Linux is not a new technology or unknown OS however many engineering graduates have only read it in their Operating System subject and most of them have not seen a Linux screen. It is a pretty old Operating System and almost similar to Unix, which is one of the oldest rather if we talk about the current OS in the market, Unix was the first Operating System that still exists. You can refer Wikipedia for terms like Unix, Linux, Linus Torvalds, GNU etc. to know more about the history and evolution of Linux.
I always wanted to learn Linux completely as I knew a bit of basics including Linux installation along with few basics command and the way to install VLC player in Linux which unfortunately most of the trainers do not know as they use Ubuntu as their primary Linux. Actually, I did a basic course of Unix Essentials Featuring the Solaris 10 Operating System from NIIT in 2009 which covers most of the part of RHCSA and they were not offering any advanced course of Solaris at that time. I could not find any other good institute for advanced courses of Solaris and was not ready to relocate to Bangalore so anyhow I had to drop the idea for Solaris (It was just a passion to learn another OS).
The same year, I inquired about Linux courses from FOSTERing Linux and they were offering RHCE + Virtualization + Trouble Shooting for Rs 16000 only at that time but I never got time and later on they shifted to Gurgaon which is damn far from my place. With the passage of time, Linux was listed in my to do list and I kept on playing with it whatever I could as per the availability of time.
While talking about different institutes among friends for different courses, I continuously heard of Network Nuts for Linux from them. I have been a regular visitor of their website and kept an eye on all the courses and their schedule of batches so that if I could get time from my job to pursue atleast many of them if not all. As they listed many courses on their poorly designed online portal (They seriously need to get a professional portal) and was in South Delhi where I go many times so it was listed in my group of bookmarks under institutes.
I was also interested in CCNA, Windows Server and Linux. Earlier, they were conducting batches for all of them but later on they dropped the Windows Server course from their catalogue ( I do not know the reason for this but its good to get an institute with all of them including VMware certifications as it is rare to find a good institute with such a variety). Might be because it is not easy to maintain the licensing cost of Windows Server but I guess the partner institutes should get the required licenses from Microsoft directly or might be they were short of students for the course as everyone can not teach Federation Server, RMS and LDS in that course and professionals need the same.
Last year, I left my job for some reason, I decided to pursue the basic Linux course so that I can fiddle with the OS a bit more as I do with Windows so I visited their office in South Delhi that has a fine infrastructure (Though it is not a bad idea to clean the rooms and chair regularly including a Whitewash, atleast once in a year or two) equipped with Air Conditioner in every room ( There was a guy in my batch who was more concern about the AC irrespective of the kind of knowledge and faculty one gets in an institute so I mentioned that as well for those looking for an institute with an AC lolz though according to me one should be concerned more about the knowledge, he can get from his faculty, even I did not have any AC in my school or college but may be it is the only thing for many ).
There are many institutes in Delhi/NCR (You can check the list at the end) who offer the Linux Courses but Network Nuts was the only institute in my mind at that time as they had listed most of the Red Hat Courses (Don't know if they were really offering that much) and I even did not think to inquire somewhere else for the Linux course (At times I think rather regret now that it wouldn't be a bad idea to do a Google search for "network nuts" complaints). I met Ms. Shivani Sharma (student counsellor in South Delhi office) and kept on discussing the Linux certifications and their content ( for at least 1 hour though it was already half past 6 PM ).
She is one of the best counselor I have ever seen as she was not in hurry while explaining the things irrespective of the decision whether I would be taking admission or not ( She did not know, at that time I was sure to begin with them and she did not disappoint me at that time or later too). Though, I could not understand til now why at the time of admission, she was repeating the number of views on their Youtube channel again and again ( .3 million views (3 Lakhs) with more than 100 uploaded videos but when I told her that my channel which I do not maintain now has 3 million views (30 Lakhs) with only 47 uploaded videos then she was speechless). Rest, I did not get a chance else would have taught them Youtube marketing which has billions of users (they were boasting of just .3 million and I was like WOW)
Once she explained me the career path ( Though I was only interested in Linux because of my personal interest ), I decided to go for Red Hat Certified Security Specialist (RHCSS) as personally or professionally its all about Digital Security for me and Linux is an essential part of it. Unfortunately, they were not running any combo offer so that time I enrolled for RHCE only.
I was ready to deposit 62K (RHCSS+ RHCE) tuition fee but they could not offer a lucrative combo so I only enrolled for RHCE (I am so thankful to Shivani that she saved my money moreover a loads of time). Below is the career path that she explained to me and I am uploding the same not because of her one of the finest hand writing I have seen lolz but it would be helpful for many while deciding their career path in Linux.
