Good news! If you hold the ITIL Practitioner Service Desk, Incident and Problem Management certificate you can use it towards 3.5 credits in the current ITIL Credit program. To get your credits you will need to register and upload your certificate in the PeopleCert system so PeopleCert can review it and apply the credit.

When it comes to the ITIL Foundation exam, students–especially those with experience–often think that they can take the sample exams and then sit for the exam and pass.  While that may be true for some, it is not true for everyone.  The ITIL Foundation course establishes the basis upon which all advanced ITIL courses and certifications are built.  It is full of facts and details which you need to master in order to pass the exam.  Sample Exams are just that, sample exams.  They are not the actual test.  They are created by AXELOS and distributed by PeopleCert for students to test their knowledge.  They do not guarantee success.  In order to guarantee success you have to study.  Master the facts.  Know them.  And be able to apply them in the exam.

While it is true that ITIL Foundation has the highest pass rate of all the ITIL Exams, in the 92 to 94% range, 6 to 8% of the people who take the exam will not pass.  While 6 to 8% seems like a small number, take a look at some eye opening statistics:

• Over 200,000 people take the exam each year
• 12,000 to 16,000 people who take the exam will fail.
• Failure costs $4 to $5.58 million dollars a year ($349/voucher)

How to Pass Your ITIL Foundation Exam the First Time

No one ever likes to hear this, but the answer is you MUST study.   For Foundation taking an accredited course is not required, but it is highly recommended.  Why?  Because you know that you are learning everything you need to know.  Accredited Training Providers cannot offer courses that have not been reviewed and approved.

If you are taking a live course, come prepared.  Do some advance study and then be ready with questions for the instructor.  Make the very best use of their time.  If you are taking a self-paced course, repeat and rewind until you master the concepts.  Do all the course exercises and take the sample exams.  Remember – Sample Exams are just that, a sample.  They were created by AXELOS and are the official exam samples.  You can search the internet for other materials to learn and test your knowledge, but ultimately, you must know the content to pass the exam.

Important Self-Paced Course Features

• Make sure the course is accredited
• Make sure you can watch the course as many times as needed
• Make sure you have access to the instructor to ask questions
• Make sure the provider includes a Training Plan
• Make sure the instructor gives you Exam Tips

If you have questions on exam prices, need to get more ITIL Training  or would like to purchase exam vouchers, contact us customerservice@gogotraining.com or call us at 877.546.4446.

Group Discounts on courses and exams are available for groups of 5 or more.  If you have a group to train, contact us at customerservice@gogotraining.com or by phone at 877.546.4446.

Since our last update on ITIL Exam Prices PeopleCert has finalized their 2018 prices as follows:

• ITIL Foundation Exams went from $233 to $349
• ITIL Intermediate Exams and MALC went from $330 to $399
• ITIL Practitioner Exams went from $356 to $496

 How to Save on your ITIL Exam Fees

All GogoTraining Members receive 10% off their ITIL Exam Fees and exams may be purchase on the site.  In addition, larger discounts are available when exam vouchers are purchase in bulk.  If you have questions on exam prices, need to get more ITIL Training  or would like to purchase exam vouchers, contact us customerservice@gogotraining.com or call us at 877.546.4446.

Group Discounts on courses and exams are available for groups of 5 or more.  If you have a group to train, contact us at customerservice@gogotraining.com or by phone at 877.546.4446

Is ITIL Online Training For You?

It used to be that when you were ready to get your ITIL Certifications you signed up for a live instructor-ed, classroom-delivered course.  When you did that, you had to get approval to take off from work and the budget to take the class.  Live ITIL classroom courses can cost anywhere from $1,200 to $3,500 depending on the course, the length of the course and whether or not the certification exam was included in the cost of the training.  With training budgets being the first to be hit when budgets are tightened, many individuals and organizations are turning to online self-paced ITIL courses.

Online self-paced ITIL training has many benefits:

• You can train on your timeframe
• You can train from any location
• Courses are available 24/7
• You can repeat and rewind in order to master the materials
• Pricing is at 50 to 75% lower than classroom training
  • Contact Us for course and exam pricing

The Downside to Online Self-Paced ITIL Training

The biggest downside is time.  Whenever you are assigned or decide to take a class you MUST allocate the time to take the class.  We have found that the most successful students setup a schedule and, if assigned by their company, get approval to take the time to take the class from their manager.  This ensures that there is a timetable and approval to take the class.  Almost like getting approval to take a live class.   When you treat an online class like a live class you will have a much better chance of completing the class and sitting for the certification exam.

