Let's discuss the new Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) pathway

[Deanna]

Hi Community,

Today Red Hat announced a new pathway to become a Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE).

I recommend reading through the RHCE blog post and updated RHCE FAQ, but what other questions do you have about the enhanced RHCE path? We have Red Hat Certification team experts in the community, ready to answer all of your questions and offer guidance regarding RHCE.

Special thanks to @Henry_Maine, @Greg_Kable and @LJ for being available to answer all of our RHCE and Certification questions here!

[NunoMartins]

Im busy with my D0407 - does this become null as part of my RHCA path this year ? since its becoming part of the RHCE ?  - Will I still get the RH Specialist in Ansible cert should I pass the exam ? 

[Lene]

You will still be Red Hat Certified Specialist in Ansible for 3 years after passing the EX407 exam, and it will count towards your RHCA.

[jthiatt]

I'm really glad they are going this direction.  I recently passed the RHCE and it felt really strange completing the objectives in such a manual way.  It is very easy to make a mistake, especially if you have to configure multiple servers.

Automation/scripting skills are essential to be successful in todays fast paced technology world and Ansible is one of the best automation tools out there.

[Lene]

Thank you for this feedback!

[RRR]

I have already quoted you on this perspective and will be doing so much more in the near future. ;-)

[yakstevens]

Feel like this is going to devalue the RHCE now. Where are the skill tought on the current RHCE now going to be tought? Things like iSCSI, MariaDB, link aggregation and bridging, network port security, DNS, email delivery etc....Is another course going to be created to replace it,?

Thought it would have made more sense to replace a chapter or 2 in the current RHCE and include basic Ansible skills such as creating the ansible config, static / dynamic inventories, adhoc commands and writing / running basic playbooks. If people want to learn Ansible in more depth then they can go on and do the DO407 course.

[Tracy_Baker]

Yeah . . . just a few questions (for now).

If this is going to be the direction that the RHCE is going, how will this impact the Red Hat Academies currently teaching the RH254 class?

Yes, I did see that there would be a RH294 class. Will that be offered to the Red Hat Academies? Hopefully, this is being considered.

I see in the, "Announcing the evolution of the Red Hat Certified Engineer program," blog post that the current RHCE (EX300) will be offered "until June 2020." In the same blog post, it also said that the EX300 will, "remain available for one year after the new exam is released."

Does this mean the new EX294 exam is being released this June (2019) and, if so, when will the RH294 class material drop? When will updates to the physical and NDG's NetLab+ labs be available / take place?

Please keep in mind that, for academic institutions, this could cause us to create new classes(s) which could be problematic to our getting our students prepared for a EX294 exam before Fall 2020 (at the absolute soonest, with Spring 2021 or Fall 2021 being more likely). Public educational institutions just aren't as nimble as private training facilities.

In our case, if more that 50% of a class's course competencies need to be re-written (if iSCSI, MariaDB, team bonding, DNS, email, etc. are being removed, and automation, orchestration, Ansible, etc. being added in, then surpassing the 50% threshhold seems to be guaranteed), then updating existing course(s) isn't an option, new one(s) have to be developed and approved by our sister colleges and governing board (with all the bureaucracy that involves). That takes time: at a minimum, a year, with two years not being unusual.

(I realize that my college's procedures are different from others, given that we have to negotiate what courses can be offered, or modified, with nine other schools. On the flip side, I'm sure there are others that are very much the same -- with long course development cycles. I really hope this is being taken into consideration.)

[RRR]

Tracy, we can't get more into date specifics at this time.  With that in mind, I would suggest getting the ball rolling for the necessary approvals as soon as possible, given the time lines that public institutions must work under.  I would also suggest getting in touch with your RHA rep directly about your concerns.

[Lisenet]

I took a quick look at RH294EA and its content is more or less a replica of DO407.

It looks like RHCE has been replaced with Ansible. If that's the case then it's dissapointing. I'm curious to see the official RHCE exam objectives for RHEL 8.