Note: Redhat has replaced 333 & 423 by Red Hat Server Hardening - RH413 as mentioned in the image as well
So my course started on 1st April 2013 and Mr. Deepak Jha was my faculty, on the first day we had an intro session among all students of the batch ( depending upon the machines in a class, they allot students in the batch and do not overflow the batch with students because Linux can not be learnt just by watching the things, you need to actually practice it ) along with the intro of Linux and then we kept on learning the basics followed by advanced topics as stated in the official curriculum of RHCE.
Official curriculum does not mean that he did not answer our other queries. I know a bit of Windows and as per my experience, I used to ask a loads of questions regarding things that we do in Windows as compare to Linux and he used to answer all of them without hampering the speed of the batch covering all the topics. I used to ask different things even at times out of the Linux scope and the good thing is he did not beat around the bush even once as expected by a teacher ( at times people try to answer everything being asked which is not a good practice specially by a teacher, they should pause and guide in the right direction instead of beating around the bush and leading to misguidance of the student ) if he is not sure of something ( Only something out of topic, he answered all queries very well regarding Linux, Windows Server & Networking ). Though it was a Linux batch still he never denied answering any query of Windows Server or Networking ( You all know it happens many times ) and he used to make sure that all the students of the batch should get a working Linux system to practice the things along with the theory.
At the mid of the batch, I had to drop it because of my semester papers (already discussed at the time of admission) and once I went back I was sure to get taught by Mr. Deepak only (as I got negative feedback for their other trainers) and luckily I got a batch as per my timings though I had to start from scratch again and I was only in need of Third book (I was expecting the 2 modules to be covered by the end of May, but as classes were not regular so could not proceed as planned).
So, I have seen him teaching two different batches in two different ways and depending upon the grasping power of different students he adjusts the pace of the teaching accordingly. He was not in hurry to finish the batch as early as possible ( not in the beginning and not at the end as well ) and covered many topics in detail with all the queries answered properly. An awesome teacher and a must to hire & must to retain faculty. I sincerely thank him so much whatever he explained to us.
Once the training was over, students prepared for the RHCE certification excluding the AC guy, I guess he never turned back to Network Nuts and almost all of them from my previous batch have earned their RHCE status and all certified guys have got their first job as well. You got it right, Network Nuts has a dedicated placement cell as well and once you are through with the certification, you can share your resume with them to get placed.
Be it the value of Linux, Redhat, Global Certification or Whatever, students are getting placed. Placement cell always play an important role in getting the right opportunity for their candidates and Network Nuts is doing it. At least, B.Tech guys after completing their degree and spending 40K on the course and certification are getting placed on a salary of 10-15k/month. Now choice is yours, either you can opt for them or go for a Diploma course of Dot Net or Java (You would be working on Linux systems after placement and can learn the command line their too) that would cost somewhere the same amount.
I was busy in CMS Institute with my other courses so did not enroll for the certification though when their front office executive Ms. Dolly Khush kept asking for money, money (it seemed a sales target to me), I gave them 10K for the practice classes that too from Deepak Sir only. I could have given the full amount but I had seen that they forcefully ask students to give the exam even though the students deposited the money for any other date (I pity those out stationed candidates who rely on them for a career) so I was aware of their cunningness rather the cheapness.
Dolly Khush, is an asset to their business. I have not seen such a worst front desk behavior in any organization who represents the whole organization. I am glad that I interacted with Shivani (Had it been Dolly, I am sure I would have never taken admission there). She does not talk properly to students, moreover she never informs in time if the classes would be there or not. Once, I complained to her that I come from North Delhi to South Delhi (Many times we never got informed on time about the no class event {I was fortunate here because of CMS Institute as even if no classes were there in Network Nuts, I had to travel to South Delhi for my regular classes in CMS} but many students wasted their money in bus passes when their was no class and they traveled a distance for it) and it takes around 2 hours for traveling alone and she was like "Main toh class se 5 minute pehle bhi inform karti hun"(I was like WOW, speechless).
And last but not the least, if you fail your RHCE exam then she will be the most happiest person in the institute (Happened with one of my batch mate who failed the exam though the second time when he cleared it then I asked him to go with two boxes of sweets specially for Dolly). Overall, if you are taking admission there I would recommend to completely avoid communicating with her and better deal with Himangi, their new manager (Special thanks to her as well, she bridged the gap between me and their awesome Front Desk Practices else it would have led to more disappointments from the institute).
I also heard, in fact one of my batch mate, who took practice classes from other trainers failed the exam (later on who went with two boxes of sweets for the people in the institute who were happy when he failed the exam, the very first time) even the RHCSA despite being a hard worker. He took the practice classes from another trainer who did not teach us the course and told me that the other one was not even ready to answer the queries. The another trainer (Mr. Sachin) asked him to get the queries resolved from Deepak Sir only and wanted him to gulp the answers. I do not understand why he was ready to give practice classes then if he was not ready to answer the queries of students of other trainers.
