November 9, 2026

At 35, Ryan Tilley a Network Management student at Forsyth Technical Community College decided it was time for more than a paycheck. Tilley has always enjoyed tinkering with technology, from building his own computers to designing storage solutions, so a career in tech was a natural fit.

That decision is already paying off. After completing the first two Linux classes in Forsyth Tech’s Networking and Security program and practicing over the summer, Tilley earned the Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) credential, one of the most respected certifications in Linux system administration. He did not just pass. He earned a perfect score.

The RHCSA is a difficult, hands-on exam. Tilley earned a perfect score. Tilley chose Network Management because the classes interested him most. His interest in Linux, however, started well before he enrolled, with a single YouTube video. He was already learning about programming, and after watching the video he installed Ubuntu on a separate drive in his computer. He then found a free book on the Linux command line and bash scripting and worked through it from start to finish. “By the end of the book, I was hooked and immediately deleted my Windows installation,” he said.

As he grew more comfortable with networking and Linux, a friend suggested he try hosting his own services. That project led him into virtualization, containers, DNS and more, topics he says he could talk about for hours. When it came time to choose a certification, Tilley picked the RHCSA for three reasons. The exam is entirely hands-on, which he saw as more practical than a test of theory alone. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is one of the most widely used Linux distributions in the U.S. And the exam’s format meant he would have to truly master the material, because missing an essential task can keep a test-taker from finishing the rest of the exam.

Tilley did not prepare alone. His wife gave him the time and space to study at least two hours almost every night for two months. His Forsyth Tech professor, Mike Smith, kept students enrolled in the official Red Hat Academy courses and kept the hands-on labs open to them even after the class ended, resources Tilley called invaluable. His parents helped too. Tilley had paid for the exam himself, but after they asked him about the certification and what it involved, “the same amount for the payment suspiciously appeared in my account,” he said.

The hands-on labs at Forsyth Tech’s Davis iTec Cybersecurity Center became a key part of his preparation. Labs gave him a place to test what he had learned against the official labs, and he noticed that the tasks closely matched the practice materials he was studying. That gave him confidence that his preparation was working.

Tilley earned the certification while working full time in a public-facing job, eight hours a day, five days a week, and he often volunteers for overtime. Coming home to study after a long shift was a big commitment, especially on nights when he would rather have gone to the gym and then to bed. On the weekends he worked, he brought his laptop and studied during any downtime. Through it all, he made a point of staying present for his wife and family.

He is now looking for his first IT job and hopes to work in DevOps, Linux administration or any IT role that involves putting systems together and making them run efficiently. For students considering a Red Hat certification, his advice starts with practice.“Lab, lab, lab,” Tilley said. “Anyone who wants a Red Hat certification needs to be comfortable typing into a terminal, using Vim and working with that technology.”

Interested in an IT degree? Explore Forsyth Tech’s information technology programs, where hands-on coursework in Red Hat, Cisco, Microsoft, virtualization and network defense prepares you for a career in networking and cybersecurity. Classes are offered in the evening and online. To learn more, take a look here.