I had appeared for CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor) on 11th December, 2010 in Kuwait.
Because of the amount of efforts put in for this examination, I have been anxiously waiting for the results. When I saw the email from ISACA in my inbox.... all I can say is my heartbeats were quite higher than normal... Adrenaline was doing its job. When I saw "PASSED" in the message body... there was a quick change of emotions.... Really felt the switch happening...
Going from Fear, through a mix of emotions to a big smile on my face.... Alhamdulillah (All Praises are for Allah [Glorified be He]).
The exam was difficult and it tested my CISA skills to the extreme. Never prepared so hard for any exam till date... Really felt that Oracle Certifications are piece of cake in front CISA examination. Was tough.... You really need to think like an auditor. It was difficult for me to think from an "Asessing" point-of-view as I have been studying, thinking and doing things from "Doing" point-of-view. Even when I worked on IT Governance and Balance Scorecard in my present company ()using COBIT 4.0), it was from a "Doing" perspective. Only when I was with the IS Auditors, I would try to understand how they do their work.
From a DBA's standpoint, I can see a lot of my work that needs improvement using the knowledge acquired by CISA contents. Personally, I need to audit my own work now, so as to suggest myself in areas of improvement (as observations) or to raise an NCR (Non-Compliance Report) for myself. This should help me self-assess my work and be proactive with preventive actions.
For more information about ISACA and CISA (and also a variety of certifications) please hop into ISACA's website: https://www.isaca.org/Pages/default.aspx
For now, I look forward to certify my CISA soon.
Next in the queue should be CISSP, I think?
"Knowledge is Power"
