IT certifications are great, not just in this economy

I just finished my PMP recently and I found there were tons of study materials.
I am looking into the CGEIT exam now and I see that search terms like CGEIT sample questions, CGEIT study material, or CGEIT courses are few or non existent. I also tried CGEIT study group, CGEIT sample test and the results do not compare with the PMP exam.

This seems to be a brand new dicipline and I don’t see many CGEIT jobs out there yet.

But the material and the education is fantastic. IT governance is a broad and complicated subject and not just for anyone to manage.

I have seen a wiki were some students are creating sample questions and discussng them. I think that is a great learning tool, both creating the questions and trying to answer other peoples questions.

Click on this link or copy paste the one below. This link seems to be a great help delivered by a free CGEIT course

http://cgeitexamprep.wikispaces.com/message/list/home

http://www.tunitas.com/cgeit

Is the course location it seems a Free course in fact.

Books from ISACA seem expensive if your company is not paying for them.

But I have noticed that being a PMI member allows you to read many books that do have IT governance topics in them. That is an advantage

The other resource I am trying is the Technodyne University. I have taken that course and it is one hour a day four days a week.

I have to admit I am learning something and he does simplify certain things which is helpful. But  he seems too confident that we will pass without practice tests and feedback.

Even the linked in group did not seem to have resources, many were asking where are the sample questions.

So for December we are on our own.

Anyway I am scrambling to learn the material and there is sooo much.

CGEIT vs. Project Management

 

The difference between project management vs. governance is that project management deals with delivering the short term promised result while governance is creating the environment that will maximize the overall chance of success.

They both deal with the how to get things done but the differences are subtle when looking at them for the first time.

A CGEIT is much more involved with long term business concerns than the project manager. The project manager expects the business and political questions to have been dealt with by the time they get their project chartered.

A project manager is primarily concerned with keeping a project on track. The governance professional, be it on the board or an executive or a consultant is concerned with the value delivery of the project. A project may be on track and in fact may even be making money but if it is not strategically aligned or is not delivering as much value as other projects, it may be terminated.

Value delivery is more about the long term life cycle of the project and the project manager, after having the project “chartered”, does not concern him or herself with that question anymore.

The criteria used are different. The perspective is different. And a CGEIT looks at things from a more overall view point than that of the project manager.

I am still not clear about career opportunities. There are claims about PMP average yearly salaries but I have not seen any claims about CGEITs.

CGEIT Aftermath

I got an email from ISACA at last saying that I passed the CGEIT exam.

This does NOT mean I am a CGEIT but it is a major step toward that goal of course.

I now have to fill out the application.

As far as tips and techniques go regarding passing the exam, the main publications from ISACA were the key.

The only problem is that they do not give you any feedback on where your weak points are. Had I known where my weak points were I would have spent more time studying in those areas. The exam was rough and there were many questions where multiple answers were correct. But one answer was the most correct.

To be ready I needed to hear lectures, view material and take sample questions and have discussions. Lectures and handouts alone were not enough for me.

For those who did not pass or those who are afraid of failing the exam, taking the exam is the best move toward passing it. It is the only way to get the feedback you need to identify your weak points. I know people that did not feel that they were ready and chose not to take the exam. If you can afford it, there is no reason why you should avoid taking the exam.

The results give you a score for each domain. I have heard several people state that they did well in some domains and badly in others. This was true in my case too. Which means that if I had failed, I would have known what to study to get a maximum boost next time I would have taken it.

I still don’t see many jobs requiring a CGEIT but I took the exam for the knowledge. Knowledge changes you, I feel more competent and think with a perspective that I did not have before I learnt the ISACA way.

If I had failed, I may have had a different view of the whole process. It is intimidating.

CGEIT Examination – Day After

I am not certain if I should have waited for two months to write this because I don’t know my results.

The exam was four hours with 120 questions.

I assumed I would not take that long and I saw some that did not take that long.

But I was answering till the last moment.

Understanding was the key, knowing the exact differences between concepts was important.

What made it so time consuming was many questions had answers that were correct but needed the best answer selected.