Well, coming back to my certification story. I gave the money and got busy with other things. I was waiting for my faculty Mr. Deepak to come back in the institute (as he was on off because of personal reasons). Ms. Dolly called me to take classes from another faculty and I denied. Later on when she kept on calling (I wish she would have called that much times to inform about the no class event), I decided to take RHCSA practice class from their trainer Mr. Pankaj as it is an easy paper as compare to RHCE so that I can also check if my batch mate was right in spoiling the name of another faculty.
Practice class started and we were ready to gulp the answers, without even reading the question. I was like again WOW, I asked the faculty to atleast give us some time so that we can read the questions and can understand what we are actually doing. He just wanted us to note down the answers and asked us to read the questions later but upon my humble request atleast he gave us some time to read the questions. The guy seemed sincere to me (the way you judge someone at a glance) though I never interacted with him before the practice class. I could not understand til date why he gave such a practice class with the reason of need to go somewhere though I found him loitering in the institute, even after the class. Anyhow, I made up my mind to take RHCE practice class from Mr. Deepak only.
If you are going to take admission there make sure that you take the practice classes from the trainer who teaches you the subject and not from any other so that you can ask relevant queries with respect to the way, you been taught at the time of training. If there are any grudges among the trainers then they need to solve it or simply say to the admin that they will not give practice classes to the students of other trainers. Why students should suffer because of their ongoing issues??
Later on, I again got a call from Dolly (Lucky me) for another class but I simply refused to take any class from any trainer. She said that she is not sure when my faculty would be back so I simply said that in that case I would wait endlessly for Mr. Deepak as I was not in hurry to just get certified. The way they were giving classes, I could prepare far better than that and actually did when required. I joined them to learn Linux other than what I knew not to get a certificate just by gulping the demo question and answeres.
After few days, I again got a call from (Lucky Me), I hope you know who called up and she said that I need to give the exam before 30th November else my money would be lapsed (The same cheapness, I explained above and I was aware of that). I was like, excuse me, what is this new combo offer?? I just gave the money for practice classes and never booked an exam date. She was trying to achieve her sales target but with the wrong person.
I was busy with my university project on JAVA (you are right, I am a future coder so do not get surprised if you would be using my coded software {most probably, a download manager for Linux, again a utility most of the Linux trainers are not aware that if even exists for Windows} after few years. Linux is just my passion and I was ready to spend 140k for the courses along with the certification, pity me, isn't it?) as got some issues with it so clearly told her that as of now I can not give the exam and would get back to them once I get free from my project and university exams. I also stated and warned them via email (from this point onwards, I was in need of written proof) that don't even dare to think about gulping my money as it is my hard earned money and I don't steal it from people like Network Nuts.
Meanwhile, I started RHCVA with them after having a discussion with their Manager, Ms. Poonam. RHCVA was another pathetic journey that I had to start (I will share the experience in another blog post as it is already getting long but students need to know about such institutes in Delhi/NCR) and may be need to do again as rarely I got two computers to practice the things which was just opposite of the availability of computers in RHCE (I already got an offer from CMS Institute for RHCVA+ Open Stack+ Storage Server for 20k only though I paid 13500 to Network Nuts for RHCVA only) but as of now I do not have any plans for Red hat because of Network Nuts.
Anyhow, RHCVA got finished and I got a date (16th Jan, 2014) from them for my RHCE exam. As per them, it was the last date to utilize my paid money (I knew they were just achieving their sales target again). I intended to give the exam around 30th Jan as my practicals were there and one was on 16th itself. I also wanted to go through the official books of Red Hat as my main intention was to understand Linux thoroughly instead of just getting a certificate. But as I got free from my project and exams so I decided to go for the exam because I did not want to again argue for my OWN money which they tried to gulp as if a COBRA sitting on a box full of gold coins, actually I don't have that much time (my blogs reader know that).
So, I had to miss my university's UNIX practical on 16th Jan, 2014 to achieve my RHCE certificate (The memorable day of my certification journey). They told me that the exam would start around 10.30 AM which actually started after 12 PM. They even did not inform about the time in advance, just before a day of the exam they told the wrong time else I would have attended my practical which was on the same day between 9 AM to 11 AM. I guess, I deserved to miss the practical for trusting an institute so much.
I gave them my participation forms for the RHCE & RHCVA so that I can get the certificates from Red Hat for participating in their program. They stated that it would take around one and a half month to get the certificates from Red Hat (I did not get the certificates even after the specified time). I had to contact Red Hat directly as other Linux institutes told me that it takes only around 15 to 20 days or at the max one month. Lucky me, had to wait so long and still the process going on with Red Hat, would update you all how things went then til the time I would get my participation certificates.
