George J. Sawyer III

The long awaited COBIT 5 framework is now in the wild has passed 66,000 downloads since it went public on 10 April. ISACA, not your typical stodgy old governance association, has put out a slick little infographic to help us see why governance (and specifically COBIT) is essential in today’s enterprise.

The COBIT 5 framework can be downloaded here.

Download (PDF, Unknown)

The year 2012 may be the end of the world but it seems like Cloud certifications are just beginning. For those seeking proof of their abilities or employers looking for ways to validate employee skills the new certifications will become essential. Let’s face it, systems administrators who can handle a Windows Server are a dime-a-dozen. Those who can help a company migrate to the cloud (and prove they can) are in high demand. If you’ve ever put an experienced Windows admin on an EC2 platform you know there is a surprisingly steep learning curve. So what credentials exist to validate cloud capabilities? Right now there are several and in 2012 we can be assured the number will grow exponentially.

The available credentials can be categorized into a few buckets. The two biggest buckets will be in the conceptual vs the practical categories. Conceptual credentials will validate a candidate’s ability to plan and advise on a Cloud implementation. Practical credentials demonstrate an ability to actually set up and run the servers and services. Microsoft certifications typically fall into this bucket. Add the System Center 2012 exams to your Server Admin MCITP and you have Microsoft’s Private Cloud Certification. Microsoft’s System Center exams are currently in beta but should be available to the public shortly. You could even be the first kid on the block with your shiny new cred.

Falling more into the conceptual bucket are the certifications from the new Cloud Credentials Council. CompTIA and ITpreneurs have launched a pair of certifications aimed at those who have to understand the Public Cloud at a governance and business level. These two vendor-neutral certifications, Cloud Essentials and Virtualization Essentials, provide a solid foundation in core concepts of the Cloud as a business concept.

If you are a server administrator or a IT project manager you will eventually be involved in a cloud migration project and certifications are available to help you prepare and land the next job. The Cloud is here to stay and will be touching every level of business. In an increasingly tight job market those without the credentials are simply unlikely to make the first cut.

Disclaimer: Sawyer Training is a partner with ITpreneurs and occasionally provided with cool swag by Microsoft for blogging. 

Cloud Essentials is a new certification from CompTIA (CLO-001) focused on helping business and IT decision makers understand cloud IT services. The objectives for the exam are solid and the 2-day course fills a significant gap. These are actually topics I’ve been lecturing on for several years so I’m happy to see them put together in a certification exam. This review, however, is strictly on the textbook Cloud Essentials (ISBN 1424619416) published in 2012 by ElementK.

This book is, unfortunately, the only text published for this exam so far. ElementK hardly has a reputation among instructors for great teaching material. They are expensive, poorly written, lacking inspiration, and often full of errors. Cloud Essentials lives up to the ElementK standard. Typos and examples of poor grammar abound. Granted, all of us struggle grammatically with “the cloud” (or is it “the Cloud”) but, as a textbook publisher ElementK really needs to set, or adopt, some standards. In no estimation is a sentence like “…for all services and applications that will use cloud” correct (p. 129). There are cloud services, cloud infrastructure, cloud providers, and the cloud but not simply …cloud…”

Lesson 5 discusses successful steps to cloud adoption which aligns with domain 4.0 of the objectives. What I would love to see here is a checklist. Some type of guide that participants can take back to their organizations and start the process. The objectives discuss roles and capabilities of vendors, skills required in an organization, success factors, approaches for migrating applications, selection criteria for a pilot, etc. Lesson 5 presents anything but a checklist. After several readings I’m left wondering what the author was getting at and where they got their information. On page 121, discussing migrating applications to the cloud (domain 4.4), the author talks about “Patterns of Cloud Migration” including application re-hosting, service facade, re-host and optimize, and re-architect. Now I’ve been teaching IT a long time and I find the section unintelligible and struggled to place the concepts in context. In fact, it is the right terminology and it does cover domain 4.4 but the book just doesn’t explain how. For a little better explanation see Wilkes’ 2011 paper on “Application Migration Patterns for the Service Oriented Cloud“. Wilkes abstract places this domain in the context we need “As well as deploying new applications to the cloud, many organizations will also be considering the opportunities to migrate current applications to the cloud… The patterns can also be seen as a sequence of activities, through which the current application is gradually modernized” Not, as ElementK tries to explain “The cloud infrastructure can be hosted in four different patterns”

Like many ElementK texts this one is anonymous so we have no idea the credentials or skill-level of the author. Unlike textbooks on topics such as Word or Photoshop, this book talks about standards and practices. Not even ITIL in Lesson 6 is referenced further than a link to www.itil-officialsite.com. The objectives state that the audience is “consultants, business and IT management, analysts.” Now, are these folks supposed to return to their decision makers and defend their assertions with “well ElementK said so”? Of all the ElementK books this is the one that needs a bibliography. How about some footnotes as well. Unless, of course, this author invented the patterns of application migration as well as everything else in this book?

