You're considering IT Operations Management certification. What will you gain from it?

ITIL took it's time to really filter down through many companies and so openness and understanding begins around the subdisciplines like ITOM. Learning multiple frameworks like ITIL and COBIT can reinforce this understanding.

Potential employers often face the difficulty of ascertaining applicants abilities, knowledge, experience, etc. and when faced with the dilemma of selecting candidates from a long list of applicants, they usually look out for those who have that have validated their expertise with having relevant industry recognized certifications e.g. ITIL, CISSP, etc

In addition to improving skills such as service strategy, design, transition, operation, etc. it is also important to enhance your soft skills like effective communication and collaboration, effective leadership, emotional intelligence, decision making, conflict resolution, team building, etc. By honing these soft skills you better position yourself to deliver more value to your organization

Alignment of business key objectives and that of the IT pipeline work hand in hand to achieve success for both. Better understanding by all that ITOM touches aligns for better collaboration and pushes for further innovation. Thus a better service experience by all that consume it.

As is the case in any working role, networking (people) is key and as important as certification or right skillset. Any advice I'd give is start lightly with forums such as those on LinkedIn and perhaps move onto local conferences/exhibitions that bring likeminded individuals together. Individually we can be strong but collectively the sky is the limit

As well as getting access to other resources, by networking and highlighting your skills may open up opportunities to collaborate on projects with others. Make sure you also look for opportunities to contribute to your network, as well as benefit from it. This may start with simply providing your opinion on topics and subjects, then grow into opportunities to talk to others, or even be part of a panel or present at conferences. While certification can be a good first step, it should be considered just that, a first step. It is then up to you to use that to continue to expand and grow beyond that.

Technology is a constantly moving target, with new concepts and approaches coming out frequently. By investing in certification programs, especially ones that do require renewal on some sort of schedule, helps keep your knowledge current. This can be a good confidence boot to you, as it validates that you are able to keep up with the changes, and not going astray. It is very easy for organizations to start falling behind in technology. They reach a point where they feel everything works, and then stop investing and upgrading. This then causes the organization, and the people managing the IT operations, to get into a rut and not develop as they should.

I think people need to understand the value, and limitations, of certifications. I do not feel that they help that much in landing you a job interview; there is an assumption that you would have the skills required before applying for the job. Where I feel they do help is once you get that interview. Firstly, as they can help streamline the interview process – no need to ask as many questions about ITOM if you have a certificate. This can free up time to dig deeper into other areas and highlight other strengths. Another benefit is showing that you support life-long learning. Technology is always changing and showing that you invest in yourself to continue to learn, expand, and keep up with changes is an important trait to hiring managers.