ITIL Expert Training Course, Lifecycle Cooking

Last week I passed the last exam required for obtaining an ITIL Expert certificate, which I would like to tell about in more detail. Next, under the cut:

1. what it is all about and where it comes from, and why nobody knows about it
2. where to study and how it goes
3. why does anyone need this
4. advantages of online forms of education over training in educational centers
5. a little about the exam

Welcome under cat

What is it all about and where it comes from, and why nobody knows about it

About ITIL here, almost everyone knows who is not - you can read in brief here , here and here , as application examples. But in 99.9% of cases no one goes further than reading the Foundation in Russian or even its foundations. But the hole is deep, so I decided to look into it first, and then, like Alice, it turned out not to be where I expected it from the very beginning. Only 11% of statistics admit that they wake up that training and certification at ITIL Expert had no impact on their development, career or decision-making efficiency. All the rest believe that it at least benefited if it did not make their decisions much more efficient.

Behind the Foundation level are nine courses ( ITIL Intermediate Level ), the passage of which is mandatory for admission to the exams for each of them. Divided into two parts, five according to the life cycle (Service Lifecycle) of services and four according to the daily tasks of Service Managers (Service Capability). There is a third way, once called upon to save all those who are drowning, or just drink a dough on additional exams to upgrade the version of the certificate with ITIL Service Manager. Full requirements for obtaining the certificate ITIL Expert here . To do this, after completing training on your chosen course set (you can recruit for loans and not only for full courses), you still need to complete a course and then pass the Managing Across the Lifecycle exam. Usually (in 95% of cases) choose Capability path. Apart from the fact that the second one in the CIS almost doesn't teach almost, Capability is also cheaper / simpler / faster / more popular.
')


The main differences between the two directions are as follows: The Capability branch teaches "what to do" and "how to do", and Lifecycle, in addition to a deeper understanding of "what" and "how", focuses on "why this happens" and what to do to "steadily develop and increase efficiency. " The difference is significant, if the first course is a serious knowledge base for any IT manager, then the second one reveals the basics of all the processes taking place and the fundamental interrelations between them, it also implies a mockery of one’s own brain. The same difference in exams. This causes the low popularity of the Lifecycle direction and not a deep level of understanding of the processes taking place in IT . Why torture yourself, to strain, if you can quickly and save resources, learn what to do and how we can do in various tasks / situations and immediately go to work. Due to the duration (on average, it takes about two to three hours a day for the Lifecycle path with a regular time allocation), high cost (usually each course in the training center will cost about $ 2K and $ 250 for each exam), low desire for serious development , in general, there is little popular direction of ITSM and we get the low popularity of the certificate itself ITIL Expert and Lifecycle paths in particular.

Next, the perturbation / anger paragraph.

When asked why anyone needs it, I can say one thing - it perfectly eliminates brain slugs.
It’s no secret that every project manager or company has not only a portfolio for a customer, but also what they are trying to keep silent about - a list of failed projects. How much you need to fill up projects to get N years of experience to find out a small part of what is already known, proven, used. A lot of money was invested in the development of this, the successful experience of the best companies, the mistakes not only of the best, but of all the rest. How many projects do you need to fail in order to understand the importance of communication with the client / customer, to realize the importance of understanding the benefits brought to his business and many other basics of IT? Isn't it easier to learn from the mistakes of others? One may write and say as much as it does not work, and if it does not work for us or only in foreign companies, who is worse off? the framework itself? or to those who provided their work to analyze and improve ITIL? - No, only to themselves.

Where to study and how it goes

Studied in the online form. The training center was chosen after a small research of the forums on the subject of quality courses. The choice was stopped on this . I did not regret it.
The official training center from one of the main certification organizations for ITIL. A competent approach, very high-quality programs, a very serious approach and attitude towards students. 7 days a week coaches support. Materials consist of video lessons (from 12 to 33, depending on the course), text mana for each lesson to consolidate, schemes, heaps of additional materials, in general, there will not be enough. The material is perfectly prepared, perfectly edited, and video lessons in the form of presentations with voice recording are generally considered ideal examples for such lengthy lessons (an hour of video mostly takes about two to three hours with recordings, revisions, small exercises during the lesson). The material itself and the form of its presentation contributes to the formation of correct thinking, a special (necessary for effective work in ITSM, an overwhelming criticality and understanding of the correct cause-and-effect relationships inherent in the industry) view of IT. The training center provides training for all ITIL + courses, some others, of its own design. There is a bonus program. At the same time, the cost of training when buying the entire package necessary for obtaining ITIL Expert costs three times less than for an ordinary training center.
The following Art of service , Pink Elepfant and ITIL Prime are known from similar training centers.

The advantages of online forms of education over training in training centers

Of the advantages of the online form of education, it is worth highlighting the convenience of access, the individual schedule, the quality of the material, the lack of reference to the trainer and his personal experience in ITSM. The program is designed for a year, but it is usually somewhat faster. Although some Indians even managed to manage this month (and this has nothing to do with the fact that India has the most software companies certified according to CMMi level 5 despite the quality of the development). Given that only ITIL itself is being taught to you, without a mixture of the trainer's personal look, you also get enough examples to review the results and justify the effectiveness of the framework.

And although I started with a separately purchased Service Operations course, and heaps of time spent on it, although it was easy to manage in a couple of weeks, I was taken after a full pack of all the other courses, because the initial interest in knowledge and development grew almost immediately into understanding I need this knowledge to work effectively in IT, for me at least. With each course, it was possible to learn more efficiently, read more quickly, understand more material to process.
The high level of preparation of materials, the support of experienced experts and a variety of materials is an extremely important factor influencing the result. A classic British language in audio and text materials strongly develops / supports knowledge of the language.
In the end, was extremely pleased.

Directly about the exam

One of the most powerful that ever met. Examinations - headache . It looks simple, eight cases consisting of a description of the situation, a question and four possible answers. The description of the situation is sufficient to make a logical decision. But they probably understood that everything would be so simple, it would be about a hundred times more than those who passed. For some (CSI, MALC) exams, the percentage of successful passing is 50 - 70%, which means that the exam, preparation and the course itself imply intercourse with the brain. Evaluation of answers 5, 3, 1 and 0 points depending on the correctness of the chosen answer option. Pass rate of 70% seems to be low, but it is not always possible to type it, which is indicated by statistics . Regarding the completeness of the case at the exam, there really can be a logical conclusion about the correct answer, but it turns out that this is not often proposed by OGC. When preparing, several sets of exam questions are provided for previous years (from 6 to 2 depending on the exam, the more difficult the exam is, the less preparatory cases are offered), all relevant and without them is almost impossible to pass. They are either rented at a certification center or from an empty meeting room, with an empty table, a couple of blank sheets of paper, under the recording of video from a webcam and a sound with a microphone, on the other hand, they can monitor all processes on the host to not read or write a session, after take up to two days for analysis and final confirmation of the results. By finishing the results, they force you to tear apart the small recordings that you made, and in the process of death they strongly ask the eyes of the monitor and not look away to the side.

I can add to the end, after passing the last exam, I came home in the evening, and I realized that I don’t know what to do because the last year in my spare time was devoted only to studies, and then it ended abruptly. Strange as it was.

PS This blog was chosen for the reason that it is based on training, and certification is already a logical completion of the courses.