Is there an ITIL market?

[owbi]

Hi all ... first post here, so pls be kind.

I am thinking of joining the contractor 'arena' ("Oh no, not another one" .. I hear you all say.).

My question is: As an ITIL V3 Expert, is there much call for ITIL contractor's in the market? I can see from various 'job' sites that there seems to be a lot of work in London .... but as with most 'agencies', how much of these 'positions' actually exist is another matter.

Appreciate all you comments.

Cheers

[cojak]

Hi owbi.

Yes, there is an ITSM Market out there (ITIL is just the framework). But it's a big old area and so it depends on what you do.

Are you operations; do you specialise in Incident Mgt or problem Mgt? Or maybe infrastructure and Capacity Mgt or Availability Mgt?

Or are you a Change Manager or a Release Manager?

Or are you project leaning and specialise in implementing ITSM?

Whatever you do you'll need experience. Just waving an ITIL certificate may get you in, but it won't keep you in contract. I've seen many contractors getting the boot these days when they might have stayed under the radar in the good old days. You need more than books and theory to keep you in contract.

But good luck in your search.

[cojak]

And let's not forget that ITIL V3 is now out-of-date.

ITIL V3 2011 came out on Friday. I'm hoping that my name is still in one of the books but I'll bet it isn't.

Not sure how much of an impact the update is going to have on interviews* in the future but already have plans in-place for CV fluffing...

(*It'll have bugger-all impact on the work...)

[Clippy]

cojak - what's your view of the ITSM market at present?

Just as dire as the market as a whole or better/worse?

[cojak]

Certainly not as bad as the 1st months of 2010 but pretty fragile. I'm getting one call every couple of weeks, but the rates do seem to be holding steady.

I'm expecting my next contract to come via previous bosses though. There's more than one project at the tendering stage and I hope to get on one of those...

[Crusoe101]

There is a market

I am living proof.

Had gigs in London, Leeds, Manchester

[Project Monkey]

.... but as with most 'agencies', how much of these 'positions' actually exist is another matter.

I've heard this said a lot, but don't think I've ever experienced it. It costs agents money to post ads so I doubt they'd do it if no role existed. They might ring you up about phantom roles when its really just a fishing trip for information about you clientco, but don't think they post non existent roles.

[lukemg]

Cost is peanuts, roles are often speculative so CV's are ready when the role gets budget (sometimes it doesn't). They might know of a shortage and need people to approach a new client/get on PSL.
Lots of reasons why jobs don't end up happening. There is an ITIL market but these roles tend to be more perm in nature (you normally need service managers for the long term) as opposed to project managers etc.