1. General

1.1 Why is a certification program needed for Linux?

There are a number of very good reasons for doing so, but for brevity's sake here's a list of bullet points:

• Create industry recognition
• Provide an organizational path for students
• Provide an organizational mechanism for training centers
• Enhance marketing
• Counter the "no-support" argument
• Turn students into advocates
• Provide other means of employment for Linux skilled individuals
• Recruit new Linux users
• Assist in the hiring process

The easiest way to gain corporate, governmental, and institutional support and usage of Linux is to ensure that there is a bona fide support mechanism in place. Most of the major stakeholder companies within the Linux community have either put one in place or are in the process of doing so. The next step is to provide a path for Linux professionals to follow so that they will be employable within this framework. In short... it's all about support!

1.2 What can I do to help?

There are many ways in which you can help with the activities of LPI. Here's a short list:

• Participate in Exam Development - If you are a writer, a subject matter expert, an editor, a programmer or other kind of Linux specialist, we have a use for you.
• Volunteer at booths- we are talking about LPI at an increasing number of trade shows and are always in need of more volunteers.
• Help find financial sponsors - an effort like this involves a lot of money and we're always seeking people to join our list of sponsors. Visit our sponsorship page to learn more.
• Write, speak or otherwise help in publicity - we always need more people to write about LPI and speak at conferences and events.
• Join and participate in our mailing lists - visit our page on getting involved for more information about how to join the lists.

There are many more ways to become involved. Watch the news on our home page and join in our mailing lists to learn more.

1.3 I've worked with a lot of "certified" people and haven't been impressed with their competence. What do you say to this type of criticism?

First of all LPI does not believe that certification is a blanket solution for Linux (or any other operating system for that matter). In our considered opinion there is no substitute for experience! That said, people do have to start somewhere and that is the biggest fallacy in the overall perception of certificate programs... because there is a general, industry wide shortfall of qualified people working in the IT field it's possible for a fresh faced certificate holder to be put at the head of the line too early (there's nothing wrong with hiring them... in fact employers are going to hire LPI cert holders in droves... but employers have to be aware of the difference between a cert holder or non-cert holder with 5 years of experience with Linux and a cert holder with 6 months of experience with Linux). Depending on the talents of the individuals, that difference could be huge, but that is not generally a shortfall of the certificate program itself, in our opinion it is more correctly a failed hiring practice and does not reflect accurately on the certificate program. LPI believes that, as in all things, people's individual talent, skill and work ethic will make or break them in the IT field. Please remember, LPI is not trying to create a "first among equals" type of solution as we really do not believe that such a thing exists. The LPI certifications will provide potential employers with a standard gauge to measure the technical quality and competence of a given candidate and that's all a certification can do. The rest is up to the candidate and that's the way it should be.

1.4 How will the LPI program meet the requirements of existing hiring practices and local regulations (such as U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity laws)?

LPI intends to provide hiring managers and contractors a gauge to help assess Linux related skill levels of individuals. To that end, LPI has attracted and assembled a diverse and talented group of people from the world-wide Linux community to help create the program. Very few of these people have ever met face to face, as the entire effort is being conducted in a virtual setting on the Internet. The diversity of this group will help us ensure that our program is free of gender, racial, or cultural bias. In fact, since most, if not all, of the individuals working on LPI's programs have never met in person they'd be hard pressed to identify much more than the gender of a co-worker and in many cases not that either. Additionally, LPI will work to validate our program against the psychometric standards required by regulations in the US and other countries as applicable. Furthermore we will publish results of our validation studies on the LPI site.

1.5 How does LPI compare to other Linux certification programs?

Since there is no central authority controlling the Linux operating system, anyone may start up a Linux certification program and several companies have. The most critical difference between LPI and the rest of these programs is that LPI is completely vendor independent and distribution neutral. We work with a huge list of companies which is a virtual who's who of the IT industry and our tests have been developed specifically to test competence with all versions of Linux. Finally, LPI is an independent, non-profit corporation which has evolved out of the Linux community focusing solely on setting certification standards. There are other differences in approach, support and research - if you are interested in more information, feel free to send questions to info@lpi.org. In truth, we welcome all of these programs because, in the end, they will all help grow the pool of Linux support professionals which drives deeper corporate adoption of Linux!