 Goal Setting and Time Allocation

If you are good at managing your time and setting goals, then online self-paced training will be a good vehicle for you to achieve your goals in a timely and cost-effective manner.  The most important thing to do is to set your goals and to allocate the time to achieve them.  The next most important thing is to find a course that is engaging.  There are courses taught by computers and animation and there are courses taught by real instructors.  Everyone has different interests and most companies allow you to sample their courses before you buy them.  Take the time to sample and find the type of course that you find most engaging.

How to Pick A Great Online Self-Paced ITIL Training Class

The most important feature of any online self-paced class is that it is created by an expert instructor and designed and proven to be a successful knowledge transfer course.  For example, there are organizations today that allow anyone to put up a course without checking the author’s credentials.  To be successful you want to make sure that the organization you choose is working with expert instructors.  You want to make sure that the classes are accredited.  In the case of ITIL you want to make sure that the courses are taught by ITIL Experts and that they include sample exams, exercises designed to help you master the materials and you want to be able to ask the instructor questions.  Do not accept a substitute.

Check Box for Success

 Here are a list of questions you will want to ask to help ensure your success:

• Is the class accredited?
• Is it taught by an ITIL Expert?
• Does the course come with exercises?
• Does the course come with sample exams?
• What kind of support comes with the class?
• Do I have access to the instructor to ask questions?
• How long do I have access to the class?
• Can I take the course as many times as I need to in order to master the content?
• Does the course come with exam tips?

 Have Questions?  Need a Price Quote?

The team at GogoTraining is here to help.  Have a question about a certification?  Need help planning your training roadmap?  Looking for a course and exam package?  Call us at 877.546.4446 or email us at customerservice@gogotraining.com

By Guest Author Adrian Bates

Hello, my name is Adrian Bates and I have utilized GogoTraining to acquire three ITIL certifications: ITIL Foundations; ITIL Release Control and Validation Intermediate; and Planning Process and Optimization Intermediate Certification.

Here are a couple of tips and tricks that I use to identify what information is critical to absorb during training. Additionally, I listed a couple of tips that have helped me prepare for an exam.

Tip 1:

Prior to taking the training, I briefly reviewed the “Example Exams” within the module. I tended to focus on the “Question Rationale” portion of the test exam. This explains the reasoning behind how it was determined what the best answer is for each question.  There is an area within the question and rationale titled “Bloom’s Taxonomy Testing Level”. This portion explains what the candidate is expected to understand. This tends to help me during training as key parts of the course tend to stand out as critical pieces of information when reflecting on the example exams.

Tip 2:

Another key piece of information that assists with passing the exams is understanding the functional roles and responsibilities of each process. Each scenario speaks to a specific process and generally asks that you align the process or manager role accordingly.  If you have a fundamental understanding of the Capacity, Availability, Demand, Continuity processes etc…, you will have a higher chance of answering the question correctly.

Tip 3:

The last tip I have is that you thoroughly read the question being asked. Every scenario presents a challenge or obstacle that has to be overcome. Close attention must be paid to what question is being asked. For example, the question may ask something along the lines like; what is the best “approach” to create a successful continuity plan that addresses the issues listed by the Information Security Officer. The answers will vary, some of the answers are known as “distracters”. For example, one of the answers might illustrate a plan. The plan will sound great and may be best way to solve the issue. Keep in mind, you were not asked to solve the problem.  You were asked to assess the best way to approach the problem, and to create a plan that in the end will address the issues.  Again, it is very important that you read the question being asked slowly and to answer it as direct as possible.

Thank you for the opportunity to share my tips and tricks! My goal is to achieve ITIL expert and I have found this technique to be very helpful.  I have passed every exam on the first try and I strongly recommend GogoTraining when preparing for your exams.  Their training material is a great asset. The cost, accessibility to the site, support and training, in my opinion all receive good marks. You will realize this when you take the exam.

As many of you know PEOPLECERT was chosen by AXELOS to be the only Accredited ITIL Exam Institute as of January 1, 2018.  This means that effective January 1, 2018 the only organization that is authorized to provide ITIL Exams will be PEOPLECERT.  In preparation for this changeover GogoTraining became a PEOPLECERT Accredited Training Organization earlier this year.

2018 ITIL Exam Price Increase

We were recently informed that PEOPLECERT is increasing exam prices as of January 1, 2018.  Exam vouchers purchased in 2017 will not be valid for use in 2018.

Here is what we know so far:

• The Foundations exams are going from $233 to $295
• Intermediate exams and MALC expected to go from $330 to $345
• Practitioner is expected to go from $356 to $395

If you have questions on exam prices, need to get more ITIL Training  or would like to purchase exam vouchers, contact us customerservice@gogotraining.com or call us at877.546.4446.

