IBM AIX v7 Administrator Specialty

I have been working with IBM AIX for almost 28 years, starting with v3.2.5. Over the years I have considered taking the various certification exams that IBM used to offer but never got around to organising it. AIX has recently been added to their Professional Certification Program so I decided it was time to test myself.

The exams are administered by Pearson VUE and I chose the option to take the test from home via video link. I booked the test for 07:00 (the only “sensible” time available on my preferred day) but this meant logging on for registration at 06:30! After clearing my desk of everything (I thought the NAS would be OK) I was allowed to start the test.

Even with the experience I have acquired, I would not say this exam is easy. There are obviously some every day topics covered, but there are plenty to make one think a bit about the answer! After this challenging test I am pleased to have achieved my first IBM Professional Certification.

Funnily, one of the questions that came up was similar to one an architect colleague had asked the day before; what 2 commands (out of 5) can an administrator use to see what software/updates are installed on a server? I’m pretty sure I got that one correct!