For all those wondering what happened to my RHCE exam, the good news is I cleared it at first attempt (Though I opted for two attempts option and again Network Nuts charged me more money despite the actual fees of the exam, I have intimated Red Hat for the same and would update you all) without any practice class from them that too with full marks. However, in my RHCSA paper, I did not get good marks because two questions were there which were not covered in my course(I left the questions after confirming from the examiner that we do not have to attempt all the questions) and the way their awesome trainer told me to setup the machine, it actually did not work so I set it up my way wasting around initial 45 minutes of the exam. Don't worry, I will share my exam experience in another post with all so that one can prepare for the exam without relying on anyone.
So overall, they have plenty of computers so that students can practice whatever has been taught in the class. Moreover you do not have any restriction on usage of the computer ( obviously internet is not included as its not required to achieve your certification ), like you can do a fresh installation of Linux for practice unlike many other institutes where you get to learn Linux on virtual machines ( Yes, I have really seen students learning Linux on pirated VMware softwares ) and have a restricted environment. Their faculties are fine in terms of explaining the things whatever they know though they need to get some soft skill training.
I don't know what kind of corporate trainings (as stated in their site) they take as they need to get out of the "Tu Tadak" culture, again I never seen any institute talking so mannerly with students. They need to address people properly to get going their business that never fully started, I doubt that it would ever with such kind of management and the act of gulping student's money.
I will never outsource my Linux wing to such an institute, if I would ever start an IT company (Registration is in process, lets see when I move to Silicon Valley lol). Their own RHCE students are not pursuing further courses from them, infact I was the only one from my two batches who had to enroll for RHCVA which got completed wonderfully as explained in my next beware post.
Even if you are not a Network Nuts student then also you can learn Linux via their Youtube channel here absolutely free of cost (Though I do not know what kind of stuff they share via it as I have never seen a single video uploaded by them so watch it at your own risk and may be this is the reason of so many views {.3 million, ROFL, atleast they have something in millions}).
I would specially like to thank the institute, Network Nuts, which as per their name really made me Nuts by the time I got my RHCE certificate and because of them only:
1) I was able to complete my RHCE certification in approx 1 Year. At times, I think that in this much time I would have been a Red Hat Architect with any other institute or would have done my CCIE R & S or CCIE Security. Actually, I planned rather was planning to do RHCSS then CCIE Security then RHCDS and then CCIE Data Center.
2) I was not able to do RHCSS, actually I again deserve this for relying too much on an institute but Red Hat closed the RHCSS certifications last year. Again thanks to them, I learned a life long lesson, never rely on any institute too much, never pay your fees in advance be it the tuition fee or the certification fee so now I try to pay the fee in EMIs, poor me :)
Update:
Once my certification was complete, I sent an email to Red Hat USA to know about the participation certificates if they really take so long. I also asked Red Hat that when a participant would be informed about the exam timing and if one can reschedule the exam or not.
Red Hat USA gave me the email address of Mr.Sudhir Bhaskaran to contact for issues in India. After two months from the date of submitting my participation forms, I sent an email to the provided email address but never got any reply so I again sent an email to Red hat USA as it was quite long to get the participation certificates.
This time they forwarded my email directly to Mr. Bhaskaran and then I got a reply from Mr. Arun, who clarified all my doubts. I was right that Network Nuts is not following the guidelines of Red Hat for training (As my experience with them for RHCVA, when I rarely got two systems for practice) along with the scheduling of exams and the management of Red Hat exams is not at par.
One can reschedule their exam with prior information and not the way Network Nuts told me. They also charged me extra for the exam which got confirmed when I received the price plan directly from Red Hat for the exam date. If required and when I will get time then I may take Network Nuts to Consumer Court for their greediness. Might be its difficult for them to maintain their living standards whatever they could earn officially.
After my certification exam, I never visited the center to collect my Red Hat goodies and neither they cared to send the same as might be they would encash it somewhere lolz but its really pity in our country that such maliciously working institute is a premier institute of Red Hat.
Even though they denied the acceptance of my participation forms (one more malicious activity and one should capture the moment before submitting the form to them) but I got all of them from Mr. Arun Eapen after continuous email exchange of 3 Months though it should not have taken that long. Though I wasted a lot of time because of Network Nuts and a total sum of around Rs 54k which they might have used to pay their Children's school fees. They should understand the value of their student's money which they utilize to make a so called respectable living.
This is one of the longest post indeed the longest of my blogging and content writing career til now. I have shared my complete experience so that one should not waste their money moreover time with any institute like this (One of the poorest management, I have ever seen in any institute, woo they got one award here). I also got late because of the busy schedule else would have submitted my certification story for the Red Hat Summit but I will submit this post for the contest entries next time for sure.
If you are a student looking for an institute then there are other options like CMS Institute
Techgrills, New Horizons, FOSTERing Linux and you can search many in your area. If you are going with Network Nuts then take care of the points explained above else you would regret like me.
