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  • Blog
  • Professional development

Author  Dmitriy Kolesnikov – IT service delivery manager

June 25, 2020 |

 3 min read

  • Blog
  • Professional development

Dmitriy Kolesnikov recently certified in the ITIL® 4 Strategist Direct, Plan and Improve (DPI) module after attending an online training course. He’s a long-time advocate of virtual training and believes more practitioners and their employers could benefit from it.

Taking virtual training courses is a great opportunity to expand knowledge while working from home – and without long trips or huge expenses.

I started using online learning approaches in the past two years and it involved spending 30 minutes of studying ITIL and PRINCE2®: during lunchtimes at work.

Living in Kazakhstan at the time, it was a problem to find the classroom courses I wanted. This meant lots of waiting for a course to be available, co-ordinating schedules, getting my boss’ approval and then flying to another city.

This was quite difficult to do and I needed to develop world-class knowledge and certification to re-locate to the USA and advance my career there. So, this led me to online training.

Moving your learning online

There are so many courses you can take online – anytime, anywhere – and it’s a good way to choose training providers and learning platforms before you buy.

You can also select the trainer that’s right for you – someone with the right experience for what you need and who you can understand, even in a foreign language.

At first, it can be a challenge to communicate with an online trainer and other candidates compared to the classroom environment. However, you soon start using the available communications tools such as online chat and forums.

Also, you benefit from being able to refer to the training materials whenever you need them. If there’s something you don’t understand in a training session, you can always watch the video or read the information again.

When I’d finished the latest ITIL 4 Strategist DPI course, I started preparing for the exam by taking practice exams on the training platform. It was possible to take up to three practice exams which tested my skills and showed which materials I needed to read again.

Absorbing and applying the knowledge

The ITIL 4 course has allowed me to formalize the knowledge I already had and build on it.

Having the information delivered by professional trainers helps you to understand that the approaches are right.

Then, I’ve also been using materials available through the My ITIL subscription – including the ITIL 4 practices – this is taking my knowledge to the next level.

This period of Covid-19 lockdown is clearly very hard for everyone. However, staying at home can also be an opportunity to study new best practices and even change your career path.

Doing it online, as I have found out, is a great option: more accessible and very beneficial.