The fact that it was on a rainy Saturday, early morning test was not a great set up for me. I wonder why ISACA does not allow testing centers where you can schedule and get your score immediately to be set up. I am sure people would pay extra if it were offered.

At this point until I get the score, I have to let it go and continue on with other exams. Will know in 2 months how the CGEIT exam went.

There are three important aspects in studying for the Exam.

1. Being exposed to every aspect of IT Governance as in frameworks, case histories, concepts, common terminology and general corporate governance techniques.

2. Understanding it clearly.

3. Looking at things with the ISACA perspective.

Experience is NOT enough. The questions can be answered in different ways depending on what past experiences you have had and depending on if you think in terms of  ”cause”, “effect”, “over all picture” and IT cultures you have been exposed to.

I found everything I did helpful but I think practical exercises help most with “understanding.” Or specific governance stories, reading many of them helps a great deal. But in the end, tests that determine if you understand them would increase the level of understanding and get rid of misunderstandings that lower the score.

The other issue is to understand the ISACA perspective on things and that requires reading the material provided.

If there were no courses available I would have recommended reading the board briefing at least 5 times. And ValIT and then RiskIT. And get exposed to everything on the ISACA site.

But then, courses are available and they help keep you on track.

CGEIT Concepts in Multimedia

I am the type that learns better when I see and hear rather than just read.

In fact I do best when I apply the knowledge. In the case of the CGEIT my understanding is that it is a test that you can’t really cram for. You either know the stuff or you don’t.

Anyway just to give oneself the edge a multimedia presentation is best.

ValIT already has a podcast I mentioned in the previous post.

Here are some for the BSC and CMMI.

These are just a few that I found helful at this time, I hope they are not gone by they time you get to them.

BSC Robert Kaplan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A02vKgE4NQ

overview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q54tnil9FnQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xsE4EvzQAg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI8ZmLwqElI&NR=1&feature=fvwp

implement with excel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEkP2LNp9zw&feature=related

BSC importance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5teVRUD02W4&feature=related

Simple demo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR_NOk_4KNo&feature=related

BSC simulation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJAXQIAz9bk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N5XW3usxEU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIZziZfxfDI&feature=related
Strategy map
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRyIrvaGDCQ&feature=related

CMMI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DLS-HuC6pU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbmwBkRM6eg

What does a CFA/Portfolio Manager have in common with a CIO

I thought that these were worlds apart but for IT Governance, that is Enterprise Governance of IT to work in the long run, portfolio management is one of the key ingredients it seems.

I have a hard time thinking that they are similar and I bet other have too.

And as an IT professional I have a sensitivity to what does not belong in my world. “Portfolio management of investments is business? get it out of here!” is my first reaction.

I fear that unlike a financial portfolio manager that does not know the people involved in the stocks and bonds that are being managed (bought and sold), a CGEIT may in fact be eliminating jobs of those that he/she knows when eliminating a bad investment.

But getting past that, the routine will be like the following:

This is how much money I have to invest. These set of projects look good and I have to pick and choose the best. The rest I will not buy (fund).  And one of the investment has gone bad, have to get my money out while I can and put it into another investment and ignore what I lost (ignore the sunk cost).

Other than Portfolio Management, the other financial skill that is considered VERY important is benefits management. As in handing out benefits from an insurance policy or an investment. You have to account for it, you can’t give out too much or too little as in when you monitor your benefits on a dashboard.

That seems to me like where you made the investment and you are diligently accounting for all the return you are getting so that you can prove it WAS A GOOD INVESTMENT. And it was a good investment, because it was an IT project means “You should love the IT department because it was THE investment.”

So Portfolio managment and Benfits management seem to be the big new thing in ValIT for ISACA.

Here is some free course material

http://www.tunitas.com/cgeit/

Here is a webcast on the subject

http://www.isaca.org/Template.cfm?Section=Val_IT3&CONTENTID=46259&TEMPLATE=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm

Other Val IT info

http://www.isaca.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=25060&TEMPLATE=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm