There are hundreds of IT certifications available these days. This has made it difficult for a person to choose the most valuable certificate for a career.
If someone is looking for new opportunities in IT, which certification will add value to the resume? There is no straight forward answer to this question, but people with system administration certification are never out of job!
System administration is the nucleus of any IT team. They are responsible to run day to day operations of any network. They install, organize and support local area networks (LANs) and wider area networks (WANs). System administrators deal with massive enterprise data centers, directories, networking, various software applications, network segments, email and other data communication systems.
When it comes to System Administration, the most used server operating system is Linux. ‘Linus Torvalds’, a student of University of Helsinki created Linux in 1991. Similar to Window, OSX or iOS Linux has equivalent features of graphical interface, word processing applications etc. On top of that, this amazingly customizable system is free to pubic view, edit, use, and up gradation.
Linux used to be considered a nerdy thing in past!
In 1995 two American software companies Red Hat Inc. and Red Hat Linux merged to become Red Hat Software. Red Hat is the leading open source business model company who realized that if they could create more Linux users they can brand Red Hat as the preferred name to supply components and programs related to Linux operating system!They developed the idea of selling ‘free’ software!
Linux is now everywhere, from petite machines to gigantic supercomputers, more than 70% of internet hosting and service provides are Linux! Even at a personal level the devices like Android phones, smart TV’s, digital storage devices, Cameras, video cameras run Linux.
At corporate level, Wikipedia, Google, Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, NASA, McDonalds, Postal Services, Aviation industry, Universities,The Bullet Trains in Japan, or even the Parliament of France are using Linux. Interestingly Graphical editing of Oscar winning movies like Titanic and Avatar were done using Linux!
Linux community is vast, getting even bigger every day. IT industry needs more and more LinuxDesigners to create interfaces and graphics distribution, Writers to document texts, Contributions, Programmers, Testers, Translators, Packagers, developers.
It’s a good time to consider learning Linux. Few of the most demanding certifications are – Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE), VMWare Certified Professional, CompTIA A+, CompTIA Linux +, Linux Professional Institute Certification (LPIC).
The average Unix/Linux System Administrator salary in Canada is $81,112 per year or $42 per hour. This is around 2.5 times more than the Median wage of the country. Entry level positions start at $57,000 while most experienced workers make up to $114,000.
The Entry level positions for Red hat related jobs start at $80,000 while most experienced workers make up to $160,000.