Project Management Qualifications

[garymolloy]

Hello All

I'm a qualified Industrial Engineer, B.Eng (Hons) but recently have been thinking about getting some qualifications in project management as a way to progress or at least make my CV look more impressive (since every little helps at the moment).

I'm struggling to find the right route for project management though, and was hoping some people here could offer some advice or feedback. I've been looking at APM for the foundation upwards, and also the PRINCE2. The PRINCE2 being slightly more expensive, but as we all know that does not mean quality. What I've heard in the past is PRINCE2 is quite specific and an organisation should be following the methodology for you too use it effectively? Any thoughts anyone?

Gary

 

[Martin IT]

Re: Project Management Qualification

Hi Gary,

I'm sorry but I don't have a personal experience with that, but it could be interesting a online degree in Project management like this: http://www.villanovau.com/online-certificates/project-management.aspx ).

The advantage is you'll take a PMP certification too.

 

[yodon]

Re: Project Management Qualification

Have you looked into PMP (Project Management Professional) from the PMI (Project Management Institute)? (I'm not one and I have no affiliation with the PMI.) That's the organization / cert I've seen most often cited in job postings, for example.

www.pmi.org

 

[jkuil]

Re: Project Management Qualification

I would recommend PMBOK, which is a more general (i.e. less mature, therefore applicable to less PM oriented organisations) or Six Sigma, wich is more quality driven

See project-management vs six-sigma-project-management

 

[Randy]

Re: Project Management Qualification

What actually makes a CV look impressive is past performance and not academic honors. I look at CV's all the time from some very well educated and trained people but the turn-off is that they have never done anything.

To many potential employers an education without experience is about as useful as a car tire without air.

Also the key word in Project Management is "Management". Either you can or you can't.

 

[Martin IT]

Re: Project Management Qualification

To many potential employers an education without experience is about as useful as a car tire without air.

You are right Randy, but at the begining is hard to make experience: everyone want people with experience but anyone want give them the chance to make the experience!

 

[tomvehoski]

Re: Project Management Qualification

What actually makes a CV look impressive is past performance and not academic honors. I look at CV's all the time from some very well educated and trained people but the turn-off is that they have never done anything.

To many potential employers an education without experience is about as useful as a car tire without air.

Also the key word in Project Management is "Management". Either you can or you can't.

That is true if the person reviewing the resume/CV is a subject matter expert. More often than not, the first reviewer is a HR clerk that does not know the difference between PMP, CQE, and APQP. If they are told to look for someone who is a PMP and your resume does not say that, it hits the trash.

As for the PMI PMP, a past employer set up a training program based on the PMP. We even had to take a test which had the exact same questions as the PMP, but shorter. It was much cheaper and allowed them to train entire project teams instead of just the Project Managers (who were required to get the full PMP).

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) is probably the best place to start. The problem I had with it was we already had a mature PM system, but the terminology was unique to our company. I found the training to end up being an exercise in definitions and terminology. I also found the test questions to be more an exercise in test taking as opposed to demonstrating competence.

As for the resume, I do list PMBOK since I have training and expertise in it, but I don't claim to be a PMP. I also list generic Six Sigma, but no belt.