[NBLUG/talk] Certifications: Unix, Linux, ITIL, Mac

[Bill Collins]

I have the Foundation certification.

The company I used to work for required all managers to become certified. 
They brought in a third party trainer (HP) and marched us all through the 
course. Which was interesting because we were a direct competitor to HP in 
the consulting world (lots of NDA's floating around on that one). We were 
pursuing ISO certification and standardization as a company. This was one 
aspect of that process.

If I had stayed with that company they probably would have sponsored me to 
pursue the management level certification as well. They were an IT 
Outsourcing provider.

It is interesting that Lucas is specifying ITIL for a desk top support 
position. There is no harm in training to that level, but it is expensive 
for a company if they try to train in-house. If Lucas has embraced the ITIL, 
knowing how the pieces fit together is a good thing for all employees. This 
type of certification is indicative of the professional evolution of IT 
within many organizations. We can't just be the geeky guys anymore. We have 
to be cognizant of the business side. ITIL frames the whole process of 
incident and problem management in a very structured fashion so that IT 
shops can mature past the reboot and make it go away (until next time) style 
of support.

Many publicly held companies are under ever increasing scrutiny from outside 
auditors. IT has become a major area of interest to many auditing firms. It 
used to be that auditors just wanted to know if you made backups of your 
data. Now they are more savvy and will drill into your operations.

This particular certification is a differentiator not a disqualifier.





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Oser" <oserj at OserConsulting.com>
To: "General NBLUG chatter about anything Linux, answers to questions,etc." 
<talk at nblug.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2006 1:21 PM
Subject: Re: [NBLUG/talk] Certifications: Unix, Linux, ITIL, Mac


> Bill,
>
> So are you ITIL certified? If so, how did you become ITIL certified?
>
> Has any company ever asked you to be ITIL certified?
>
> Thanks for your detailed answer to the original post.
>
> Jim
>
> On Dec 9, 2006, at 12:00 PM, Bill Collins wrote:
>
>> ITIL is a set of "best practices" that were canonized into a  standard in 
>> the UK for the purpose of standardizing efficient  (read: less costly) 
>> and effective (read: get it done right) IT  Service Management. It has 
>> since swept through Europe and is  beginning to be adopted in the US. 
>> There is an ISO standard ISO  20000 that mirrors the British standard BS 
>> 15000. Certification is  awarded through examination by an authorized 
>> agency. In the US this  is a group called Information Systems Examination 
>> Board (ISEB).  Here are a few links that can point you to more info:
>>
>> http://www.itsmf.org/
>> http://www.exin-exams.com/
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITIL
>>
>> There are various levels of certification. The three main  categories are 
>> Foundation, Practitioner, Manager. Some of the  impetus behind desiring / 
>> requiring this type of certification in  the US is linked to regulatory 
>> pressures from Sarbanes-Oxley and  HIPAA. It is also aligned with the 
>> trend for organizations to seek  ISO and CMM certifications. ITIL is a 
>> certification aimed at the  individual whereas ISO and CMM are 
>> organization level  certifications.  I believe you can self study for the 
>> Foundation  level but authorized training is required for the more 
>> advanced  certifications. The Foundation course is usually 3 days, and is 
>> the  most common certification. Some of the primary workshop based 
>> training organizations are HP Education and IBM Education. I am  sure 
>> more options are emerging as the popularity of this  certification grows. 
>> Many employers who seek ISO certification will  bring these training 
>> opportunities in-house. You see this more  often in pure service 
>> organizations and out-sourcing firms.
>>
>> Here is one source of literature and other info:
>>
>> http://itsm.fwtk.org/
>>
>> The material is not difficult. If you have been involved in any  well 
>> organized service effort that utilizes Service desk, Incident 
>> management, Problem management, Change management, etc, you will be 
>> familiar with the concepts. However, the exams are very specific  about 
>> what concept or responsibility fits where in the standard. So  the bottom 
>> line is: there is a lot of memorization.
>>
>> Most workshop providers include the exam as part of the process, so  you 
>> can emerge fully certified.
>>
>> Is it usefull knowledge? yes. Is it essential (i.e. more important  than 
>> a technical certification)? Only if you are going to actually  be a 
>> service manager of some sort in an organization that values  it. Would it 
>> prevent you from getting a job? Probably same answer  as previous.
>>
>> Why do I know? Because I have been through more organizational ISO  and 
>> CMM certification death marches than I care to remember, not to  mention 
>> HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.
>>
>> I am sure this is more info than anybody needs to read  (or write)  on a 
>> Saturday, but its a good day to be inside, so cheers and good  luck!
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> talk mailing list
>> talk at nblug.org
>> http://nblug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/talk
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> talk mailing list
> talk at nblug.org
> http://nblug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/talk
>