In today’s Linux Foundation training review I’ll be sharing my experience with the Linux Foundation’s educational side.
This post contains affiliate links. I may receive compensation if you buy something. Read my disclosure for more details.
This Linux Foundation training review is not some general run down written by a church mouse that simply lists the courses the Linux Foundation offers.
TLDR: The Linux Foundation Training Review:
- The Linux Foundation offers courses, certifications, and two cloud engineer bootcamps for those who want to learn Linux and Linux-adjacent technologies.
- While most courses and certifications are pre-recorded, some are live virtual events led by an instructor. 🚨 Use Linux Foundation PROMO CODE ILT30 to SAVE 30% on ANY Linux instructor-led training. Use my link and apply the code at checkout! 🚨
- If you’re looking to improve your skills while upping your perceived value (the Linux Foundation is revered among enterprise tech companies), take a LF course/cert.
What is the Linux Foundation?
The Linux Foundation is a non-profit tech consortium. It was founded in the year 2000.
Essentially, the goal of The Linux Foundation is promote, standardize and support Linux.
The Linux Foundation also gives Linus Torvalds (creator of Linux) and Greg Kroah-Hartman (lead maintainer) a neutral home where Linux kernel development can be protected and accelerated.
Fun fact: More than HALF of all Global 2000 software and telecom companies are members of the Linux Foundation and their projects.
But the Linux Foundation isn’t just some organization that sits around and twiddles its bash shell all day. To fulfill their mission, they offer Linux courses and other types of Linux & Linux-adjacent training.
I recently signed up for a few courses at the LF. Presented here are my findings.
🏃♀️Linux Foundation Training Review: First Impressions
Registering for the Linux Foundation as a student was painless. A web developer by trade, my natural first impulse was to check out the web development section.
Two courses on Node.js popped up. Both are priced at $299. But there’s also a course + exam option for $499:
And that’s one thing that really differentiates the Linux Foundation from the other platforms like Linux Academy: a large amount of courses offer an accompanying proctored exam.
If you pass, you get certified.
And it’s not just some print-at-home number you get after hitting the “lecture completed” button on the videos. With Linux Foundation courses and certs, you actually have to pay to take the exam, and study to pass it.
I see Node courses day in and day out, so I decided to explore some other course options. The filter options were logical and easy to use. I came across an interesting course for newbies:
A Beginner’s Guide to Open Source Development.
This is a free course. And as the name suggests, A Beginner’s Guide to Open Source Development shows you the basics of open source development. The Linux Foundation does offer quite a lot of beginner-friendly courses.
The course layout mixed videos, readings, quizzes and labs. This was a fairly short course, but had all the vitals necessary to get started with open source contributions.
It had some good insider tips in the reading portions, too.
📚 What Other Courses Are Offered?
The Linux Foundation offers a few dozen courses.
But don’t expect all the courses to be a variation on working with the Linux kernel.
Although there ARE plenty of courses where you can work on developing the kernel, there are also many offerings in other Linux-adjacent categories.
For example, there are over a dozen courses that show you how to work with blockchain technologies.
Other Linux Foundation course categories include:
- AI & Machine Learning
- Cloud & Containers
- DevOps & Site Reliability
- IoT & Embedded Development
- Networking
- Open Source Best Practices
- System Administration
- Systems Engineering
- Web & Application Development
A bulk of the Linux Foundation’s courses are in the Cloud and Containers section, with runners up including Blockchain and Networking.
All of the paid courses are available on-platform, while some of some of the free ones redirect you to EdX.
⚙️ Linux Foundation Technologies
The Linux Foundation’s courses cover at least 30 technologies including:
If it relates to Linux and people use it in enterprise development, the Linux Foundation probably offers it.
🖥️ Linux Foundation Training Review: Who Should Take Linux Foundation courses?
There are three groups that I think are good candidates for Linux Foundation courses.
- Entry-level IT students who want professional training in a Linux context. There are literally thousands of IT courses out there, but this one showcases Linux environments.
- Enterprise Teams. Getting your team on the same page with something like Kubernetes is a pain in the butt. To help make it LESS of a pain in the butt, the Linux Foundation not only offers pre-recorded and live virtual courses, they also do in-person trainings and corporate events. The LF is a good alternative to Netflix-style Linux video courses for your team.
- Aspiring cloud engineers. With their bootcamp-style format, the Linux Foundation’s cloud engineer bootcamp offers an accelerated learning environment while teaching all required concepts for entry level cloud engineering. (They also offer an advanced cloud engineer bootcamp for those already in the industry).
- Those seeking professional continuing education. Most courses offered by the Linux Foundation are academic in tone. In other words, don’t expect cute cat memes and dad bod jokes. It’s too bad the LF isn’t accredited because many courses are certainly college credit worthy. At any rate, if you’re already in the IT industry and want to pick up some new skills, the LF is a great place to explore.
✍️ What I Like About the Linux Foundation Courses
Number one, there’s a high trust factor with all of their courses. I like that.
The more stats I read about the Linux Foundation, the more at ease I felt progressing through the curriculum.
Does that mean every piece of curriculum is up to date? No. And technology changes fast so there probably are some things that need updates.
However, because of their status as the premiere Linux educational organization, I felt more comfortable working through the courses.
