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The certificate: The CAPM is a beginner-level certification program suitable for everyone with little or no project experience. CAPM: Certified Associate in Project Management People prepare for their exams months in advance and spend hundreds of dollars on educational material like online courses, books and training material. Keep in mind that getting certified is a big investment both time-wise and financially. Over time, you build a history of successfully dealing with issues, helping you get smarter with every project. Ultimately, it is experience that greatly increases your chances as a project management job candidate, as well as your chances of completing projects successfully. Forget about getting a certification, as it won’t help you finding a project manager job.Ī PM certificate is not a ticket to a project manager job, if you don’t have any previous experience. What if you are not a project manager yet?įocus on building relevant experience leading small projects or other initiatives.
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On the other hand, if the company you’re working at currently doesn’t follow any kind of structured project management process, it could be an interesting option for you to get certified and help implement internal systems for how projects are run. If you’ve been managing projects successfully for the past five years and if you’re part of an organization that’s already using some sort of project management methodology, getting certified won’t help you much (unless you are looking to apply externally).
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How to go about deciding whether to get certified or not? Only a rigorous certification program can provide this kind of accountability. Who would attempt to memorize 150 questions (and the corresponding answers) from a book if there wasn’t an exam upcoming testing those questions (and you having paid a significant amount of money)? There’s one thing though that a book can’t provide, which is accountability. If nobody ever told you about risk assessments and how they are carried out, you would never be able to apply the concept in your own projects.Ĭould you learn the same from a $20 book? Absolutely. You will face less trouble and be more focused along the way. To give you an example: Seasoned project managers know that it’s a good practice to conduct a risk assessment when planning a project and to take measures to mitigate those risks.
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Having a repertoire of tools and systems in project management can be very beneficial for your own work. How to budget a project and manage cost.How to evaluate the quality of a project.How to better understand the customer’s requirements.How to break down a project into manageable pieces.What do I mean by “project management methodology”? It’s the processes, tools and techniques that project managers have developed over the years to ensure a project will go well.įor example, a PM methodology will teach you: The other advantage of studying for a PM certificate is that it will familiarize yourself with modern project management methodology. I have my PMP, not because I think it was an important certification, but because it’s a filter when job hunting. Putting yourself into the shoes of a recruiter, whom do you think he’s going to invite for an interview if the candidates have similar work experience, but one has got a PMP? It’s most likely the holder of the PMP. In today’s crowded job market with online job listings receiving hundreds of applications (mostly from people not suitable for the role), companies are looking for ways to filter candidates in an efficient way. That’s the main benefit of the whole game. Getting certified will increase your chances when applying for a job. That’s because I don’t have a certification and never thought of getting one. I’d like to give you a more balanced view, not to say unbiased. So, be very careful about whose opinion you ask for. If you ask any of the major training providers or project management bodies like PMI whether you should get certified, guess what the answer will be? These institutions have an interest in selling you training courses and charging a lot of money for it. “Never ask a barber if you need a haircut” – Warren Buffett PRINCE2: Projects in Controlled Environments.CAPM: Certified Associate in Project Management.Here are the certifications we’ve included in our comparison:
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If you are thinking about getting certified, this article will help you. There are many different programs, all having different requirements. Deciding which project management certification to take can be quite overwhelming.
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