EHLO Me!

I’ve been dealing with cutting edge technology for sometime and once in a while every IT PRO has to decide where the career should go when some milestones have been reached, some solid knowledge obtained and the desire to set spurs to further development is still high.

Being primarily Microsoft Exchange professional I do love the product a lot but begin to feel the desire to extend the knowledge to areas that are adjacent to technology world. That being said, I laid my eyes on ITIL certification as this is something I expect to develop in a few coming years with relevant hands-on experience that has already been earned and will be earned in the future.

ITIL gives detailed descriptions of a number of important IT practices and provides comprehensive checklists, tasks and procedures that any IT organization can tailor to its needs. ITIL is published in a series of books, each of which covers an IT management topic. The names ITIL and IT Infrastructure Library are registered trademarks of the United Kingdom’s Office of Government Commerce (OGC).

This is how Wikipedia puts it. The reality is way more brutal – this is series of very valuable bits of knowledge that can be received not only with books but along with practical experience only. Followed by foundation level are professional exams one allowed to pass only after studying at certified course provider venues.

The chart displays the path to Expert is not easy at all and involves studying a lot of materials designed to accompany your foundation level of knowledge, practical experience with scientific approach and solid research basis.

Core Reference Material Includes

• Service Strategy
• Service Design
• Service Transition
• Service Operation
• Continual Service Improvement
• ITIL Lifecycle Publication Suite

The ITIL Lifecycle Publication Suite - containing Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation, and Continual Service Improvement – offers considerable costs saving against purchasing all five titles individually.

The books are pricey but the information they provide is really good and cannot be compensated by something else. So if you’re on the track you can’t avoid them:)

EXIN’s site (the organization in charge for this certification) outlines the following benefits of ITIL certification –

Why Certify?

EXIN’s certification does:
•    Strengthens your skills and maximize results.
•    Qualifies you for jobs that require specialized knowledge.
•    Optimizes your career opportunities.
•    Ensures you recognition from the industry and your peers.

I am going to take the challenge both due to professional necessity and internal desire to learn that I’m junkie of:)

By the end of the year I plan to pass Foundation exam –

The Foundation training in IT Service Management according to ISO/IEC 20000 provides professionals in ITSM a basic level of knowledge and understanding of both IT Service Management and Service Quality Management. The training is based on an introduction and overview of the main principles, concepts and relationships in the field together with a basic knowledge of the ISO/IEC 20000 standard and the terminology of the quality approach to IT Service Management.

And after that the plans are to take a course at some accredited center to become eligible for professional series exams. The sweetest plan is to take this course somewhere in Northern Europe during the trip with my family – I’d love to spend a few days on study either in Denmark or Norway while traveling there that I expect to repeat next summer:)

Alright, now it’s time to buckle down to make these plans a reality!