If you know about any other institute regarding Linux, do let us know via the comment form below and about your institute and its faculties. If you are from any institute itself and would like us to know about your institute that how is it different than Network Nuts then we have implemented the comment form below, go ahead and use it.
I always wanted to learn Linux completely as I knew a bit of basics including Linux installation along with few basics command and the way to install VLC player in Linux which unfortunately most of the trainers do not know as they use Ubuntu as their primary Linux. Actually, I did a basic course of Unix Essentials Featuring the Solaris 10 Operating System from NIIT in 2009 which covers most of the part of RHCSA and they were not offering any advanced course of Solaris at that time. I could not find any other good institute for advanced courses of Solaris and was not ready to relocate to Bangalore so anyhow I had to drop the idea for Solaris (It was just a passion to learn another OS).
The same year, I inquired about Linux courses from FOSTERing Linux and they were offering RHCE + Virtualization + Trouble Shooting for Rs 16000 only at that time but I never got time and later on they shifted to Gurgaon which is damn far from my place. With the passage of time, Linux was listed in my to do list and I kept on playing with it whatever I could as per the availability of time.
While talking about different institutes among friends for different courses, I continuously heard of Network Nuts for Linux from them. I have been a regular visitor of their website and kept an eye on all the courses and their schedule of batches so that if I could get time from my job to pursue atleast many of them if not all. As they listed many courses on their poorly designed online portal (They seriously need to get a professional portal) and was in South Delhi where I go many times so it was listed in my group of bookmarks under institutes.
I was also interested in CCNA, Windows Server and Linux. Earlier, they were conducting batches for all of them but later on they dropped the Windows Server course from their catalogue ( I do not know the reason for this but its good to get an institute with all of them including VMware certifications as it is rare to find a good institute with such a variety). Might be because it is not easy to maintain the licensing cost of Windows Server but I guess the partner institutes should get the required licenses from Microsoft directly or might be they were short of students for the course as everyone can not teach Federation Server, RMS and LDS in that course and professionals need the same.
Last year, I left my job for some reason, I decided to pursue the basic Linux course so that I can fiddle with the OS a bit more as I do with Windows so I visited their office in South Delhi that has a fine infrastructure (Though it is not a bad idea to clean the rooms and chair regularly including a Whitewash, atleast once in a year or two) equipped with Air Conditioner in every room ( There was a guy in my batch who was more concern about the AC irrespective of the kind of knowledge and faculty one gets in an institute so I mentioned that as well for those looking for an institute with an AC lolz though according to me one should be concerned more about the knowledge, he can get from his faculty, even I did not have any AC in my school or college but may be it is the only thing for many ).
There are many institutes in Delhi/NCR (You can check the list at the end) who offer the Linux Courses but Network Nuts was the only institute in my mind at that time as they had listed most of the Red Hat Courses (Don't know if they were really offering that much) and I even did not think to inquire somewhere else for the Linux course (At times I think rather regret now that it wouldn't be a bad idea to do a Google search for "network nuts" complaints). I met Ms. Shivani Sharma (student counsellor in South Delhi office) and kept on discussing the Linux certifications and their content ( for at least 1 hour though it was already half past 6 PM ).
She is one of the best counselor I have ever seen as she was not in hurry while explaining the things irrespective of the decision whether I would be taking admission or not ( She did not know, at that time I was sure to begin with them and she did not disappoint me at that time or later too). Though, I could not understand til now why at the time of admission, she was repeating the number of views on their Youtube channel again and again ( .3 million views (3 Lakhs) with more than 100 uploaded videos but when I told her that my channel which I do not maintain now has 3 million views (30 Lakhs) with only 47 uploaded videos then she was speechless). Rest, I did not get a chance else would have taught them Youtube marketing which has billions of users (they were boasting of just .3 million and I was like WOW)
Once she explained me the career path ( Though I was only interested in Linux because of my personal interest ), I decided to go for Red Hat Certified Security Specialist (RHCSS) as personally or professionally its all about Digital Security for me and Linux is an essential part of it. Unfortunately, they were not running any combo offer so that time I enrolled for RHCE only.
I was ready to deposit 62K (RHCSS+ RHCE) tuition fee but they could not offer a lucrative combo so I only enrolled for RHCE (I am so thankful to Shivani that she saved my money moreover a loads of time). Below is the career path that she explained to me and I am uploding the same not because of her one of the finest hand writing I have seen lolz but it would be helpful for many while deciding their career path in Linux.
Note: Redhat has replaced 333 & 423 by Red Hat Server Hardening - RH413 as mentioned in the image as well
So my course started on 1st April 2013 and Mr. Deepak Jha was my faculty, on the first day we had an intro session among all students of the batch ( depending upon the machines in a class, they allot students in the batch and do not overflow the batch with students because Linux can not be learnt just by watching the things, you need to actually practice it ) along with the intro of Linux and then we kept on learning the basics followed by advanced topics as stated in the official curriculum of RHCE.
