[Novalug] What is your "Linux admin IQ?"

James Ewing Cottrell 3rd JECottrell3@Comcast.NET
Sun Oct 4 15:25:52 EDT 2009


I tied yours. The ones I missed were nontechnical, the Driver one 
Mackenzie mentioned, and "Which Company Never Released a Linux Distro".

I also guessed on a few, and I doubt that Larry Ewing would rather be 
remembered for ... of wait ... I am confusing him with Mark (or is it 
Marc?) Ewing ... hmmmm, perhaps I should study my Family History more.

J. Ewing C. III

P.S. Thanks for the nod, Paul

Paul D. Bain wrote:
> 	Infoworld has a "Linux admin IQ test:"
> 
> 	http://www.infoworld.com/t/linux/linux-admin-iq-test-066
> 
> I am especially interested in whether any of you who 
> _HAVE_SECURITY_CLEARANCES_ can best my score. Here is _my_ score:
> 
> http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/7720/linuxadminiqtestpauldba.png
> 
> OK, smug, security-cleared MotherFu's, can you best my score?
> 
> 	I suspect that a few of you can best my score, including, for example: 
> Jim Cottrell, G. Pryzby, Brad Alexander, William Ball, Chuck Moss, David 
> Niemi. But I doubt that most of you with _SECURITY_CLEARANCES_ can do 
> so. Which would tend to buttress my belief that many of you have jobs, 
> even as I languish in the unemployment line (nearly 16 months now), 
> solely because you have clearances, not because you are knowledgeable 
> with respect to Linux.
> 
> 	Don't believe me? OK, then take the test.
> 
> 	DISCLAIMER: I concede that I got lucky on a few of the questions. I did 
> not know the answer (to some questions) and had to proceed by process of 
> elimination. I eliminated two of the choices and then guessed as to the 
> two choices that remained.
> 
> 	BTW, some of the questions are "trick" questions. Read them 
> _carefully_. _Every_ word.
> 
> 	Truthfully, this test is not a good measure of Linux competence. Not at 
> all. Some of the questions related to historical trivia and do not 
> relate to competence as a Linux administrator. If I were designing such 
> a test, I would proceed differently. I would want to know, for example:
> 
> (a) What is the most important trend in IT today (TMITIITT)?
> 
> (b) How do you stay abreast of TMITIITT?
> 
> (c) How do you trouble-shoot? What are the steps in your 
> trouble-shooting methodology?
> 
> (d) When trouble-shooting, which resources would you use and in what 
> order? Why?
> 
> (e) How do you measure an IT professional's intelligence?
> 
> IMO, one of the most important differences between a good administrator 
> and an average one lies in their trouble-shooting ability. I have had a 
> few bosses who had considerably more experience than I but who could 
> _not_ trouble-shoot. They lacked the necessary, fundamental knowledge, 
> e.g., the primary differences between TCP and UDP. Furthermore, they 
> were not very smart. Nice guys. But not very smart.
> 
> -- Paul Bain
> 
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