Project Management Professionals speak up, please.

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

Post #2 in Tomcat’s search for self-improvement, the first one covering MBA’s can be found here.

So, anyone a PMP? www.pmi.org will explain more about this than I shall even try.

I stumbled across this certification by accident, but am intrigued. I easily have the 4,500 hours needed (I’ve been the project boy for the last 6 years: countless new reporting projects, 1 department, 1 website, 1 new corporation and 1 new hedge fund start-up) and am thinking of getting my MBA, so I assume most of the educational req’s will be met in the next year. Plus they teach a few courses during their annual meeting, which will be here in Prague next year. Then I’ll have to take the test.

I’ve gotten a few books on Project Management (Idiot’s and Fast-Forward) plus I plan on signing up to the pmi.org site and get their project manual. Anyone recommend any other books on the subject?

How has this cert helped you (or someone you know)? How difficult was it for you to get? What was the test like?

I don’t know much about the official way Project Management is handled, but I like what I’ve read. I love taking big-picture things and breaking them down into mini-goals or projects. When I read the books on it I constantly go “Yep, that’s makes sense.” “Wow, why didn’t I do that for the XYZ project?”

If I follow my current plan I’ll be an MBA, PMP with 7 year’s international financial experience by Jan. 2005. I’m thinking that that will be a good thing. Any thoughts?

-Tcat

#2

Tom,

While I don’t do Project Managment myself, when I was looking for some techniques to help us here at work, I came across this site. It has some great articles, and good resources for books, and other sites. Good luck.

#3

Cool, thanks.

-Tcat

#4

I have the equivalent of a Master’s certificate in Project Management from my company’s internal education. I don’t have as much experience, so I will be starting with the CAPM (a new, entry-level version of the PMP). The various instructors I had always spent some time talking about the PMP exam. One thing they all emphasized was that the exam is very much looking for you to use their terminology, their acronyms, their formulas, etc. So if you are self-taught or your previous employers had their own ways of doing things, it is not an exam where any right answer will get you credit.

I agree with you that an MBA and PMP will be a good thing to be in a few years. I have another MS degree, but was recently weighing the MBA myself. I currently decided to focus on getting experience rather than another degree, though.

Good luck with your plans! Those sound like really flexible skills that will prepare you to follow your dreams, whatever they may be.

#5

“I currently decided to focus on getting experience rather than another degree, though.”

Smart. At least in my business (marketing/advertising), degrees are great for an entry-level position. Otherwise, experience counts for practically everything.

  • PW
#6

I work as an IT project manager for a small-to-medium corporation. I also formally teach project managment and am certified in a particular methodology. I don’t, however, possess the PMP designation, but I am a PMI member. An increasing number of my peers are indeed earning their PMPs.
The PMP designation is just like other academic credentials–it can open doors and convey something extra, but on a practical daily basis it means a lot less. All of the PMP PMs in our office are mediocre project managers but that’s just my employer.
I will probably prep for the exam within two years–after my young kids get totally immersed in school and social lives and start to ignore me. My frustration with the exam is that you are tested on strictly what the PMI says is important and in reality this is not quite in alignment with just about all the PM practices my work experience has conveyed. So I have to unlearn a few meanings and assumptions. There are zillions of classroom-based and self-paced study courses out there. The official PMI ones meet weekly for a few hours and take several months. The exam is self-administered at a commercial learning center.
I think the designation is great for self-improvement and a career in project management. About the best website for IT-related project management is:

#7

Thanks!

What do you teach Geoduck?

Hey, I might be in Seattle for a few days sometime after Nov.3, I’d buy you a beer or three for talking to me about this…that and I’d also be able to drink a beer or three. I wonder what Scotticher is up to around that time and place…Hhmmm…

-Tcat