardware (so you can easily break things with wild abandon, and then roll back).
* Big monitors, if you can swing it.
* A few Linux and Unix-like distros (to see how different OSes handle the same problems) -- including source.
* Timers (physical or virtual) for sprints of focus, eye/stretch breaks, etc.

Resources:

* An understanding of intermediate/advanced Google search operators and techniques.
* Heavy use of serverfault.com, including having non-applicable platforms filtered out up front.
* Subscribe to blogs by people traveling the same path.

Tools and techniques:

* Hotkeys for moving windows to specific areas.
* An understanding of how to tell which resources are being used by which processes.
* Know your basic atomic Unix utilities: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Unix_utilities
* Learn vim (see my previous evangelizing on this topic). ;-)

Approach:

* Pursue a project you're personally compelled to complete, for which Linux can be part of the answer.
* The aforementioned WHY drive, including childlike wonder and playful experimentation.
* Peer empathy: think about what other people in your position need to know.

Philosophy and history:

* Lasser's book _THINK Unix_ (for philosophical grounding).
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix
* http://catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/

Support:

* Papa Murphy's Gourmet Veggie pizza.
* Guyot stainless bottle with optional Gription lid/handle (for large, unspillable water).
* Peanut Butter M&Ms (for rewards when milestones are reached).
* Weights or bike nearby for change of pace, stimulating inter-hemispheric communication.
* Regular sleep. Cannot stress this enough.

Royce

Shane R. Spencer said, on 10/18/2011 02:19 PM:
> Prerequisites:
>
> Dark Room
> Hot Pockets
> Xena Seasons 1-6
> An unstoppable curiosity for WHY things work.
>
> On 10/18/2011 12:18 PM, Michael Horton wrote:
>> Does anybody know of a good program to go through that will teach me the ins
>> and outs of everything Linux? I have found this link through LPI that gives
>> me various vendors that can help me prepare to take a cert course, anybody
>> have suggestions?
>> http://www.lpi.org/eng/training__1/study_materials/new_exam_preparation_resources_for_revised_lpic_exams
>> Thanks,
>> - Michael
>>
>>
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Received on Tue Oct 18 21:47:26 2011