Official curriculum does not mean that he did not answer our other queries. I know a bit of Windows and as per my experience, I used to ask a loads of questions regarding things that we do in Windows as compare to Linux and he used to answer all of them without hampering the speed of the batch covering all the topics. I used to ask different things even at times out of the Linux scope and the good thing is he did not beat around the bush even once as expected by a teacher ( at times people try to answer everything being asked which is not a good practice specially by a teacher, they should pause and guide in the right direction instead of beating around the bush and leading to misguidance of the student ) if he is not sure of something ( Only something out of topic, he answered all queries very well regarding Linux, Windows Server & Networking ). Though it was a Linux batch still he never denied answering any query of Windows Server or Networking ( You all know it happens many times ) and he used to make sure that all the students of the batch should get a working Linux system to practice the things along with the theory.
At the mid of the batch, I had to drop it because of my semester papers (already discussed at the time of admission) and once I went back I was sure to get taught by Mr. Deepak only (as I got negative feedback for their other trainers) and luckily I got a batch as per my timings though I had to start from scratch again and I was only in need of Third book (I was expecting the 2 modules to be covered by the end of May, but as classes were not regular so could not proceed as planned).
So, I have seen him teaching two different batches in two different ways and depending upon the grasping power of different students he adjusts the pace of the teaching accordingly. He was not in hurry to finish the batch as early as possible ( not in the beginning and not at the end as well ) and covered many topics in detail with all the queries answered properly. An awesome teacher and a must to hire & must to retain faculty. I sincerely thank him so much whatever he explained to us.
Once the training was over, students prepared for the RHCE certification excluding the AC guy, I guess he never turned back to Network Nuts and almost all of them from my previous batch have earned their RHCE status and all certified guys have got their first job as well. You got it right, Network Nuts has a dedicated placement cell as well and once you are through with the certification, you can share your resume with them to get placed.
Be it the value of Linux, Redhat, Global Certification or Whatever, students are getting placed. Placement cell always play an important role in getting the right opportunity for their candidates and Network Nuts is doing it. At least, B.Tech guys after completing their degree and spending 40K on the course and certification are getting placed on a salary of 10-15k/month. Now choice is yours, either you can opt for them or go for a Diploma course of Dot Net or Java (You would be working on Linux systems after placement and can learn the command line their too) that would cost somewhere the same amount.
I was busy in CMS Institute with my other courses so did not enroll for the certification though when their front office executive Ms. Dolly Khush kept asking for money, money (it seemed a sales target to me), I gave them 10K for the practice classes that too from Deepak Sir only. I could have given the full amount but I had seen that they forcefully ask students to give the exam even though the students deposited the money for any other date (I pity those out stationed candidates who rely on them for a career) so I was aware of their cunningness rather the cheapness.
Dolly Khush, is an asset to their business. I have not seen such a worst front desk behavior in any organization who represents the whole organization. I am glad that I interacted with Shivani (Had it been Dolly, I am sure I would have never taken admission there). She does not talk properly to students, moreover she never informs in time if the classes would be there or not. Once, I complained to her that I come from North Delhi to South Delhi (Many times we never got informed on time about the no class event {I was fortunate here because of CMS Institute as even if no classes were there in Network Nuts, I had to travel to South Delhi for my regular classes in CMS} but many students wasted their money in bus passes when their was no class and they traveled a distance for it) and it takes around 2 hours for traveling alone and she was like "Main toh class se 5 minute pehle bhi inform karti hun"(I was like WOW, speechless).
And last but not the least, if you fail your RHCE exam then she will be the most happiest person in the institute (Happened with one of my batch mate who failed the exam though the second time when he cleared it then I asked him to go with two boxes of sweets specially for Dolly). Overall, if you are taking admission there I would recommend to completely avoid communicating with her and better deal with Himangi, their new manager (Special thanks to her as well, she bridged the gap between me and their awesome Front Desk Practices else it would have led to more disappointments from the institute).
I also heard, in fact one of my batch mate, who took practice classes from other trainers failed the exam (later on who went with two boxes of sweets for the people in the institute who were happy when he failed the exam, the very first time) even the RHCSA despite being a hard worker. He took the practice classes from another trainer who did not teach us the course and told me that the other one was not even ready to answer the queries. The another trainer (Mr. Sachin) asked him to get the queries resolved from Deepak Sir only and wanted him to gulp the answers. I do not understand why he was ready to give practice classes then if he was not ready to answer the queries of students of other trainers.
