Make a checklist of things that a Linux admin should know. Make a list of excersizes to insure that you can do all of those things. Get a couple of old PCs, go through all the excersizes, document everything. Memorize all of those procedures.

Then, along with your resume, send prospective employers a Linux skill assement. State: "I am thoroughly capable of all the following, and would be happy to demonstate my knowledge at any time."

Areas might include: account management, systems installation, server installation and configuration, hardware installation and configuration, and shell scripting.

Clearly, this would not be as valuable as having years of professional experience (what is?). I doubt it would be as valuable as an RHCE either. But, if I were an employer, I would consider this more valuable than a Linux+, or even LPIC. An LPIC may, or may not, know how to do those things.

Just a thought.

scripting or programming is more important to linux admins (& windows admins)

I know I've gotten jobs over others that might have been more qualified because I could do both which helps resolve issues if you can engineer a solution rather than just implement a product.

Interesting. In which language(s) do you specialize? Perl?