Getting Unix Certified- www.instantcert.com any good?

[Guest_imported]

I recently got laid off by a dot com where i was a Unix System Administrator. The job market seems to be a lot tighter now, and there's a lot more competition. I'm looking to get an edge by getting Certified in some flavor of Unix. I found one site--

http://www.instantcert.com,

that has study material for AIX, HP, and Solaris, but I can't seem to find anyone who's used it. Anyone here know if it's any good?

 

[Simkin]

I used it to get certified in a little less than 2 weeks in AIX. Their AIX section made it pretty easy to get my AIX certification, so I just signed up for their HP-UX section.

Hey, good luck with your job search man. I was getting a lot more recruiters calling me once I was able to put "AIX certified" in my resume title. I think getting certified in at least one flavor will definitely give you a bit of a boost over all the other guys claiming to have the experience, but having nothing to show for it on paper.

 

[prv3116]

Brainbench.com is another good place to go for certifications. Many recruiting agencies are using this site to do skill testing. Very similar to IBM AIX Support Certification testing; it is timed.

 

[Guest_imported]

Thanks for the info, and the encouragement. I've signed up for the AIX, cause the 1100+ questions they had for HP looked a bit daunting. Maybe that'll be next!

Yeah, I was just stunned--when I was conducting my job search just six months ago, it was a different animal. I was getting bombarded by recruiters, and now, I'm lucky if I get a fourth of the calls I used to. Talking to some recruiters, it definitely has gotten more competitive, but one thing's the same--if you know what you're doing, then all you need is an interview, and you're going to get the job. There may be a lot of competition, but there are still jobs out there for qualified, knowledgable applicants.

Hey, I'd be interested in talking to you a bit more in person, maybe get some advice from you and test-taking tips. Why don't you email me at bboblaneer@yahoo.com!

 

[mgdaviso]

go to

http://www.ibm.com

and look for the redbook entitled "IBM Certification Study Guide AIX V4.3 System administration" SG24-5129-00 It tells you all you need to know for the IBM test. Good luck Mike davison
mike.davison@avon.com

 

[timjarland]

I used the IBM redbook referenced in the previous post and passed the AIX test very easily. As far as HP is concerned, the test was much harder than AIX, but there is still a fair amount of info out there on it. Check out the HP web site.

 

[Simkin]

Yeah, you guys are right--the redbook covers pretty much everything you need to know to pass the test. Only problem I found was that it was reeally dry, and for someone like me who doesn't just instantly remember all of the command names and syntax by reading through a book, it wasn't enough.

 

[mgdaviso]

If you order it and pay for it, you get a CD with a program that asks test questions, and gives you help on your weak areas. Mike davison
mike.davison@avon.com

 

[RobertGilmore]

Well I used the Redbook, and like the other fellow said, it was extremely dry, I didn't find the cd that great either. I used instantcert.com and was able to pass the test. Personally I found the cert to be difficult even though I've worked with the OS for over 5 yrs. The website was interactive and really reinforced the details I needed to pass. I liked the site so much I'm working on HP-UX now. Just my two cents.

 

[Guest_imported]

Bob, do you know which of the three certifications carries more weight in terms of getting hired. And, I looked at the HP-UX certification, and I only saw that there were 80 questions on the exam. Did I miss something here?

 

[Simkin]

Well, having recently been in the job market, here's the impression I got--

It looks to me like out of the Unix certs, Solaris is by far the most widely tested for, and AIX is the rarest one. Which means, while Solaris certified people are still rare, there are still a good amount of them out there compared to the other two flavors--not to mention, it seems like a lot more people claim proficiency in Solaris over HP or AIX.

What I would recommend is, get AIX and/or HP-UX. I ended up getting all three, cause it's great to be able to claim to be competent at the three biggest brands out there, but AIX and HP are still a killer combo.

Oh yeah, and when he said 1100+ questions, you can see on the front page of their website that they advertise having something like 1150 questions in their study materials. 80 is the number of questions on the official HP-UX certification exam you take to get certified.