There are, of course, plenty of books, practice exams, tutorials, and other study aids available. Some are free and some cost money. Read what LPI has to say, think about your skills, your budget, and how you learn best. Then, and only then, set out a course of study — assuming you need one at all; if you’re been working with Linux for any length of time, you may not need to study to pass some of the more basic LPI exams.

And now, a friendly word about Red Hat

Red Hat’s training and certifications are absolutely top drawer. You can know nothing about Linux, take your Red Hat courses, do some hands-on practical work on your own, and within a couple of years you will be competent to handle most Linux admin tasks — and not just on Red Hat, but in general with a little poking around in different distributions, because different Linux distributions aren’t all that different from one another.

If your employer wants to send you to a Red Hat class or pay for some Red Hat certification exams, don’t say “I dunno….” No, young troop. Jump up and SALUTE! If your bosses are willing to invest in you, say “thank you” graciously and take them up on their kind offer.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is the most common corporate Linux distribution. That’s as it should be. Its very name tells you it’s Enterprise Linux as opposed to desktop Linux or even cereal bowl Linux.

But RHEL is not the only Linux distribution. And it’s entirely possible that a Linux-ignorant HR person will look at all your hard-won Red Hat certifications and say, “I’m sorry. We’re looking for someone with Fedora experience.”

You can sputter and your face can turn red, but there is no way you can penetrate that level of stupidity. Just turn and leave — and be glad you didn’t end up working for a company where morons hold respnsible positions. Which leads to a caution:

If a company uses Linux, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s run by smart people.

Hard to believe, but true. On the hiring front, you know and I know that experience and knowledge trump certifications any day of the week. But many HR people and managers don’t know this. Or at least will run resumes through automated sorting system that kick out anyone who doesn’t have Linux Mint experience. And in the world of automated resume sorting, Ubuntu experience just won’t do. Sorry.

Stupid? You bet! But what are you going to do about it?

Answer: invest in at least a few LPI exams, and make sure your resume lists every Linux distro you’ve used, and every major program you’ve worked with on those distros.

With any luck, these tactics will help you get by HR and management gatekeepers and put you in front of an actual front-line manager who knows what he or she is talking about and won’t waste your time with stupidity.

It’s a hope, anyway. And LPI exams are a great aid in fulfilling the hope of getting you in front of someone who can actually hire you — or a few rungs up your career ladder, give you a raise or even promote you.

The Foundation’s first-ever Linux Jobs Report is now available as a downloadable PDF file. They also have an interview with a Dice.com person who says, “It’s not a surprise to us that Linux talent is in demand, but what is surprising is the fact that 85 percent of companies report having difficulty finding qualified Linux professionals.”

So, qualified Linux professional, that means you are in demand!

And if you are not a qualified Linux professional, you may want to become one.

At the very least, install Linux on a computer or two at home and start messing with it. Which distributions? Probably Red Hat clone CentOS, and purist favorite Debian, not because they’re the easiest to use, but because they’re what you’re most likely to find in an enterprise installation.

It’s also okay to cheat and start out with Debian-derived Ubuntu, which is more GUI-oriented than Debian or Red Hat (or Red Hat clone CentOS).

You can get plenty of free Linux help from Linux User Groups. That’s a Wikipedia link. Using the search terms “Linux User Group” or “LUG” and the name of the nearest major city or town to you in Google is almost certain to turn up a LUG near you. Even if there’s not one that has meetings that are convenient for you to attend, there are plenty of LUGs whose primary “meetings” are email lists or IRC channels. F2F or online, Linux users are generally helpful if you ask politely for aid rather than demanding it in a huff.

Many community colleges and most universities offer some sort of Linux classes. And there are Linux certifications galore you can obtain by taking tests. Rather than hashing through all of them here, I’ll give you a link to a Google search for “Linux certification” that will give you an overwhelmning amount of information.

Another great reason to start playing with Linux is that it’s fun. In fact, once you get used to running Linux and other Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), you’ll probably find most proprietary operating systems and software somewhat confining. But this doesn’t mean you should stop using them. As an IT manager friend of mine says, “In my shop there’s no such thing as a Linux sysadmin or a Windows sysadmin.” If you work for me, you’re a sysadmin. Period.”