Certificate in Project Management

[GTjohn]

Has anyone obtain a certificate in project management?

Do you feel that the certificate really helped open up the opportunities in PM for you?

Do you think that the materials you learned in the project management courses are useful?

I am interested to hear anyone's opinion, but would be particularly interested in civil engineers' opinions since I am a civil engineer.

Thanks.

 

[ash9144]

I don't have this certificate but did look into it a few years ago. One point of caution is that many of these courses are focused on IT projects. But if you decide to go through with it make sure to find a course specific to your field.

 

[DRWeig]

Hi GTJohn,

I did a sort-of-generic course (with certificate) at the local university. It was based primarily on Microsoft Project software and terminology -- but was overall a good exercise.

I'd recommend it. It was from CBP (

http://www.cbpcertify.com).

Some valuable techniques plus the certificate is becoming fairly well prized in the automation / construction / manufacturing arenas.

Let us know what you decide to do and how it works out for ya!

Good on ya,

Goober Dave

 

[hahor]

Hello GTjohn,

about 2 years ago I obtained the PMP certification. I found the training course helpful. You will a least learn what others (customers, designers, contractors, etc.) expect of you as a project manager. This knowledge gives you a little more self confidence.

Kind Regards,
hahor

 

[ymjaffar]

Hello John,

Actually it is depends upon the company back ground, on which company u r working, if ur company involves in the project and u r implementing this actitivites then it is valubale to u as well.
after certification u r not implememting PM in ur activities so there is no use, now from my view Primavera6 is best Software for PM.

Regards

jaff

 

[shirsch]

I took some courses and got my PMP about 1.5 years ago. I enjoyed learning and found the information very applicable to my work as a consultant. My employer, however, was not very supportive and my career has yet to benefit from my new title. Overall, I am glad that I did it and I now have confidence that I know what I am talking about in a PM discussion. It will also give you a slight advantage over non-PMPs in a resume comparison, but there is no substitute for experience.

 

[thegraduate]

I find that my employer looks upon a PM Certificate like the Holy Grail. Our boss is not an engineer and for some reason he employs people whom have this certificate and puts them in 'engineering' positions and pays them equivalent $$$ but on a different pay scheme.

I think this sucks. I feel a project manager should have a strong foundation of knowledge under them with the proven ability to implement engineering judgment to technical problems and not just palm it off to a specialist consultant. Experience also needs to be proven.

I'm sorry - yes its true that I've been 'leap frogged' by someone off the street with this certificate (whom anyone could get) ... maybe i should stop whining and do something about getting it - but i don't see the point, there was a lot of Engineering Management and Project Management covered in my degree and i feel i'd be wasting my time doing more.

Oh, the angst.

 

[Aconnell]

I took PMI accredited training and am eligiable to write the exam but personally I don't think the credential is worth very much. What passes for project management experience is too broad (being a wedding planner could pass for experience), and the experience verification portion is very lax. I personnaly know people who in my opinion shouldn't have been eligiable but where able to get the credential by getting a few friendly supervisors to sign off on their supposed PM experience. The credential would hold alot more weight if only PMP's could act as references for experience verification.

 

[boffintech]

Has anyone obtained a certificate in project management?

No, but I know some guys at the office who got certs in pencil pushing, seat shining, and paper shuffling.

That's about equivalent, right?

 

[HgTX]

Anyone heard much about EMCI?

http://www.engineeringcertification.org/about/

Seems to be PMI for engineers. I don't know anyone who's done it; I heard about it from someone else who was wondering if there was anything to it.

Hg

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