Group Discounts on courses and exams are available for groups of 5 or more.  If you have a group to train, contact us at customerservice@gogotraining.com or by phone at877.546.4446

By Guest Author Bassomo Romaric

Background

I am Bassomo Serge Romaric, Cameroonian, 30 years old and I am Telecommunication engineer. I started my career 8 years ago in IT mostly around Storage (EMC), Virtualization (VMware), Network (CISCO, Fortinet). Service Operation is my bread and butter everyday job.

Why I wanted to achieve ITIL Certification

I was hired one year ago, in our National Telco Company. In my previous work experience, I knew about ITIL, but I was not feeling the necessity to learn more. It is when I changed my previous company that I discovered the power of ITIL and the desire to learn more. In fact in my current company we have poor user satisfaction, bad reputation in delivering services to customer, project are delivered over-cost, over-time, quality is declining, many incidents …. Etc. We have some good guys in IT, CCIE, Oracle Expert, Microsoft expert but nothing runs as expected. We have no ITSM initiative at all, we are only focused on technology and not how IT creates value to business. This is why I decided to achieve ITIL certification.

Research of training provider

I passed my foundation exam in May 2015, I decided to look at the requirements of expert track. I have two options taking classroom exam or online class. Classroom was my preferred option because for me it is interactive. But when it comes to math :

1 – Lifecycle = 5 exams at $2000 each + 1 MALC exam at $3000 = $13 000

2 – Capability = 4 exams at $2500 each + 1 MALC exam at $3000 = $15 500

And I have to add travel fee because at the time there were no accredited training provider for intermediate courses (capability) in my country or nearby. It was too expensive for me. And my company only invests in tech certification for engineers. So my project was stalled.

At the beginning of 2016, I take my project out of the bag and I begin investigations for the online option. My first step was to have a short list of accredited training provider from EXIN. I checked the website of every training provider, also checked the background of the trainer on LinkedIn.  I choose GogoTraining because of the trainer Dr Suzanne Van Hove. I knew her ISO 20 000 with Lynda.com so I was very comfortable with the quality. And after I stay because GOGO people are very responsive.  And also very very important the price structure is very flexible you can buy access for 1 year, six months … etc depending on your time and budget. During my journey, I discover GOGO staff, they are very kind and always available.  When you send an email you have feedback immediately.

My exam technique

First of all the course is clear. Dr Suzanne is a great trainer. With GOGO you do two things at same time, you train for ITIL course and you have some great experience sharing with Dr Suzanne. She shares some tips of how to handle some cases in real life. Her Capability courses are simply excellent.

How I used the material

• First I take one day off (Sunday) to listen all the videos about 8 hours. I skipped the exercises and sample questions.
• Afterward, I read the Book in particular order (Chap 1, 9 , 2, 3, 4, 5; 6; 7 , 8). There are scenario highlights when you are reading the book that refer to some real case company. There are so helpful and increase understanding. This is the first and most helpful sample question.
• Third step use this process model to verify if I have the understanding of a particular process.

• After my reading,  I did the exercises.
• Next, I viewed videos for the second time.
• I read ITIL pocket book
• 1 days before the exam I do sample exam question and I review the topics where I was weak.
• The day of the exam I read the enlarged slide and the video 01 Exams tips.

My scores

I passed all my exams the first time!!!

Foundation: 100%

Capability: SOA 90% , PPO 78%, RCV 95%

Lifecycle: SS 75%, SD 85% , ST 75%

Editor’s Note: We congratulate and thank Bossomo & all of our students who have learned so much and brought their skills to the ITIL Community! Well done!!

Despite innovations, disruptions, and rapid changes, IT is one industry that continues to survive and thrive

Contrary to popular misconceptions, the information technology sector is flourishing and will continue to employ skilled workers in large numbers. Factors like automation and new technologies only open new opportunities for your IT career path.

Technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics, scientific advancements like space exploration and medical procedures, provide tremendous opportunities for IT experts.

For IT professionals in the US who are scared of outsourcing, fear not! Most of the outsourced jobs are mundane, repetitive jobs which will be automated sooner or later.

However, the innovative IT jobs are on the rise. In addition, there are numerous opportunities for someone who is a tech wizard.

If you’re interested in knowing what an IT professional’s career path looks like, keep reading….

It’s difficult but interesting

Working in the IT industry is not a cakewalk. But then, nor is it in any other industry!

If you have an affinity for technology and enjoy working on new complex challenges, the IT industry is for you.

You might have heard numerous stories of IT professionals who work day and night in their offices without even the time to go home just for a few hours.

It’s true. There are times when they have to slog and stretch. However, what most of the people ignore is the fact that a large number of people in this industry are highly passionate about their job. They enjoy their work more than anything else, which is the reason for their sustainability and growth despite the work pressure.

Working in the IT industry lets you apply your analytical mind, logic, and creativity.