Well, coming back to my certification story. I gave the money and got busy with other things. I was waiting for my faculty Mr. Deepak to come back in the institute (as he was on off because of personal reasons). Ms. Dolly called me to take classes from another faculty and I denied. Later on when she kept on calling (I wish she would have called that much times to inform about the no class event), I decided to take RHCSA practice class from their trainer Mr. Pankaj as it is an easy paper as compare to RHCE so that I can also check if my batch mate was right in spoiling the name of another faculty.
Practice class started and we were ready to gulp the answers, without even reading the question. I was like again WOW, I asked the faculty to atleast give us some time so that we can read the questions and can understand what we are actually doing. He just wanted us to note down the answers and asked us to read the questions later but upon my humble request atleast he gave us some time to read the questions. The guy seemed sincere to me (the way you judge someone at a glance) though I never interacted with him before the practice class. I could not understand til date why he gave such a practice class with the reason of need to go somewhere though I found him loitering in the institute, even after the class. Anyhow, I made up my mind to take RHCE practice class from Mr. Deepak only.
If you are going to take admission there make sure that you take the practice classes from the trainer who teaches you the subject and not from any other so that you can ask relevant queries with respect to the way, you been taught at the time of training. If there are any grudges among the trainers then they need to solve it or simply say to the admin that they will not give practice classes to the students of other trainers. Why students should suffer because of their ongoing issues??
Later on, I again got a call from Dolly (Lucky me) for another class but I simply refused to take any class from any trainer. She said that she is not sure when my faculty would be back so I simply said that in that case I would wait endlessly for Mr. Deepak as I was not in hurry to just get certified. The way they were giving classes, I could prepare far better than that and actually did when required. I joined them to learn Linux other than what I knew not to get a certificate just by gulping the demo question and answeres.
After few days, I again got a call from (Lucky Me), I hope you know who called up and she said that I need to give the exam before 30th November else my money would be lapsed (The same cheapness, I explained above and I was aware of that). I was like, excuse me, what is this new combo offer?? I just gave the money for practice classes and never booked an exam date. She was trying to achieve her sales target but with the wrong person.
I was busy with my university project on JAVA (you are right, I am a future coder so do not get surprised if you would be using my coded software {most probably, a download manager for Linux, again a utility most of the Linux trainers are not aware that if even exists for Windows} after few years. Linux is just my passion and I was ready to spend 140k for the courses along with the certification, pity me, isn't it?) as got some issues with it so clearly told her that as of now I can not give the exam and would get back to them once I get free from my project and university exams. I also stated and warned them via email (from this point onwards, I was in need of written proof) that don't even dare to think about gulping my money as it is my hard earned money and I don't steal it from people like Network Nuts.
Meanwhile, I started RHCVA with them after having a discussion with their Manager, Ms. Poonam. RHCVA was another pathetic journey that I had to start (I will share the experience in another blog post as it is already getting long but students need to know about such institutes in Delhi/NCR) and may be need to do again as rarely I got two computers to practice the things which was just opposite of the availability of computers in RHCE (I already got an offer from CMS Institute for RHCVA+ Open Stack+ Storage Server for 20k only though I paid 13500 to Network Nuts for RHCVA only) but as of now I do not have any plans for Red hat because of Network Nuts.
Anyhow, RHCVA got finished and I got a date (16th Jan, 2014) from them for my RHCE exam. As per them, it was the last date to utilize my paid money (I knew they were just achieving their sales target again). I intended to give the exam around 30th Jan as my practicals were there and one was on 16th itself. I also wanted to go through the official books of Red Hat as my main intention was to understand Linux thoroughly instead of just getting a certificate. But as I got free from my project and exams so I decided to go for the exam because I did not want to again argue for my OWN money which they tried to gulp as if a COBRA sitting on a box full of gold coins, actually I don't have that much time (my blogs reader know that).
So, I had to miss my university's UNIX practical on 16th Jan, 2014 to achieve my RHCE certificate (The memorable day of my certification journey). They told me that the exam would start around 10.30 AM which actually started after 12 PM. They even did not inform about the time in advance, just before a day of the exam they told the wrong time else I would have attended my practical which was on the same day between 9 AM to 11 AM. I guess, I deserved to miss the practical for trusting an institute so much.
I gave them my participation forms for the RHCE & RHCVA so that I can get the certificates from Red Hat for participating in their program. They stated that it would take around one and a half month to get the certificates from Red Hat (I did not get the certificates even after the specified time). I had to contact Red Hat directly as other Linux institutes told me that it takes only around 15 to 20 days or at the max one month. Lucky me, had to wait so long and still the process going on with Red Hat, would update you all how things went then til the time I would get my participation certificates.
For all those wondering what happened to my RHCE exam, the good news is I cleared it at first attempt (Though I opted for two attempts option and again Network Nuts charged me more money despite the actual fees of the exam, I have intimated Red Hat for the same and would update you all) without any practice class from them that too with full marks. However, in my RHCSA paper, I did not get good marks because two questions were there which were not covered in my course(I left the questions after confirming from the examiner that we do not have to attempt all the questions) and the way their awesome trainer told me to setup the machine, it actually did not work so I set it up my way wasting around initial 45 minutes of the exam. Don't worry, I will share my exam experience in another post with all so that one can prepare for the exam without relying on anyone.
