Hi Guys,

I am an application specialist from a s/w house with 5 years experience. Do I qualify to take the CISA exam? What are the steps I should take?

Heard from you guys it's well paid. But how 'well' is it?

not necessary to work as IT Auditor once you have CISA ...
If you want to work in overseas, CISA is just a entry level ... don't compare with Malaysia ...

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since two of you have different views about CISA ... let me give a brief explanation in real world situation ...

In Malaysia, CISA is a pre-requisite certification to apply job in IT Management, IT Security, IT Auditing in Financial Industry ie. Banks, Securities and Insurance ... you can see it in Jobs Section in newspaper.

However over the years, CISA is becoming entry evel as there are many other IT certifications carry more weight ie. CISM, CISSP, ISO17799 Lead Auditor, SOX Auditor.

So to work in Big4, CISA is still carry weight but not as much as CISM, CISSP, etc. As a fresh IT Auditor, big4 pay RM3k is already higher than other industries. With CISM or CISSP, I believe you can get RM5k with 2-3 years experience.

To work in overseas, CISA is just a basic requirement because the standard is different. You need at least CISSP or ITIL to secure the job. Still paper qualification not play the important role during interviewing process.

If you said CISA is a damn certificate, then I doubt you can even maintain CPE points in 3 years.

My advice, there are few highly demanded IT certifications in the market ... some employers willing to you up to RM80k per month. I doubt you know anything about it.

I have many IT certifications yet I never criticize their value.