Congratulations Pete on passing your Red Hat exams

With great pleasure we announce our newly qualified Red Hat engineer, Pete Bennett. Pete is a Systems Specialist at 34SP.com and he’s been with us for over 5 years now. His months of hard work studying server environments have paid off: Pete passed his Red Hat exams with flying colours last Friday. He now joins the ranks of our engineers with WordPress and Systems Specialist Keith.

Congratulations Pete! How did you find the studying for your Red Hat qualification?

I spent a very long time preparing for everything on the Red Hat exam preparation list. It changes and it’s in depth. You don’t really know what you are going to get asked so you have to make sure all bases are covered. It was nerve racking studying for my Red Hat qualification, but I think that’s a good thing. If it’s easy to do it doesn’t seem like much a reward and considering I studied really hard for this, I’m pretty happy right now!

The guides I used originally were a little outdated, so I learned what I could from them. What really helped me personally was when I got more hands on with Red Hat. My colleagues helped me set up a server environment at first, so I could work on some practical course material. From then on it became much more natural to me.

…and how did you feel doing your Red Hat exams?

For starters the exam lasted 2 and a half hours and I’m a little out of touch when it comes to exams. Again I had to be practical with my exam, I had to log on and configure a server before even starting so preparing for this part really helped. There’s only so much I can tell you about the exam itself, they kind of swear you to secrecy. It was complicated and I was nervous but took it bit by bit and in the end it paid off. It’s important to persevere when you are taking the exam to prepare yourself. Some of the people around me got a little spooked by it all. I won’t lie I panicked too, but I’m here now and it was totally worth it. I’m a Red Hat Certified Engineer, it’s a great place to be.

Was there anything specific you took from your Red Hat training?

Most definitely ‘problem solving’. They teach you how to work things out by yourself which is pretty perfect for me. My job is quite hectic on our support team and my colleagues are busy people too. Whilst it’s nice to have them to ask questions, I know I can handle cases quicker the more I know. Plus it feels like more of an achievement, I see why people who work in systems feel accomplished in their roles.

Any advice for our future 34SP.com staff who will be taking the exam?

• Practice and more practice. Set yourself some free time away from distractions to study, make sure you have tried your best when preparing for the exam. It’s not easy, nor should it be.
• Go into it with a positive attitude. It’s built to be mentally challenging so you need to just get on with it and not doubt yourself.
• Get the exam booked. As long as you have a date, you’ll make time to prepare. Don’t procrastinate.

Pete, how would you say the Red Hat Certified System Administrator qualification is important to your role at 34SP.com?

I’ve wanted to work in systems for a long time now. It’s the most enjoyable part of my role at 34SP.com and with my certificate, I’m on my way! Is Red Hat relevant to my role? Not fully. Like any exam or course they don’t fully marry up with your work life. There are many things that I have taken away from my Red Hat training however. I’d have to refer to problem solving again as it’s such a large and important part of a role in systems. No matter what server environment you have set up, we can all take something away from this course.