If you want to become a successful IT professional, you must have passion, persistence and stamina.  If you do, success will be yours.

Career paths in the IT industry

Information technology is a vast industry with 100s of specialties. Some are discussed here:

Database Administrator

Big Data’s a revolution. Every enterprise generates massive volumes of data through its customer interactions, which is needed for analytics. This is where a DBA plays a key role.

Graphic Design

It’s where the creativity meets technology. If you’re a skilled artist, becoming a graphic designer is the right career for you.

Video Game Developer and Tester

Advancements in technology and graphic designing have made video games more sophisticated than ever. There’s tremendous scope as a games developer or tester.

Animator

Animators get to show their skills to a far greater extent now than ever. From animated movies to live action films, and advertisements and games, animation offers tremendous scope.

IT Security

The advancements in IT have also increased the threats. Viruses and malware are pretty common, and there’s always a requirement for more skilled IT security professionals to deal with the threats.

Programming and Coding

Coding shall never be out of the fashion. Most of the top entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerburg started out as coders. There’s immense scope in this field.

Project Manager

This comes as an advanced career path once you’ve moved up the ladder in the IT industry. As a project manager, you get to manage people and entire projects.

Conclusion

IT industry continues to offer significant scope for those who are willing to work hard and smart. Learn IT courses and programming languages online to move one step ahead towards building an exciting career in the IT industry.  If you’re looking to begin a new career, browse our course catalog and see how easy it is to get started in an IT career.

Why Oracle Database Management is Really Important

We frequently use spreadsheets to store and share data. As long as the data is small and straightforward, spreadsheets do a good job of saving it. However, as the volume and complexity of the data grows, you will have to use a Database Management System to store and retrieve the data. Databases are highly scalable, and they are designed to communicate with other applications which make them suitable for the web.

Organizations like Banks, Government departments and multinational corporations all have vast amounts of data that need to be store and retrieved securely. Therefore, they use relational database management system to manage their data. A relational database recognizes the relationship between stored information.

Oracle is an object-relational database which is among one of the most complex databases in the world. It means that it supports many object-oriented features such as enhancing the capability of the database server by defining new and complex data types and using the attributes of “Inheritance” to define objects, which can procure properties of other objects.

Since most Database Management Systems (DBMS) understand a particular query or a specific language, not everyone can operate them. Database Administrators (or DBAs) use specialized software to store, update, delete or manage data in the DBMS.

If you want to become an Oracle Database Administrator, here are five things you should know:

What does an Oracle DBA do?

An Oracle DBA’s core job is to maintain data integrity, which means protecting the organization’s data. Database Administrators are involved in almost all functions related to data management such as development, storage, and retrieval of the database. They also “create, install, examine and troubleshoot” the database management systems that deal with the data in any organization. As an Oracle DBA, you will also be involved in the processes of backup and recovery of data, storage and capacity planning, performance monitoring and tuning, data extraction, transformation, & loading, etc. You may also be communicating with developers, data analysts and network operators to ensure smooth and efficient management & flow of information in the organization.

What are the necessary requirements for becoming an Oracle DBA?

Since database administration requires advanced knowledge of computing as well as business environments, most of the Oracle DBAs hold a Bachelor’s degree (BS) in computer programming. Due to intense competition, a college degree may not be adequate to become a DBA. Therefore, you need to upgrade your skills and become a certified expert in Oracle to advance your career. Excellent communications skills always help as in any other technical role.

You Can’t Avoid SQL

SQL or Structured Query Language, is at the core of all relational databases. SQL is used to store or fetch data in the relational databases. In fact, Oracle itself is a form of SQL Database. Also, the Oracle database is ANSI compliant. Thus, you can’t avoid SQL if you want to become an Oracle DBA. Join an introductory course in SQL before you aspire to learn advanced modules of Oracle database.

How much Oracle DBAs Earn?

The compensation of an Oracle Database Administrator may depend on several factors such as expertise in Database Administration, relevant experience, communications skills, educational qualification, etc.

According to a Salary.com report, as of Feb 2017, the median salary of Oracle DBAs is $111,450.00 per year. The average annual salary of top 10% Oracle DBAs is $132,613.00 whereas the bottom 10% earn an average annual salary of $85,637. This data clearly shows that Oracle DBA experts are among the highest paid professionals in the Information Technology sector.

How to Get Started

If you are a beginner, join an online training program to learn the basic SQL programming language. You should also acquire as many certifications in Oracle as possible to establish your credentials. Large organizations usually ask for a certain number (2-5 Years) of years of work experience. Therefore, you should also begin working as an intern along with your course to gain real world experience. You will need to be persistent and should have patience to learn Oracle DBA as it is an advanced programming language. Remember that your effort to learn Oracle will pay off quickly when you get your first job.