PMP Exam

[Waldi]

PMP is not useless, does provide good way of organizing things. I took my exam after working for many years managing small project and working on mega-project as part of the team. So I had a lot of experience but PMP helped to get organized better and provided framework to set project on right path. I had prior training on PM so PMP only helped to focus on big picture and like I said helped to formalize the knowledge. Exam itself is not hard if you had experience with PM, if your experience is "light" yeas it will require some memorization. Prep courses are good, I recommend prep boo by Rita, don't remember title. Foud exam very long but not difficult at all.

[jaylo]

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PMP is not useless, does provide good way of organizing things. I took my exam after working for many years managing small project and working on mega-project as part of the team. So I had a lot of experience but PMP helped to get organized better and provided framework to set project on right path. I had prior training on PM so PMP only helped to focus on big picture and like I said helped to formalize the knowledge. Exam itself is not hard if you had experience with PM, if your experience is "light" yeas it will require some memorization. Prep courses are good, I recommend prep boo by Rita, don't remember title. Foud exam very long but not difficult at all.

Definitely agree. It does not hurt to have one if you have the time to pursue it. For some people, going back to school and taking an exam is quite a terrifying thought.

[Gestalt]

I actually tried it thought it would be benefit to anyone that woukd want to run a business. I failed it. It was the most boring pretnecious bs i have ever done.

But my brother took and passed it and kept his job through the whole downturn, even getting raises ans promotions companies head hunting him, trying to steal him. Paid 1.5 more in taxes last year than my gross income.

In the right hands is very valuable.

[TripleThreat]

Hi guys, I passed my PMP exam. Thanks for all your comments and I am happy to answer any questions for those planning to write the PMP.

[dandia89]

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Hi guys, I passed my PMP exam. Thanks for all your comments and I am happy to answer any questions for those planning to write the PMP.

What are the most time effective tools to pass the exam? I'm taking a pmp extension certificate through work (2days a month for 6 months) that goes through each module. So from a knowledge perspective I'm good, but I'm really focused on exam prep (i.e. practice exams and condensed notes).

I'll probably take this exam in October/November. What are your thoughts?

[TripleThreat]

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What are the most time effective tools to pass the exam? I'm taking a pmp extension certificate through work (2days a month for 6 months) that goes through each module. So from a knowledge perspective I'm good, but I'm really focused on exam prep (i.e. practice exams and condensed notes).

I'll probably take this exam in October/November. What are your thoughts?

I found the Rita's PMP Exam Prep book was most effective on my studies. To be honest, I hardly read the PMBOK guide it was just too dry for me. Once you finish the pmp course module and self-reading, focus on mock exams/sample questions. My background is in engineering and work as a PM, so your experience may also help you with the learning. Good luck!!

[syscal]

We're hiring a project position right now. Inevitably the majority of resumes will come from people with PMP cert (or working toward it ) and little to no technical knowledge, despite it being a purely technical job in the description. I actually instructed our recruiter to use it as a way to screen candidates. I'm just not interested in hiring someone whose 3 to 5 year plan is to become a Project Manager.

Hoping the PMP hype dies off soon TBH.

[Boat]

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We're hiring a project position right now. Inevitably the majority of resumes will come from people with PMP cert (or working toward it ) and little to no technical knowledge, despite it being a purely technical job in the description. I actually instructed our recruiter to use it as a way to screen candidates. I'm just not interested in hiring someone whose 3 to 5 year plan is to become a Project Manager.

Hoping the PMP hype dies off soon TBH.

Not sure what you mean when you say technical knowledge, but you know the PMP requires 4500-7500 hours of actual work to get. Sure people can lie on their application however.

What is the position for? PM? Planner? Project Engineer?

You don't necessarily need good "technical" knowledge to run a project. Working in I.T, some of the best PM's come from a non I.T background. Just some food for thought.

[Xtrema]

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We're hiring a project position right now. Inevitably the majority of resumes will come from people with PMP cert (or working toward it ) and little to no technical knowledge, despite it being a purely technical job in the description. I actually instructed our recruiter to use it as a way to screen candidates. I'm just not interested in hiring someone whose 3 to 5 year plan is to become a Project Manager.

Hoping the PMP hype dies off soon TBH.

Given so many tech people got laid off and many are working towards PMP, you may actually get a good technical PM.

But sometime a PM that's too technical end up failing to see the big picture. And given 1/2 of PM's job IS managing people, getting some autistic tech wizard as a PM is bad.

[g-m]

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We're hiring a project position right now. Inevitably the majority of resumes will come from people with PMP cert (or working toward it ) and little to no technical knowledge, despite it being a purely technical job in the description. I actually instructed our recruiter to use it as a way to screen candidates. I'm just not interested in hiring someone whose 3 to 5 year plan is to become a Project Manager.

Hoping the PMP hype dies off soon TBH.

It won't. It's way easier to get than the actual experience. It will remain a good screening tool

[syscal]

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Not sure what you mean when you say technical knowledge, but you know the PMP requires 4500-7500 hours of actual work to get. Sure people can lie on their application however.

What is the position for? PM? Planner? Project Engineer?

You don't necessarily need good "technical" knowledge to run a project. Working in I.T, some of the best PM's come from a non I.T background. Just some food for thought.

I'm saying I don't need a project manager...at all. I need a systems engineer, tech, whatever title suits that can plan and execute projects on their own. With an emphasis on execution.

What happens is, I ask for that and get nothing but Project Manager resumes because the job is focused on IT projects. Or you get the tech that wants to "upgrade" their role to PM and are looking at the job posting as a launch into a future career while taking their PMP.

Mostly just a pet peeve/annoyance, they are easy to screen.

[Boat]

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I'm saying I don't need a project manager...at all. I need a systems engineer, tech, whatever title suits that can plan and execute projects on their own. With an emphasis on execution.

What happens is, I ask for that and get nothing but Project Manager resumes because the job is focused on IT projects. Or you get the tech that wants to "upgrade" their role to PM and are looking at the job posting as a launch into a future career while taking their PMP.

Mostly just a pet peeve/annoyance, they are easy to screen.

Thanks for clarifying. I don't want to stay behind my screen saying I know you or your business but from the things you mentioned is why I would argue are exactly why you need a BA/PM to help plan and execute projects. And if you want your tech to do a good job planning and executing you are essentially asking them to do two jobs and paying them for one. I can see your reasons for efficiency but it can become a slippery slope once deadlines are starting to get missed.

Source: BA/PM doing exactly this work for 7 years.

[bjstare]

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I'm saying I don't need a project manager...at all. I need a systems engineer, tech, whatever title suits that can plan and execute projects on their own. With an emphasis on execution.

What happens is, I ask for that and get nothing but Project Manager resumes because the job is focused on IT projects. Or you get the tech that wants to "upgrade" their role to PM and are looking at the job posting as a launch into a future career while taking their PMP.

Mostly just a pet peeve/annoyance, they are easy to screen.

If you're using the word "project" to define something that can be planned and completed by a single person... then you should be using the word "task" instead. If they're planning and executing projects (i.e. managing people either internally or externally), then you need someone with PM skills, IMO. Unfortunately for you, as mentioned earlier, strong technical people are rarely strong PMs and vise versa.

[syscal]

Yea, so this is where the whole thing gets blurred. If I asked for a "Task Engineer", then I'm not going to get what I want.

If I use the word "Project" 18 of 20 resumes coming in will have ZERO of the listed job requirements on their resume, but the post said "Project"...so good to go.

Should probably just say "Plan and implement <insert project type here>" and repeat that for the 5 or so project categories we do most often.

Now that I've typed that, it's probably time to change the job ad lol.