Back to basic - Certified in ITIL® Foundation

I am computer science graduate with 13 years of experience in IT field, and 8 years in IT management. I gained a lot of skill as my pursuing my career in IT line. Now I am in IT management position, taking on a comprehensive IT team, assuming my duty as a true leader.

For all my work life, I have never thought I need any written qualifications to move forward. For me nothing beats work experiences. I since learn a lot of hard skills (programming, networking, server administration) and soft skills (ie: communication skill, leadership skill) during work. Besides, I build good relationship with peers, suppliers and friends as they are very important for your career.

Therefore I have never been certified on the paper except my Degree. I have no professional certificate of any kind, until recently I started to figure out how important it is to get certified. I searched in various job seeking web sites and found out that plenty of hirings now requires some kind of certifications, especially for IT positions.

Depends on the career you are pursuing, there are hundreds of certifications to aid you going further. After googling from the Internet, I narrow down a few certifications which are essential for IT management, namely:

1. ITIL® Foundation - Information Technology Infrastructure Library. Foundation Level. Currently at version 3
2. TOGAF®, an Open Group Standard, is a proven enterprise architecture methodology and framework used by the world's leading organizations to improve business efficiency.
3. COBIT® 5 Foundation -  The only business framework for the governance and management of enterprise IT. Foundation level. Currently version 5
4. PRINCE® 2 Foundation & Practitioner -  (an acronym for Projects in Controlled Environments, version 2) is a project management methodology developed and administrated by the UK government.
5. PMP -  The most important industry-recognized certification for project managers. Globally recognized and demanded, the PMP® demonstrates that you have the experience, education and competency to lead and direct projects.
6. CISA - World-renowned as the standard of achievement for those who audit, control, monitor and assess an organization's information technology and business.
7. CISM -  A unique IT certification for professionals who design, build and manage enterprise information security

Due to popularity and cost concern, I chose to start with ITIL® Foundation. It is a 3-day course inclusive of breakfasts, tea-breaks and lunch. This course comes with the exam (on the last day) and the passing score is 26 over 40 objective questions.

The course fee is RM2,500 but HRDF claimable. Besides, it also qualifies for MDEC grant worth RM600. Hence the actual course fee is only RM1,900.

I engaged with a humble but reputable training center named Info Trek Sdn. Bhd. for their good service and clear explanation to my questions. Their outlet is located at 3rd floor of Amcorp Mall (PJ), a small lot but surprisingly has aplenty of training rooms.

Their consultant Ms. Isabelle Wong who served me is worth full credit for the best service she provided. She showed good attitude and very patient for every question I asked. She also responded to every email I sent for course details promptly and assisted me to decide which course is best to be taken based on the available time and budget I had.

The Course
The course was conducted by an experienced trainer Mr. Karthegesan Balasubramaniam from Quint Wellington Redwood. He is double Master Degree holder and a certified ITIL® Expert. He is also certified in both PMP by PMI, and PRINCE2 foundation and practitioner by APMG International.

During the first day, we were asked to register ourselves with the SAInS system and student-registration.com website (for exam). We were given a copy of ITIL® Foundation text book (by Quint of course), one notepad, a pen and a bottle of mineral water.

The text book is like 400 pages thick and we were required to digest them in 3 days. But thank goodness they were summarized and converted into info-graphics for better absorption.

Throughout the 3-day course, we were told which are the favorite pages (question would be excerpted from) to revise and given some sample test question to see where we stand.

Initially I struggle to understand what was being taught and explained in the book because my company does not implement any of the process. That was the first time I saw such process and how a service implementation relevant to the role and responsible of an IT personnel.

After repetitive revision and with many sample tests done, I finally understand their methodology. Essentially, ITIL is VERY IMPORTANT to proper implement an IT service. It is important in all aspect of a business that uses IT, regardless of its size because it offers the best values and outcomes of what you want to achieve in aligned to your business directions.

I passed the exam the 3rd day. Then I was told that Mr. Karthegesan's class has a very high passing rate. I think mainly because he gave a lots of tips and hints.


The Training Center

This training center has a very simple, straightforward and clean environment. It has tremendous amount of training rooms completed with projectors, PCs and Internet connections. If you headed for some hard skill training such as Microsoft Excel, you will be sure given lots of hands on training given the available facilities.

One thing I want to compliment here is about their food. For your information, they do not offer lunch in their training center. They only offer breakfast and tea breaks it their pantry. The trainer will be the person who distribute lunch vouchers to you, and you use them at lower ground's selected food stalls.

The breakfasts were the utmost thing I like. There were half boil eggs with baked breads, nasi lemak, and sandwiches! There were also refuel black coffee where you could drink as much as you like. They were indeed the perfect breakfasts in the world!

The tea-breaks could be better though. There they had small "pau" or "kuih" plus either a cup or tea or coffee (again).

Overall, training with Info Trek gave me a pleasant experience. I enjoyed the clean and refreshing environment, welcomed by a bunch of helpful customer service and trained by qualified trainers.


Verdict
ITIL® is a clear answer to IT service management. When you are asked to attend one, do not miss it for no reason. It offers a ground breaking basis for your IT career. It is an idiot guide of efficient IT management. Someone says COBIT® 5 is better but I think they both compliment each other.

As you pass the exam, the next certification will be either ITIL® Service LifeCycle Management (for managers) or Service Capability Management (for technical professionals) at the Intermediate level according your job profile.

For me, I prefer moving to a new challenge, PRINCE®2 foundation & practitioner because there's a requirement for me to manage ERP projects.