Friday, February 6, 2009

Certifications..

Certifications :- My Views ..

Only the Paranoid Survive. is a Book by Andrew Grove - CEO - Intel.

Though i have not read the Book, the title by Itself has been a Highly Motivating force for my drive.

Constant upgradation is the Key to remain Fit in today's times.
I believe in constant Upgradation of
1. Self - Mind & Spirit
2. Professional Skills
3. People-Relations
4. Health


On Professional Skills, below are the Key Certifications achieved.

  1. Stanford Advanced Project Management ( 3 Exams of 6. Target completion by 2009) (3) (This is was completely Inspired by My Life Long Mentor Sanjay Shah. Though i do not listen to his advice at times, but he has been definitely a key Role Model for my success)
  2. TOGAF (1) (Thanks to My Mentor Saji for inducing me to this field)
  3. PMP (1) (Credit for Motivation goes to Vivek Mehta, who was the first in SI West to attempt it, and our Friendly Race, for which i had to do it.)
  4. PRINCE2–Practitioner (2)
  5. CISA (1) ( Tons of thanks to Mitesh Sanghai, who is also one of my Inspirations. Who being from Sales attempted the Exam.)
  6. Sun SCFE (5) (This was THE Tipping Point in my Career. Having become "The Expert" in Domino, i actually started to think like a "Frog-in-the-Well", and never looked beyond Lotus Domino. Sanjay Shah actually made me Stop Doing any more projects on Domino (Which i resisted with all my might at that time, but thankfully i lost). Then he gave the toughest Task of Making me learn Solaris to Anshuman Rai, Santosh Shukla and Nassar R. Thanks to these good peoples Patience, i finally managed to learn some decent bit of Sun-Solaris OS.
  7. Hitachi Modular Storage (1)
  8. Brocade BCFP -2g, BCFP-4g, BCSD-4g (3) (Remember the Men in Black-III, Our key SI Consultants slogged it on Saturdays, to Prepare each other for the BCSD 4g Exam. Ali, Ashish, Kiran, Prasant and Me)
  9. ITIL–Foundation (1) (This one was literally forced upon me, because my Boss did not wanted to attend the training ;-)
  10. Veritas Foundation Suite (1) (At this point i wanted to Give up any more Certifications. But my Friend Henry Solomon, who was a Program Manager, decided to take up a full fledged IT course at Karrox. He started to study Cisco, Sun, Microsoft - All by His own Funds. That was the Deciding point, i thought this Man must have great Guts, spending his own Time and money on Things he may never use Directly in his Life. That's when i decided no matter what, i will constantly keep upgrading myself by own atleast. Thanks Henry..)
  11. IBM – AIX – System Admin-V5 (1)
  12. IBM – AS/400 – System Operator (1) ( Operator !!! . My then boss Anshuman Rai did not like the Title of the exam, and made good fun of me..)
  13. Lotus Domino (Was in the Worlds top 52 People at that time to have a Dual PCLP-R5 Title. (R5-PCLP-SA, R5-PCLP-AD, R6-PCLP-SA, R6-PCLP-AD (11). I was really on top of the World after the exams, and literally Mass-Mailed Tons of People to Proclaim the Achievement. Hope they forgive me for the Spams...(Ajit Sankaran, was the key motivator, who never had a doubt that i will clear the first 4 exams. He never thought that it is a difficult feat to achieve, which made me feel if he thinks i can do it, then i should be able to)
  14. MCSE (Windows NT – 6 Exams. Many Thanks to My Mentor & Friend Ashok Pandey for being an inspiration) (6)
  15. CBCP & BCM – Business Continuity (2)
  16. ISO 9001-2000 Internal Auditor (1)
  17. Brain Bench (2 Exams–Domino SA) (2) ( I remember one of the Exam i completed at Night on Internet at Exactly 0100 hrs, on 1st Jan, 2001. Yes it was waiting for One of the Night Out Activity on Domino which was to happen at 0300 hrs - HBL)

In all the Number of Exams given to achieve the above Professional titles is 43 Exams. Target number of Professional Exams till 2012 is 56 (56 because Sachin Sawant feels i can do it.).

Miscellaneous

  1. Toyota Lean. TPS.
  2. IIM Ahmedabad. Strategic Outsourcing.
  3. Key Workshops(Training & Certificates) – (Dale Carnegie – Human Interaction, Presentation Skills, Sales Advantage. Covey 7 Habits.)
  4. EMBA from SPJain
  5. GMAT – 690 (In fact my Wife Punam will not let me sit in peace till i get atleast 740). I would strongly suggest every one to attempt GMAT Once in Life. Not for the MBA Entrance, but to polish the skills for Reading & Analysing Long RFP's, CR: Critical Reasoning & QT : Sharpening of Mind to solve life Problems via alternate efficient means.
  6. IELTS 7.5/9 (Oye Ajit....Beat you by 0.5) . This Exam was done on the Same Day i had to leave for UK Thames Water Project. The Objective was to ensure that i am able to communicate well with the British Team.

On the Health part, i have been highly Inspired by my Wife, who Exercises Daily, and takes Part in Stanchart Mumbai Marathon.

We both Completed the 21 KM in Jan 09. (i did it in 3Hr 45 Min, She clocked 3.30 Hrs. My Target next year is for 3 Hrs.)

---Updated April 2010..

Have decided to shift focus from IT to Technology. Will work on Self Certifications in the filed of Human Relations, Microfinance, Business, Entrepreneurship, Social Enterprises. More on that in upcoming Blogs.

3 comments:

  1. Wow! what an incredible journey of learning!
    I am proud of you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Khannaji, What to say about you? I am speechless..Your are the GREAT!!! Khannaji is being a great source of inspiration. All the best mate!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well... frankly I am not surprised... knowing you, its just a matter of time....
    I feel good that I am associated with you.

    Keep us Proud BOY!!!

    ReplyDelete