[ale] Linuxgruven

[Perry]

Hi there, I was surfing through the archives and found some posts from back 
in October about Linuxgruven and how I should be weary of them.  I was 
curious as to what others had to say after an interview with them yesterday.

I was told that for their "Network Engineer" position that I need to be a 
certified LCA, http://www.linuxcertification.com, and that they would offer 
me the training for $3150 as well as a voucher for the 4 tests.  They told 
me that I could either self study or take the class through someone else to 
become certified, taking their class is not necessary to become employed 
(if I was certified, he would have offered me a job yesterday, or so he 
said).  Since I'm not certified and am looking to break into the IT 
industry, I figured that this would be a good opportunity.  But, common 
sense has taken over and this whole setup sounds sketchy.

Sitting there in the Lenox Towers waiting for the the interviewer, I heard 
the receptionist answer the phone for at least 2 other companies.  No big 
deal, small company shares HR office space with other companies.  The test 
to get invited to the class was amazing easy, about zero questions on it 
that dealt directly with linux, more about general hardware.

Linuxgruven has an article on their webpage that is from the St. Louis 
newspaper, I checked up on that and it was indeed published.  Seems that 
they have at least 1 big client, and I was told they signed on with Turbo 
Linux.  I called the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce and they didn't have 
anything on the company.  Called the Atlanta BBB and no complaints have 
been filed.  Call the St. Louis BBB and they have no closed complaints, but 
3 pending.  The guy I spoke to has heard of the company and is trying to 
track down more information about them, but they have not repsonded to a 
letter he sent them.

linuxcertification.com recommends 128 hours of classroom contact for the 
certification, Linuxgruven gives 80.  My pesimistic outlook tells me that 
they are hoping people may fail the tests and they'll be up the 3 
large.  Pass the tests, and according to a contract they sign before the 
class begins, and you have a job for $45,000 along w/ 401K, health, 
etc.  Enticing to say the least.

Has anyone had any further experience with the company?  Is their class any 
good?  Anyone in Atlanta offering the LCA class?  Any advice?  I'm about to 
call back to see if I am 'invited' to the class and I'm going to try and 
push some more info out of the guy.




Thanks,
-- perry

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