ITIL study resources?

January 26, 2013 1:22 PM

I need to start working on ITIL certification for my job but the official books are really expensive! Do you have any books or other resources you would recommend? My first preference is books because I learn best by reading and taking notes. I'm not really interested in the online course and exam bundles because my company will pay for the exam, but if there is an online course that is really good, let me know. After the Foundation certification, I would probably look to work on the Service Lifecycle modules for the Intermediate Level. Are there any good book series that start with Foundation and then continue on?
posted by scarnato to Technology (5 answers total)

Have you looked into whether or not your job will reimburse you for the course materials and testing? It seems odd that your job would require a particular certification, which they hired you without having it, but won't pay for you to get it.
posted by pla at 3:00 PM on January 26, 2013

Response by poster: My company will pay for the testing, and they have run classes in the past, but I have four weeks of maternity leave left and some time to study now. I also prefer to buy my own book in addition to whatever course they buy so that I can keep mine even if I leave the company.

The certification isn't required now but will be if I want to move up. If I can study on my own now and take the test soon, it will look good and I can go straight into the Intermediate level classes the next time they are run.
posted by scarnato at 3:20 PM on January 26, 2013

Do you have any books or other resources you would recommend?

Bittorrent.
posted by mhoye at 6:15 PM on January 26, 2013

I did an ITIL foundation course in December. This was class-based training (a three day course, including the exam). The foundation is very much just about a) remembering what words ITIL uses for things and b) applying very small amounts of common sense. Reading the official books was in no way necessary. Actually, if you work in an organisation that implements the ITIL framework you probably already know enough to pass at the foundation level - I'd recommend searching for some past papers to try out and seeing what kind of mark you'd get before you spend any cash. The ITIL foundation syallabus is also extremely well defined, so there's not likely to be all that much difference between books/courses.

Also, although you can self-study for the Foundation level, ITIL require that you actually attend training for Intermediate and above.

(Personally I found the ITIL Foundation level to be almost absurdly easy in comparison to other foundation level IT qualifications I've done - I was out of the exam room in 15 minutes and ended up dropping just one mark, but YMMV obviously. However, I'd have been annoyed if I'd been paying my own way).
posted by xchmp at 7:02 PM on January 26, 2013

When I did my ITIL cert, thought rock was fairly straightforward.

They test you using a live proctor via webcam, no need to go to a testing center. Price includes the test and some basic (but adequate) online training and sample questions and such.

posted by JackT at 9:50 PM on January 26, 2013 [1 favorite]