ITIL V3 Bridging exam

[riddles]

[UKVIKING]

[riddles]

Thanks for the reply John - I'm following up again (nearly a year later). The potential to upgrade to V3 is expiring June 2010. An online training course offers the training course + exam for £700.
I have the following question - is this a money making skam?
If I upgrade to the ITIL V3 expert essentially I have completed one stage of the V3 syllabus. I assume although it won’t be for a while with only having the bridge to V3 – upgrading to V4 would require double the investment next time round or perhaps complete exam round with the exception of the foundation level.
At the moment as John says V3 is not a requirement of my job as an IT Service Manager – however given the jobs market its not unreasonable to expect I could be job hunting sometime soon.
Is it better to cut loose what seems to be an ongoing investment or is ITIL growing to such an extent that being in Service Management an updated ITIL qualification becomes the norm.

[Timo]

The whole ITIL v3 is a money making scam. Concepts aside, the restructuring of the training, introduction of the credit system smacks money grab to me.

If you understand V3 concepts you don't need to upgrade, unless there is a very specific reason to you. You have the knowledge and you have your Service Manager certification. With time nobody will even bother to make a distinction.

Just my $0.02

[LizGallacher]

I have to disagree. Although I do agree that the new structure was designed a s a money-making exercise by APMG, it has not proved that way - between the mumerous courses people have to sit, and the credit crunch, the Intermediate and aboce courses have flopped spectacularly.
BUT, this opportunity to achieve V3 Expert is worth doing. Rightly or wrongly, emplyers will expect V3 qualifications, and V3 is very different from V2 - all the V2 stuff is still right, but the spread of V3 is much wider.
If you think you will stay in your current job - save your money. If you think you will want to be moving on - go for it

[Timo]

Liz, in my very humble opinion, V3 is a current buzz and will last as long as all new buzzes last. Once V2 is gone for good it will be back to ITIL period... no distinctions between versions.

Yes, some companies might still be putting a V3 requirement in their RFPs while looking for a first kick at the incident management process. Will v3 be better for them than v2? Absolutely not. All the clients i work with wouldn't care or wouldn't know what version of the process they are being helped to developed anyway, and in practice it matters very little, if at all.

[LizGallacher]

I agree and disagree!
For most companies, getting to grips with Incident, Problem, Change, Config and all the other "V2" processes, V3 offers them nothing new, and arguably, v2 qualified people will be better for them, as they will have studied these topics in more depth. I offer V2 training still, and often it is what people need, but they insist on V3, then complain it is too broad and too shallow
For companies trying to get to grips with Transition and Design, or imnplementing a formal CSI program, V3 is useful.
Companies will often just blindly ask for the latest qualification, believing it somehow better. I recently finished a piece of work for a global company that insisted the consultants were all V3 Experts, yet we worked on V2 processes!!
So having V2 only qualifications will hold you back unfairly whilst employers have the commitment to the latest thing but are working on the V2 processes, or , more justifiably, if the work is in the Design/Transition area.

[riddles]

Hi Liz Timo,

thanks both for the responses - I think both offer valid points. I think on this occasion I will save my money.

Thanks,

R

[TomOzITIL_2]

IMHO, hedge your bets and do the certification.

[ChrisD]

I have just completed the Manager's Bridge course and the exam was ghastly.

I thought that I had prepared well and used the 5 'Key Element Guides', the book by Colin Rudd titled 'The Managers Bridge Certificate in IT Service Management - A guide for ITIL V3 Exam Candidates' and the 'Introduction to ITIL V3' as the primary sources for pre-course reading.

I would also like to say that the course material and trainer were also very good. However, the style of questions and the manner in which they were posed made them hard to understand - it was as if they were designed to trip you up!

All the other course delegates had similar views on the exam paper, so the comments here are not just from a jaundiced person looking to make excuses before the results are announced .......

I am increasing inclined to join those that have a view that some aspects of ITIL V3 are a money making scam .... what is the cost of a resit?!!!

[rpmason]

...used the 5 'Key Element Guides', the book by Colin Rudd titled 'The Managers Bridge Certificate in IT Service Management - A guide for ITIL V3 Exam Candidates' and the 'Introduction to ITIL V3' as the primary sources for pre-course reading.

Chris, were any of your sources more helpful than others? I may be sitting it in a few months (sigh).

[ChrisD]

.... were any of your sources more helpful than others? I may be sitting it in a few months (sigh).

Hello Ruth, I found the book by Colin Rudd especially good. The key element guides are an 'easy read' and can easily be carried around with you and very helpful for: train journey's, waiting rooms etc etc. On the basis that 'little and often' is a good strategy the pocket guides are also a worthy investment.

[ChrisD]

Further to my note in June an update ....

I did indeed fail the first exam as did several of my colleagues on the course (even those that had a distinction with their 'Red Badge'!)

Not wishing to be beaten I sat the exam again which, in my view, once again in places was trying to 'trip you up' rather than establish/test your ITIL V3 knowledge.

The second exam may have been easier or I may have been better prepared, not sure which - however very pleased that I had a good pass at the second attempt.

[DYbeach]

I have heard that the bar has been lowered due to the high fail rate

[Timo]

Why would they? Higher failure rate means more people re-taking exams, i.e. paying more. It's like trying to get your drivers license.