Project Plus / ITIL v3 Certification worth getting certified ?

mgmguy1

I was recently on a job interview for a Voice Provisioning job and during the interview I was asked if I had any Project Plus or ITIL v3 Certification or experience. I advised I was on a Telecom project for 14 months in 2012 and learned a-lot but carried no certification in either Project Plus or ITIL v3. I did advised I had a-lot of Telecommunication experience which they liked as well as I was pursuing CCNA certification.

After the Interview , I asked some of my Telecommunication co-workers/friends if they were ever asked by their company/Boss to get Project Plus or ITIL v3 certified. Most of my co-workers did not know that either of these certifications existed and I was a-little taken a back by this. I know Project Plus is more project orientated and ITILv3 is more Project/Technical based but I was looking for feedback from anyone who is Project Plus or ITIL3 certification/Experanice and weather it helped them progress in their company.
My Company is not pushing these certifications but they are pushing Technical People to get Cisco CCNA or Alcatel-Lucent certified.

tmtex

ITIL is HUGE. Many entry level Desktop jobs require it

ITSpectre

It depends on if the job requires it. Most some jobs do, others do not. Check the descriptions of job postings.... What job are you trying to get??? If you are dealing with Networking and communications, servers etc... then its really not needed. ITIL is more of a Help Desk cert, and Project+ is more of a intro to project management and the PMP certification.

beads

There is a myriad of levels concerning ITIL. The first or introductory cert usually takes about 15-20 minutes to complete if your hungover and likely what your boss is thinking. This ranges up to some pretty serious knowledge and thinking, class time and serious effort to master requiring years of practice. Much like Six-Sigma black belt.

Project+ is entry level and may be worthwhile if you plan to eventually move into project management or "PM" work. Technical people rejoice in taunting and torturing non-technical PMs, btw.

I am the PM nemesis and I am a PMP to boot.

- b/eads

mgmguy1

My old Boss on the Telecom project in 2012 was a PMP. Smart as hell and good guy. When the project ended he told me I had a knack for cleaning up messes and suggested I take Project Plus course and an Microsoft office course and spend a year or two doing some other Telecom Project type jobs.
I was more interested in becoming a Network Engineer at the time so I did not pursue it. ITSpectre asked what type of job I was looking for. At the moment I'm looking to do Junior Network Admin or Junior Network Operations type jobs. But this recent interview got me thinking about knocking out Project Plus or ITIL after I get my CCNA. ? Like I said I was looking for feedback. Thanks to those who provided feedback.

OctalDump

Soft skills are often ignored, but can make a big difference to success in a role. Being able to put the technical skills in a proper business context eg if we deploy this technology, it means that these people will be able to do this or those people can do y faster and that means more productive staff, is key to getting stuff done and getting your value recognised. Once you can basically say "I am making/saving you x dollars", management knows that what you are doing is worthwhile and might just be able to find the money to reward that value you bring.

Project+ and ITIL Foundation are the beginning steps for this, just as CCNA is for networking technical skills. As you progress, you can do your Prince2 or CAPM, and then onto PMP, Six Sigma etc. You can take the ITIL intermediate certifications, and start organising your part of IT. You can move onto Project Manager or Service Manager roles. One very good thing about those roles is that you can get off the treadmill of constantly updating technical skills. The core skills for those roles last a lot longer.

Even if you decide to stay in the technical world, being able to talk to the business is still very valuable. Being able to manage and organise your work in the business context will keep you valued.

Or you can combine these two worlds of high level skills and become an architect.

stryder144

ITIL Foundation is an introductory certification that deals with the service lifecycle (in 5 phases...like an orchestral work). It is a non-technical, management-type certification. I am not certain why it is often required at the lower levels but it is.

Project+ is supposed to be aligned with the PMI view of project management, though I haven't started studying it yet so I don't have any deep insights into it. I rarely see it required or requested, whereas the CAPM (lower entry point compared to the PMP) is often asked for if you don't have the PMP.

Ultimately, either certification will be viewed as a useful addition to more "marketable" certifications like the CCNA. If time and money were an issue, I would focus on the ITIL Foundation exam as most people can easily study for it and pass the exam with relative ease. If you have taken either an approved PMP course or have at least one college course covering project management, you should be able to fulfill the CAPM requirements. Seeing as more organizations are familiar with CAPM/PMP, you might find going the CAPM route preferable to Project+.