This book may, indeed, provide the bare minimum of terminology and rote memorization needed to pass the exam. Beyond that I can’t imagine it has any usefulness to a working professional. Students will not have any usable process to follow when they return to work, nor will they have any idea where to look for more information. As an instructor I absolutely hate having to apologize and compensate for a textbook. This one requires both in every chapter for a 2-day course. Perhaps the book’s exceptional ancillary materials will compensate. Oh, wait, I didn’t mention it comes with crossword puzzles?

Disclaimer: I am reading an electronic promo copy provided by ElementK.

Microsoft teamed up last year with Certiport to introduce a new layer in their exam stack. The Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) is part of a growing class of certifications aimed squarely at the high school market but are increasingly used at the college level. Others in this class include:

• Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) which sits just below the coveted Adobe Certified Expert (ACE)
• the new Accredited Technical Associate (ATA) from HP
• Strata exam from CompTIA sitting just below the A+
• QuickBooks Certified User (QBCU) which is below the QuickBook Pro-Advisor credentials

The MTA was designed in several flavors including Software Development, IT Pro (Server Administration), and Database. More on the individual exams in each path are available on the Certiport website.

Since we are one of only two MTA testing centers in the state I’ve gotten many calls from college students recently who want to take the exams. While Certiport is marketing this exam heavily at the higher-education market I question that move. The MTA seems much more appropriate at the high school level and serves a vital role at the entry level. The value of such a beginning-level certification for a graduating systems administrator seems questionable. At a price tag of $47/exam plus proctoring fees the money would most likely be better spent on CISSP or ITIL. I do whole-heartedly endorse the MTA at the high-school level and even as a screening tool before acceptance to a college-level program.

That said, there is a balancing game when it comes to certifications for the job hunt. Certifications, like school, take time and money. There is sometimes a pay-off and sometimes not. In a tight job market with hundreds of applicants per position a candidate needs something to set them apart and bring them to the top of the HR stack. Certifications can get you through the first HR cut which is most often done through a simple key-word scan of your resume. However, if the certification you hold isn’t recognized by the scan it really doesn’t do you any good.

Bottom line is plan your certifications carefully to make the best use of your time and money. Sit for the highest certification level you think you can pass. Work up from there and collect certifications that augment your skills and show you have both a deep and a broad knowledge base. Take advantage of informational interviews with professionals in your field as well as HR hiring managers to learn what certifications are in demand. Remember, certifications and degrees are never a substitute for documented hands-on experience.

Disclaimer: I hold the MTA in Database Administration Fundamentals and STI is a Certiport Authorized Testing Center delivering the MTA exam.

Download (PDF, Unknown)

A new contender is taking the on-line meeting field currently dominated by GoToMeeting and Cisco’s Webex. I, personally, have used them all to lead on-line training events and I’ve had a Webex account for over a decade. Fresh out of Beta, MeetingBurner is a full-featured, relatively mature service. The expected feature list is there with registration, a dial-in number plus VoIP and good Skype integration, video, screen sharing, ability to switch presenters, recording, chat, mobile, and a simple “meeting temperature” gauge.

A small Java download is required to share your screen. The screen sharing dialog stays on top and provides a preview of what the participants see. An option is available to freeze the sharing if you accidentally navigate away from the screen you intended to share. A handy feature.

Security seems to be as we would expect. There is an instant meeting option that has a simple URL allowing anyone to join. The scheduled meetings allow the host to create a password and a unique URL is generated. The registration page is simple and clean. Participants don’t need to download anything special (but Flash is required).

MeetingBurner is certainly a challenger and from the way it looks fresh out of beta it is a product to keep an eye on. I’m looking forward to battle-testing this one and seeing where it is in a year. In particular, I’ll be looking for polls and white boards soon. At a starting price of free (15 participants) and a Pro version (50 participants) at $39.95/mo. it’s priced right for the small shop and the solopreneur.

Disclaimer: I received a free lifetime Pro account as part of the beta.