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Success Story: Linux System Administration Training and Certification Leads to New Career

July 29, 2020Announcements

Fabian Pichardo has worked with multiple hardware platforms such as Nvidia, Xilinx, Microchip, and National Instruments, and is skilled in languages such as C++, Python, Matlab and Julia. During university, Fabian created the Mechatronic Student Society to offer programming training for newbies and demonstrate new technology trends.

In 2018 he applied for and was awarded a Linux Foundation Training (LiFT) Scholarship in the Open Source Newbies category to increase his experience with open source technologies.

We followed up with Fabian recently to hear what he’s been up to since completing his Linux Foundation training.

Linux Foundation: What training did you take with your scholarship?

Fabian Pichardo: I took the LFS201 Essentials of Linux System Administration course, and the Linux Foundation Certified SysAdmin exam.

LF: What was the most useful thing you learned through this training?

FP: The opportunity to know how Linux works from its base was the most interesting thing to me. Before the course I had worked with Linux but did not understand many things, so the course incredibly enlightened me and I started exploring new distributions, including both embedded and desktop versions. 

LF: Have you shared the knowledge you gained with others? How so?

FP: For sure! The place I work encourages employees to share knowledge in case we think it can benefit or supercharge our productivity. I actually have prepared some materials for teaching deeper concepts than the ones I learned with the LFS201, and without LFS201 it would have been much more difficult to reach the level of audience I had. I considered it a great option because most of our tools are based on Linux environments and I was not wrong, especially because I was asked to repeat the course.

LF: Has your job changed since receiving the scholarship? What did you do before, and what are you doing now?

FP: Also yes. Even though I still work in the same industry, two years ago I was a Software Validation Engineer and now I work as a Software Developer for a different company, which I find more interesting and aligned with my personal desires. The LFS201 training and LFCS certification helped me heavily because I use Linux all day long; I compile large projects on it, I use Docker images on it to run unit tests, static code analysis, and more. Therefore it is easier for me to change and understand configuration related to these topics. I also use Cygwin on my Windows machine to keep track of the projects. So it was easy for me to adapt to the ecosystem I am currently working in.

LF: Are you contributing to any open source projects? Which ones?

FP: I am fond of and familiar with embedded ecosystems, so I have participated in projects such as Drone PX4 Autopilot project (which is open source), Nvidia Jetson Inference stack (mainly issues, given that Ubuntu Linux runs in the Jetson family products) and I am currently exploring Zephyr RTOS targeting embedded boards. 

In conclusion I think and I have proven that it was an excellent choice to apply for this scholarship. I feel enormously thankful and of course, and I am looking forward to continuing on the Linux learning path.

2020 LiFT scholarship winners were announced in late June. 2021 applications will be available in the Spring.

Thank you for your interest in Linux Foundation training and certification. We think we can better serve you from our China Training site. To access this site please click below.

感谢您对Linux Foundation培训的关注。为了更好地为您服务,我们将您重定向到中国培训网站。 我们期待帮助您实现在中国区内所有类型的开源培训目标。