Brian Epstein

RHCE of the Year, N. America, 2006

"[...] When I come across an RHCE, I know what they've been through, and I know that that is the real certification to have."

Director of technology

Brian Epstein, the 2006 Red Hat® Certified Engineer (RHCE®) of the Year in North America, has an intriguing story about introducing Red Hat Enterprise Linux® to high-school aged students -- something the RHCE certification helped make possible.

"I currently volunteer as Director of Technology for a 501(c)3 non-profit organization called the New Jersey Boys' State Foundation. This 61-year old program by the American Legion is designed to teach leadership and state politics to high-school juniors for 1 week out of the year. I attended Boys' State in 1994 and have been a counselor ever since. In 2002, I brought computers to the program."

"We now have 40 computers that we deliver, deploy, and use over the course of 1 week. Physically, this is a lot of work, but Red Hat has made the configuration and deployment of software quick, easy, and free. This program is often the first glimpse of Red Hat that these high-school students see, and I am always asked questions about how they can learn more. RHCE is the penultimate Linux certification out there. I conduct a lot of job interviews for my company, and I get to see a lot of other certifications, but when I come across an RHCE, I know what they've been through, and I know that that is the real certification to have."