RHCEs, etc. don't strike me as adequate signaling. I've worked with RHCEs that didn't have much in the way of RHEL administrative chops. I've worked with people without them (and don't have one myself) who have solid downstack and upstack proficiency.
This is one that I genuinely don't know how to solve; I do not know how you evaluate somebody whose skillset you don't fully understand. But certifications aren't the answer.
>> I've worked with RHCEs that didn't have much in the way of RHEL administrative chops
I don't understand how this is possible. Did you validate their RHCE at redhat.com? It's not a multiple choice test, it's real systems(not connected to the internet, no google for you), and you don't pass if you can't configure/repair them and the services required. The requirements aren't toy examples, they tend to be complicated and involving things you want to avoid due to difficulty. Most people(>50%) fail the exam, according to redhat's statistics.
I didn't; I didn't hire them. Maybe they were lying. I sorta doubt it--the two I'm thinking about seemed like decent people, just in over their heads. But it's possible.
Have them "drive" you through the resolution of one of the issues that you expect could happen. See how they behave and what they try - they may not necessarily have the complete correct answer, but you will see if they know where to look, the basic concepts, and so on.
I've interviewed people capable of writing ansible scripts, but with no real ability to dive into issues and fix them and/or investigate what's broken. Many would not even tell me "we could just provision a new VM to replace the one that went down, right?"...
I mean--that's totally fair. And those are the sorts of conversations I have.
Because I'm hiring somebody to do something I know well--this is my bailiwick! In that post, I was trying to approach it from the perspective of someone who...isn't...a former devops consultant and miles deep in this stuff. ;)
This is one that I genuinely don't know how to solve; I do not know how you evaluate somebody whose skillset you don't fully understand. But certifications aren't the answer.