Provided you train yourself on doing all your tasks from the command-line/shell you should be OK.
I took the Redhat course two years ago (my employer insisted on it) so I speak from experience.
To be proficient, learn to use the shell for all your tasks! I cannot stres this enough. Although Redhat seems to have a large share of the market, there are many other flavours of Linux/Unix at enterprise level.
Bar the slight differences in the location of system files and in some cases available tools, a comprehensive command of your shell should help irrespective of which certification you go for.

A good book on unix shells should get you going in the right direction. Remember, you primarily wil be reading and writing to config files. managing hardware ,user accounts and performing security related tasks. Master these fundamentals and you should really be o.K
Train on a distribution like debian or slackware or be brave; don't install any windowmanagers!
Just me 2 cents. Hope this post helps someone..

Regards
Oderaro

okay....so what would be a good book you'd reccomend to a newbie for the shell who'd just dumped windows recently and is totally unfamiliar with the shell in a whole? your advice is great and a good book reccomendation would be even greater.

I agree with the points that oderaro raised. One big difference though is the type of software package management software in use. If you are looking at RedHat certification then you need to know rpm, if you are looking at Debian/Ubuntu you need to know dpkg and if you are looking at a generic certification you need to know both.

The difficult thing is that there are so many books to choose from.

For my revision (for LPI) I've been using the Debian Bible published by Wiley, which I find is really useful if you using a Debian based distro (including Ubuntu), but it doesn't cover the RPM things. It is focused around command line commands, rather than the GUI.
On the other hand the RedHat Fedora Bible (sister publication) is much more GUI / Workstation based rather than server / command line. It is rpm based.

I've written reviews of those two books at: http://www.penguintutor.com/reviews/, but I haven't got many other books to draw a comparison with. Unless you are specifically wanting a certain distribution you may want to look at a generic Linux book, but I don't have any (recent copies) to give a personal recommendation.

Personally I like a printed book as it's easier to read when convenient, but there are also lots of free online materials. I have started creating Linux Tutorials (see the Shell / Basic Commands section), and there are some useful guides on The Linux Documentation project such as the Bash Beginners Guide

If you are a Linux beginner then I found it better to start with a GUI based setup, but then try and learn some of the alternative ways of configuring the machine using the command line.

good review on the books. i see there are a few more things to put in my reference and to read through. i use ubuntu dapper drake and have been on it for a few months now. i love it, but i do tend to get lost here and there within the system. i know the command line use or bash shell will help alot with that. so the books are on my wishlist now. thanks for the post, both of you.

Books are a very personal issue. Visit oreily's website and browse though. Personally I read UNIX unleashed first, however I have found the LDP (Linux Documentation project) a very useful resource..
Hope this helps..

it does. i just have a big wish list going here.

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