Number two, I like the course categories and quantities. While there are a lot of courses (and certifications), it’s not page after page after mind-numbing page. They don’t produce courses just to stuff them in.
As you can see, there are multiple study areas spanning multiple disciplines. So it’s a nice mix of Linux and Linux-adjacent technologies. This includes blockchain, web development, Linux kernel development, and more.
A lot of topics I just haven’t seen anywhere else. I particularly liked seeing a category dedicated to open source best practices. THAT is something more developers need to explore, rather than yet another React hooks course on Udemy.
🎖️ Linux Foundation Certifications – are they worth it?
In addition to courses and the cloud engineering bootcamps, the Linux Foundation offers over 20 certifications.
A sampling:
- Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator (LFCS)
- FinOps Certified Practitioner (FOCP)
- Certified Kubernetes Administrator
- OpenJS Node.js Application Developer (JSNAD)
- Linux Foundation Certified Engineer (LFCE)
Again, the Linux Foundation isn’t accredited. You won’t earn continuing education credits. That said, because of the pedigree of the LF, their certs do hold a helluva lot more weight than, say, Udemy.
Remember, this is an organization where over HALF of the Global 2000 software and telecom companies are members. The Linux Foundation has what competitor platforms DON’T have: prestige.
In other words, your potential employer is going to be more impressed that you earned a LF certificate, rather than a Joe*nix HotStuff certificate. Comparatively speaking, the Linux Foundation certifications are worth it.
💰 Linux Foundation Course Cost
The Linux Foundation prices all courses, certifications and bootcamps individually.
They do not offer a yearly or monthly membership.
Their prices range from free to over $3,200 for their live Linux Security (LFS416) course:
However, a lot of the courses and certifications I encountered were around the $300-$400 price point.
That said, there are a ton of free courses too. Those are mostly entry level.
💎 Linux Foundation vs Linux Academy
Linux Foundation vs Linux Academy: What’s the difference?
There are a few.
Number one, the Linux Foundation does a TON of stuff aside from training. Whereas the Linux Academy focuses on courses.
Number two, all Linux Foundation courses & certs are individually priced. Whereas the Linux Academy has a monthly and yearly price, and also a limited free tier.
Number three, the Linux Foundation feels a lot more traditional in its design and curriculum. Whereas the Linux Academy has an uber-modern UX/UI and a startup-y feel.
Also, there are a massive amount of Linux Academy courses and ALL of those do have interactive cloud environments. That’s basically what they sell themselves on. So in that regard Linux Academy has the edge.
However, IMO the Linux Foundation has more oversight and transparency. They are highly regarded in most enterprise-level tech companies. Thus they have more outside pressure to keep their curriculum up to date.
Their courses arguably hold more weight in the enterprise realm compared to Linux Academy. And besides, the actual exams & certs are proctored/awarded through the Linux Foundation anyway. So if you’re seeking certification and don’t want to jump around from platform to platform, it’s better to stick with the Linux Foundation for the entire process.
But the Linux Foundation feels academic compared to its competition.
So if you need to have an interactive experience where the environments are already set up, you’ll probably enjoy Linux Academy more than Linux Foundation courses.
Linux Foundation Training Review: Conclusion
All in all, the Linux Foundation is an old-school platform with some new-school inclinations. This is honestly one of the few non-college platforms I’ve encountered that seems…what’s the word…legit.
For example, I would have no problem putting a completed Linux Foundation course on my resume. And certainly no hesitation to list one of their certs. Why?
Because of the prestige factor.
On the other hand, I would probably never put a Udemy (or similar) course on a resume.
Those platforms are good for learning, but they have zero oversight.
It’s not like a thousand of the world’s top tech companies have all paid money to be members of Udemy. (Also, I don’t mean to pick on Udemy here. I like Udemy. I’m just saying…)
These companies have paid a lot of money to be members of the LF. There’s a reason for that.
I hope you enjoyed reading this LF Training review. Wanna read more about what I think?
Check out my list of 52 must have web developer tools.
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What is the Linux Foundation?
The Linux Foundation is a non-profit tech consortium. It was founded in the year 2000. Essentially, the goal of The Linux Foundation is promote, standardize and support Linux.
The Linux Foundation also gives Linus Torvalds (creator of Linux) and Greg Kroah-Hartman (lead maintainer) a neutral home. Where Linux kernel development can be protected and accelerated Fact: More than HALF of all Global 2000 software and telecom companies are members of the Linux Foundation and their projects. To fulfill their mission, they offer Linux courses and other types of Linux & Linux-adjacent training.
- Is Linux Foundation Training worth it?
Yes, Linux Foundation training is worth it. The courses designed to help prepare you pass their certification exams. Although the training does not guarantee you will pass, LF training incorporates interactive learning so you are better prepared for the exam and can earn your certification.
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Is Linux certification worth it?
The short answer is that Linux certification is worth it if your employer values it. It depends on your local job market and the weight each employer puts on the Linux certification. For example, some enterprise companies require a Linux certification in order to work on their servers, while others just care that you know how to operate a Linux system sufficiently, regardless of education/certification. You should investigate your local job market and research local employers when asessing if the Linux certification is worth it.
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