Reply to: Broken promises...

[chris79]

How hard was the exam?

I did the v2, after the 2 day class. I got the impression you had to take the class.

Found the exam laughable. I reckon anyone sensible could have passed without even reading an ITIL book.

Exam was pretty straight forward.. I'd say anyone who's worked in an ITIL setup previously will find it far easier as they can relate practice to theory.. certainly no harder than PRINCE2 etc..

What gets me though is if you did v2 you could do just a foundation then practitioner course and be "ITIL practitioner" (just like PRINCE2)... now in v3 they've split up the practitioner levels into 10 different modules which you can only get by doing an accredited training course (i.e. no self study)... just roughly that's like £10k+ worth of training if you did them all..

What also gets me is the lack of understanding the clients have with ITIL.. they ask for someone "ITIL certified"... but never seem to state what level, or what speciality (v3 etc)... so it seems good enough to get foundation then go "Yep, I'm ITIL certified"...

[RichardCranium]

How hard was the exam?

I did the v2, after the 2 day class. I got the impression you had to take the class.

Found the exam laughable. I reckon anyone sensible could have passed without even reading an ITIL book.

I passed the ITIL v2 Foundation by Thomson Prometric after reading up using just Wikipedia and the links from there. I found it quite straightforward, mostly. There are the ITIL-specific jargon terms which need learning but the rest is easy.

(I did it so I could enrol on a capacity planning course which was then cancelled forever as ITIL v3 was announced.)

[DieScum]

How hard was the exam?

I did the v2, after the 2 day class. I got the impression you had to take the class.

Found the exam laughable. I reckon anyone sensible could have passed without even reading an ITIL book.

[Opportunity Knox]

There are some good guys out there as far as agencies go but it does piss me off when they aren't straight down the line. To some extent I don't even mind the probing because at the end of the day if I give them the odd name here and there it's in their interest to call me when something comes up and so long as I keep a good rep I guess I'm gonna be in with a chance.

[chris79]

This is the book I used.. would recommend it if you want to self study.. took me about 3-4 hours to read the whole book + test questions.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ITIL-Foundat...0072390&sr=8-3

/edit/

Got a few people message me asking where to book the exam - just go to www.prometric.com and find your local test centre, it costs £100 and you can either do it through EXIN or ISEB.

[Peter Loew]

Yeah I don't mind saying - it was ITIL v3.. bought some self study book for £50 on amazon and paid £100 for the exam. I don't see the point paying £600+ for a 2 day course where all they do is read the book to you.

I've worked in ITIL environments previously so I guess that helped, basic stuff I know but it was on the clients wish-list.. will no doubt be handy for future applications too I guess. Apparently now it's not enough to just put "worked in an ITIL environment" as part of your CV.

Cool, just what I'm thinking of doing next too.

[chris79]

Yeah I don't mind saying - it was ITIL v3.. bought some self study book for £50 on amazon and paid £100 for the exam. I don't see the point paying £600+ for a 2 day course where all they do is read the book to you.

I've worked in ITIL environments previously so I guess that helped, basic stuff I know but it was on the clients wish-list.. will no doubt be handy for future applications too I guess. Apparently now it's not enough to just put "worked in an ITIL environment" as part of your CV.

[Peter Loew]

Chris you're a PM right, interested to know what was the cert? PM me if you don't wanna say on the boards..

[chris79]

Why didn't you just say "yes I've got the cert", then quickly take the exam?

3 reasons:-

1. The agency in question I've had a good relationship with and don't want to cause any doubts in their mind about my character (in the event I couldn't obtain the cert for instance and had been untruthful).

2. I refuse to lie about anything on my CV.

3. The agreed course of action seemed acceptable, they keep me a slot on the basis I get certified by Monday, etc..

Just a pity the new contact I have at this agency has proven to be a different caliber to my previous one.

No point in getting angry with her and spelling out my annoyance, it would only penalize myself further down the line for when the next gig comes up... then again I may now consider my options with which agency I use, works both ways I guess.

[NotAllThere]

Why didn't you just say "yes I've got the cert", then quickly take the exam?

[chris79]

That wasn't made clear from your post. If they told you to go away and get certified then come back then your probably right to be a bit narked.

But then, if an agent told me to go away and get a cert, I'd be telling them to get to fook...

Basically the conversation last week was:-

<Agent> "Hi, just calling up about a role we have with one of our major clients, my ex-colleague ***** who has now left recommended you to me. Your CV is fine but in order to submit your CV on this role the client only wants to see CV's with this certification, otherwise they will be asking why we have sent your CV over..".

<Me> "That's fine, I can book the exam online now, it's something I was planning to get soon anyway, I'll have it by Monday (if all goes well)"

<Agent> "Let me check to see if we can hold off until Monday... (30 sec wait)... yep that's fine, we can still get yours over on Monday.. fingers crossed for the exam, good luck".

<Me> "Great, I'll call you on Monday and let you know the results as soon as I know"...


Monday comes, certificate obtained...

<Me> "Hi, I've passed the exam and my new updated CV is now emailed to you".

<Agent> "Right, well I have to be honest about the situation here, we've exceeded our quota, let me check with my Manager and see what we can do (30 sec wait..)... yep, basically we can send yours over but only if they reject any of the current ones we've sent".

<Me> "Ok no problem, just get in touch if anything comes up"...

[ratewhore]

Yeah I totally accept it's BAU - just amazed that an agent can stoop as low as suggesting you get a cert on your CV to be put forward...

That wasn't made clear from your post. If they told you to go away and get certified then come back then your probably right to be a bit narked.

But then, if an agent told me to go away and get a cert, I'd be telling them to get to fook...

[nomadd]

Whilst I'd like to secure a contract I'm not in the game to enter bidding wars with other people disparate enough to work for free..

Something else will come up - it always does.

Bingo. Nail. On. Head. And you've the right attitude to go with it.

I too would rather do other things outside of IT than work for free (or almost free.) When I consider the stress and grief that normally goes with most IT projects, it makes me even happier to turn stuff down if the rate is poor. Oh, and there's the large chance these days that the client is actually paying a decent rate, but the agent is creaming off much of the profit. Again, I'd rather be at home making both myself and agents suffer, than work to make them rich and me poor.

EDIT: Here's a good example: http://www.jobserve.com/WD3D752B3F1C7872C.jsjob
Most London Banking roles are paying £500-650. And yet this guy offers £250 "initially" - i.e. until you get on-site and find that you are being raped compared to the other contractors who came in via a different agent.

Nomadd

[chris79]

What you described is BAU in the contracting world. Get used to it...

Yeah I totally accept it's BAU - just amazed that an agent can stoop as low as suggesting you get a cert on your CV to be put forward effectively putting you through the process of jumping through a hoop, then pulling the rug from under your feet at the finish line.

Nothing really surprises me these days I guess, there's no friends in business I know..

Another thing which crossed my mind last night was the fact that I'd seen the job advertised at nearly £100 more by Agency B, so when I mailed back in my CV with my requested rate it's probably clear that their other candidates were a more lucrative gamble for them.. probably the root reason for the 'quota full' response. Whilst I'd like to secure a contract I'm not in the game to enter bidding wars with other people disparate enough to work for free..

Something else will come up - it always does.

[ratewhore]

What you described is BAU in the contracting world. Get used to it...