OctalDump

stryder144 wrote: »

ITIL Foundation is an introductory certification that deals with the service lifecycle (in 5 phases...like an orchestral work). It is a non-technical, management-type certification. I am not certain why it is often required at the lower levels but it is.

ITIL Foundation is exactly that: a foundation certificate. If the organisation is using ITIL practices, it makes a lot of sense for everyone to have a basic understanding of what they are.

As I said, these soft skills are too often ignored. I've come across too many IT people who don't seem to grasp that they are there to provide a value to the organisation and not just to solve technical problems or play with cool tech. ITIL can provide some of that context.

If you can articulate how what you are doing right now (adding code, restructuring a database, migrating from Win 2k3 to 2012, replacing a switch, helping a staff member get access to a website, whatever) actually benefits the business, how it relates to the tactical and strategic aims of the organisation, then you can articulate your value to the business. Sounds like that could be handy if you want a job/raise/promotion, or if you just need to understand what it is you are actually doing.

coolkevin

I enjoyed the ITIL cert. I work in a nearly pure ITIL environment for the world's largest software company, and it was great to understand the IT as a Service approach. That said, it's not very difficult, and I wouldn't expect an employer to be using this as a significant qualifier for a job.

Regarding the Project +, I don't see any employers asking for it. If you want to be a PM, get the PMP, unless you have a fed job where they recognize it on a list somewhere.

OctalDump

coolkevin wrote: »

Regarding the Project +, I don't see any employers asking for it. If you want to be a PM, get the PMP, unless you have a fed job where they recognize it on a list somewhere.

The problem is that you can't just get the PMP. You need significant project management experience. Which means you need to learn something about project management long before you start the PMP. Project+ is a good first step for this. It's not so much about getting the certification for HR filters, it's about getting an understanding of the subject and being able to point to some 'proof' of understanding in a job interview/promotion/raise situation.

Project+ is a reasonable first step for someone eventually wanting to get PMP, since it is broadly still PMBOK style stuff.

After Project+, CAPM is a good next step for the path to PMP. It's offered by the same people, PMI, and has a similar experience/education requirement.

However, if you are working in IT Project Management, you should broaden your horizons beyond PMBOK. There's a lot more out there, and some of it plays a lot better with contemporary IT practice.

ItsmHarun

ITIL V3 certifications are most useful to managers and leadership.

DatabaseHead

You may never run across an interview again where project + is brought up. I would forget you ever heard that, ITIL on the other hand still has some value. I would however stick with the CCNA and not look back. You won't regret it. The other two are pure fluff and nothing but distractions.

OctalDump

DatabaseHead wrote: »

You may never run across an interview again where project + is brought up.

But you will probably run across a lot of interviews where project management is mentioned. People get caught up in the certification title and forget that it actually represents skills and knowledge. Project+ (whether you sit the exam or just study the materials) is a good introduction to PMBOK type project management.

AND you are allowed to bring up anything you like in an interview. Mentioning that you have some project management knowledge, or that you have Project+, is very unlikely to count against you.

DatabaseHead

Project management is put on a pedestal it's actually quite ridiculous. Staying proactive, communicating and tracking project status is all you really need to know on the majority of PM jobs. Some of the higher level PM jobs require budgeting and forecasting skills, those are only useful if obtained from real world experience.

"My Company is not pushing these certifications but they are pushing Technical People to get Cisco CCNA or Alcatel-Lucent certified".

Block out the noise, you have your path now follow.....

joemc3

Most of the jobs I am going for require high level knowledge of Project Management. The PM jobs that pay you 120k...require you to use all tools and techniques. Very large projects require a great PM. You can't go wrong with networking, everything is connected or not...it's a great field.

Triggerious

ITIL, even the foundations, is great for any sort of place that has metrics on all levels. Knowing how your role fits into the big picture always helps. It can sometimes define roles, and in some cases, create roles. My helpdesk techs and systems admins get value from it's principles because that's how we're setup as an enterprise.

mgmguy1

It appears there are some strong emotion/feelings on this subject. I would like to thank everyone who has commented on this thread/post thus far.I do enjoy reading your differing and contrasting opinions. The feedback has been great and I have gained a new perspective in regards to both ITIL and Project plus certifications. In addition I have shared this thread with some of my co-workers to try to educate them on maybe trying to push the ball in their lives forward in regards to there current jobs. I may tackle one of these certifications in the future and if I do I will post my questions in the correct form. Thanks again all.