The Linux Foundation offers many resources for developers, users, and administrators of Linux systems. One of the most important offerings is its Linux Certification Program, which is designed to give you a way to differentiate yourself in a job market that’s hungry for your skills.

How well does the certification prepare you for the real world? To illustrate that, we will be highlighting some of those who have recently passed the certification examinations. These testimonials should help you decide if either the Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator or the Linux Foundation Certified Engineer certification is right for you.

In this article, recently LFCS and LFCE Miltos Tsatsakis answers a few questions about his certification experience.

Linux.com: How did you become interested in Linux and open source?

Miltos Tsatsakis: My magic journey with Linux and open source software started about 10 years ago, as a hobby during my MSc studies. A friend of mine suggested I should join a large wireless community in Greece. I started to play with Linux-based wireless routers like OpenWrt, using distributions like Debian and Ubuntu, as well as open source software, such as Apache, Squid, Postfix, etc. I was fascinated with the freedom that Linux has to offer and, of course, the CLI terminal. At that time, I had no idea that my hobby would become my professional career in the near future.

Linux.com: What Linux Foundation course did you achieve certification in? Why did you select that particular course?

Tsatsakis: I completed the LFCS and the LFCE certification. I already hold Red Hat RHCSA and RHCE, but I wanted to update my knowledge on newer systemd-based systems like CentOs 7.

Linux.com: What are your career goals? How do you see Linux Foundation certification helping you achieve those goals?

Tsatsakis: My goals are to dive deeper into linux internals and gain more knowledge about automation tools like Ansible. Linux Foundation certification exams are performance-based, which very much benefits my career.

Linux.com: What are your hobbies or interests? Do you participate in any open source projects at this time?

Tsatsakis: I am using Ansible a lot lately to automate various tasks for my job as a system administrator. I am also interested in monitoring tools, such as Zabbix, Prometheus, and Grafana.

Linux.com: Do you plan to take future Linux Foundation courses? If so, which ones?

Tsatsakis: For now I don’t have any plans, but in the future I am certainly willing to learn more about microservices, and especially Kubernetes (Kubernetes Fundamentals certification is an excellent choice!).

Linux.com: In what ways do you think the certification will help you as a systems administrator in today’s market?

Tsatsakis: As I said before: Exams are performance-based, which is a major benefit for my career. This type of exam shows you have sufficient, practical knowledge on Linux systems!

Linux.com: What Linux distribution do you prefer and why?

Tsatsakis: When it comes to a production environment, CentOS is my first choice. Being a Red Hat fork, it gives you the confidence of an enterprise-ready OS. As for my desktop, I always used Ubuntu.

Linux.com: Are you currently working as a Linux systems administrator? If so, what role does Linux play?

Tsatsakis: Yes. I am currently working as a Linux systems administrator (mostly CentOS based systems), dealing with various open source software, such as Apache, NGINX, haproxy, and varnish.

Linux.com: Where do you see the Linux job market growing the most in the coming years?

Tsatsakis: Linux is everywhere, but Big Data and large distributed systems is currently the hottest market.

Linux.com: What advice would you give those considering certification for their preparation?

Tsatsakis: Practice a lot! Don’t memorize commands and config files; try to understand what you are doing! Use MAN pages, read sample config files under /usr/share/doc … you will definitely use them during exams!

Linux.com: If you have found employment in the IT industry, do you feel like your certification was crucial or beneficial?

Tsatsakis: I think it was as critical and beneficial, as organizations looking for qualified staff will be more apt to trust their systems to those who have proven they have practical knowledge. Certifications are beneficial, because they allow you to improve your skills everyday. Open source is evolving very fast, so it will help you to become more skilled as a professional.