So overall, they have plenty of computers so that students can practice whatever has been taught in the class. Moreover you do not have any restriction on usage of the computer ( obviously internet is not included as its not required to achieve your certification ), like you can do a fresh installation of Linux for practice unlike many other institutes where you get to learn Linux on virtual machines ( Yes, I have really seen students learning Linux on pirated VMware softwares ) and have a restricted environment. Their faculties are fine in terms of explaining the things whatever they know though they need to get some soft skill training.
I don't know what kind of corporate trainings (as stated in their site) they take as they need to get out of the "Tu Tadak" culture, again I never seen any institute talking so mannerly with students. They need to address people properly to get going their business that never fully started, I doubt that it would ever with such kind of management and the act of gulping student's money.
I will never outsource my Linux wing to such an institute, if I would ever start an IT company (Registration is in process, lets see when I move to Silicon Valley lol). Their own RHCE students are not pursuing further courses from them, infact I was the only one from my two batches who had to enroll for RHCVA which got completed wonderfully as explained in my next beware post.
Even if you are not a Network Nuts student then also you can learn Linux via their Youtube channel here absolutely free of cost (Though I do not know what kind of stuff they share via it as I have never seen a single video uploaded by them so watch it at your own risk and may be this is the reason of so many views {.3 million, ROFL, atleast they have something in millions}).
I would specially like to thank the institute, Network Nuts, which as per their name really made me Nuts by the time I got my RHCE certificate and because of them only:
1) I was able to complete my RHCE certification in approx 1 Year. At times, I think that in this much time I would have been a Red Hat Architect with any other institute or would have done my CCIE R & S or CCIE Security. Actually, I planned rather was planning to do RHCSS then CCIE Security then RHCDS and then CCIE Data Center.
2) I was not able to do RHCSS, actually I again deserve this for relying too much on an institute but Red Hat closed the RHCSS certifications last year. Again thanks to them, I learned a life long lesson, never rely on any institute too much, never pay your fees in advance be it the tuition fee or the certification fee so now I try to pay the fee in EMIs, poor me :)
Update:
Once my certification was complete, I sent an email to Red Hat USA to know about the participation certificates if they really take so long. I also asked Red Hat that when a participant would be informed about the exam timing and if one can reschedule the exam or not.
Red Hat USA gave me the email address of Mr.Sudhir Bhaskaran to contact for issues in India. After two months from the date of submitting my participation forms, I sent an email to the provided email address but never got any reply so I again sent an email to Red hat USA as it was quite long to get the participation certificates.
This time they forwarded my email directly to Mr. Bhaskaran and then I got a reply from Mr. Arun, who clarified all my doubts. I was right that Network Nuts is not following the guidelines of Red Hat for training (As my experience with them for RHCVA, when I rarely got two systems for practice) along with the scheduling of exams and the management of Red Hat exams is not at par.
One can reschedule their exam with prior information and not the way Network Nuts told me. They also charged me extra for the exam which got confirmed when I received the price plan directly from Red Hat for the exam date. If required and when I will get time then I may take Network Nuts to Consumer Court for their greediness. Might be its difficult for them to maintain their living standards whatever they could earn officially.
After my certification exam, I never visited the center to collect my Red Hat goodies and neither they cared to send the same as might be they would encash it somewhere lolz but its really pity in our country that such maliciously working institute is a premier institute of Red Hat.
Even though they denied the acceptance of my participation forms (one more malicious activity and one should capture the moment before submitting the form to them) but I got all of them from Mr. Arun Eapen after continuous email exchange of 3 Months though it should not have taken that long. Though I wasted a lot of time because of Network Nuts and a total sum of around Rs 54k which they might have used to pay their Children's school fees. They should understand the value of their student's money which they utilize to make a so called respectable living.
This is one of the longest post indeed the longest of my blogging and content writing career til now. I have shared my complete experience so that one should not waste their money moreover time with any institute like this (One of the poorest management, I have ever seen in any institute, woo they got one award here). I also got late because of the busy schedule else would have submitted my certification story for the Red Hat Summit but I will submit this post for the contest entries next time for sure.
If you are a student looking for an institute then there are other options like CMS Institute
Techgrills, New Horizons, FOSTERing Linux and you can search many in your area. If you are going with Network Nuts then take care of the points explained above else you would regret like me.
If you know about any other institute regarding Linux, do let us know via the comment form below and about your institute and its faculties. If you are from any institute itself and would like us to know about your institute that how is it different than Network Nuts then we have implemented the comment form below, go ahead and use it.
