Five budding system administrators and open source enthusiasts have successfully acquired sought-after Red Hat Certified System Administrator certification having passed their Red Hat exams.
Last year, leading provider of open source software and services Obsidian Systems joined forces with global open source software leader Red Hat, ICT training service provider CTU Training Solutions and the MICT Seta to help source potential Red Hat Linux System Administrators and open source professionals.
Piet Gaohose, Nonhlanhla Khutane, Lethabo Mashile, Bellinda Chabalala and Vukosi Hlungwani have all successfully completed the programme and are now the latest qualified Red Hat Linux System Administrators.
A special acknowledgement must go to Nonhlanhla Khutane as well as Piet Gaohose, who have both gone on to complete their Red Hat Certified Engineer qualification.
In an event to celebrate the achievement of Red Hat, Lenovo, Obsidian Systems, CTU and the MICT Seta congratulated the newly certified RHCSA learners.
As a recognised leader in the open source market Obsidian understands the market requirement for candidates to possess structured practical experience and in-depth theoretical background.
“We are encouraging candidates to pursue a career in IT and become certified and qualified professionals who are able to add value to South African business that have adopted Linux as a foundation, in a rapidly changing world of IT,” says Muggie van Staden, MD of Obsidian Systems.
Van Staden says the demand for open source skills is driven by the increased relevance of this software within the South African market.
“There is a massive challenge in our country, and too many organisations are taking skills from each other rather than investing in the resources. Very few end-users are actually investing in skills, but upskilling people is the only way that we are going to address unemployment in South Africa,” he adds.
Open source technology is now firmly positioned at the forefront of ICT infrastructure development strategies at the enterprise level. It is now considered a viable, credible and easily supported alternative operating system.
More businesses are having to streamline operations, reduce cost, operate more productively and efficiently, says van Staden and this is where open source systems add value.
“The fact that this is the first of its kind learnership in South Africa reflects the increasing popularity of open source and the desire for companies to bring in skilled individuals to help administrate these systems to enhance operations,” van Staden adds.
“We are very proud of the learners and we are excited to be a part of their journey into the growing open source market… we are confident that they will establish themselves and add value to the market very quickly,” adds van Staden.
Out of the five successful candidates, two are now fully employed by Obsidian as technical consultants, and Obsidian is assisting the other three candidates in finding placements in the industry.
Obsidian hopes to focus on internships in future, investing in key individuals and helping them to upskill even more, van Staden concludes.