PMP Exam

[TripleThreat]

Hello Beyond

Has anyone here write the PMP exam? What are your thoughts/experience on it? There is a PMP Exam Preparation offered through SAIT. Has anyone attended this course?

Thanks,
TT

[ExtraSlow]

What kind of roles does the pmp designation carry value in? I know guy who got it and really did not benefit.

[ShermanEF9]

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What kind of roles does the pmp designation carry value in? I know guy who got it and really did not benefit.

I know for us there are some projects that require someone with a PMP designation. meant more money for the coordinator.

[cloud7]

To me, PMP doesn't do anything for anybody that already have a professional designation. For instance, if you are a professional engineer and have been project managing, a PMP is probably not very useful. The criteria for PMP is really laughable if you ask me. Almost anyone can get one if they want. It benefits people without a 4-year degree way more than people with.

[jaylo]

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To me, PMP doesn't do anything for anybody that already have a professional designation. For instance, if you are a professional engineer and have been project managing, a PMP is probably not very useful. The criteria for PMP is really laughable if you ask me. Almost anyone can get one if they want. It benefits people without a 4-year degree way more than people with.

Better pay and recognition. PMP is very useful whether you have your degree or not.

Anyone can get a degree but not everyone can be an effective Project Manager.



Here is what "laughable" looks like as criteria before you can write the exam:
Prerequisites:
Secondary degree (high school diploma, associate’s degree or the global equivalent)
7,500 hours leading and directing projects
35 hours of project management education
or
Four-year degree
4,500 hours leading and directing projects
35 hours of project management education

[schurchill39]

I am going to take the PMP course simply because I do a lot of project managing without any formal training. As of right now I am winging it so it would be nice to have a little structure or see if there are more effective and efficient ways of doing things. In O&G I have yet to talk to anyone who sees value in it but in the IT world or civil works it seems to be pretty sought after

[Danish]

My background is Electrical Engineering (U of C) and I am a registered P.Eng. I wrote the exam 2 years ago and am currently PMP certified. It is a tricky exam designed to make you fail with a great deal of memorization required to pass. I'd found the practice questions on crosswind (not sure if the name is still the same) very useful for preparing for the exam.

I also completed the PMP Exam prep course at Mount Royal to get the necessary formal education hours, it was decent and the teachers gave pretty good advice. Ultimately its a hard test that took a fair bit of work to prepare for, happy to answer any specific questions you may have.

[cloud7]

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Better pay and recognition. PMP is very useful whether you have your degree or not.

Anyone can get a degree but not everyone can be an effective Project Manager.



Here is what "laughable" looks like as criteria before you can write the exam:
Prerequisites:
Secondary degree (high school diploma, associate’s degree or the global equivalent)
7,500 hours leading and directing projects
35 hours of project management education
or
Four-year degree
4,500 hours leading and directing projects
35 hours of project management education

It doesn't change my view that it is laughable. Looks like anyone with any kind of experience can get a PMP. Anyone can get a PMP but not everyone can be an effective PM.

[BavarianBeast]

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It doesn't change my view that it is laughable. Looks like anyone with any kind of experience can get a PMP. Anyone can get a PMP but not everyone can be an effective PM.

I think most professional engineers who are PM's are laughable. Most of them come from a 5 year stint with a consultant and come to a general contractor thinking they know how to run trades, people and projects.

[s_havinga]

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It doesn't change my view that it is laughable. Looks like anyone with any kind of experience can get a PMP. Anyone can get a PMP but not everyone can be an effective PM.

This statement can be made for almost any position and a related certification. You might get hired because of a piece of paper but after that its still on you to get the job done.

[BokCh0y]

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My background is Electrical Engineering (U of C) and I am a registered P.Eng. I wrote the exam 2 years ago and am currently PMP certified. It is a tricky exam designed to make you fail with a great deal of memorization required to pass. I'd found the practice questions on crosswind (not sure if the name is still the same) very useful for preparing for the exam.

I also completed the PMP Exam prep course at Mount Royal to get the necessary formal education hours, it was decent and the teachers gave pretty good advice. Ultimately its a hard test that took a fair bit of work to prepare for, happy to answer any specific questions you may have.

How'd you like the MRU program for the PMP? I'm doing mine next year as I am currently finishing a masters degree, but I need some course time but I was thinking of the PMP prep at UofC. But money talks haha. Thanks.

[The Cosworth]

I took my course through Mt Royal probably 5 years ago now. Back then the schooling was enough and PMP registration was an 'asset' on a lot of postings. Now it seems like PMP is required. I didn't write the exam, and shortly after they changed it and it is apparently harder now. It is on my list to do eventually.

As for prep courses, find someone who recently did it and do their course. We had a few people come from the SAIT program to Mt Royal for the actual certificate and they said it was much better. It might be improved now though. My plan was to take the Mt Royal one but I'll re-do my research when I get closer.

[Danish]

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How'd you like the MRU program for the PMP? I'm doing mine next year as I am currently finishing a masters degree, but I need some course time but I was thinking of the PMP prep at UofC. But money talks haha. Thanks.

It wasn't bad, although I felt it got a tad repetitive... every class they had a different prof covering the topic of the week, so they would give you exam tips etc. Got a little tiring hearing the same tips by the 4th or 5th prof. If I didn't need the hours I would have just studied on my own and signed up for one of the online courses. The course was good for getting through the material though, as it was spread over a couple of weeks. It's very dry to having a class to go to every week kept me focused.

[BokCh0y]

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It wasn't bad, although I felt it got a tad repetitive... every class they had a different prof covering the topic of the week, so they would give you exam tips etc. Got a little tiring hearing the same tips by the 4th or 5th prof. If I didn't need the hours I would have just studied on my own and signed up for one of the online courses. The course was good for getting through the material though, as it was spread over a couple of weeks. It's very dry to having a class to go to every week kept me focused.

Thx for the response and feedback, I'll take that into consideration. In the essence of being lazy, can you tell me how much it was via mru? I guess I can look it up as well. Thank you again.

[g-m]

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It doesn't change my view that it is laughable. Looks like anyone with any kind of experience can get a PMP. Anyone can get a PMP but not everyone can be an effective PM.

Agree, it's useless.

[phreezee]

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Agree, it's useless.

Agree, I know a lot of useless people with PMPs. Getting one is as hard as getting a Real Estate license. I know a lot of useless people with those too

[350zguy]

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I think most professional engineers who are PM's are laughable. Most of them come from a 5 year stint with a consultant and come to a general contractor thinking they know how to run trades, people and projects.

I've been at companies full of engineers who look down on PMs because of their perceived lack of "hard" skills. The engineers talk in circles about how many years of experience they have or how deep their knowledge is in certain specialized skillset and can waste away weeks arguing about minutia. And the irony of it all is that these were exactly the type of people who most needed a PM to keep them on track and focused on the bigger picture.

[riander5]

lol PMP designation

[Disoblige]

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I've been at companies full of engineers who look down on PMs because of their perceived lack of "hard" skills. The engineers talk in circles about how many years of experience they have or how deep their knowledge is in certain specialized skillset and can waste away weeks arguing about minutia. And the irony of it all is that these were exactly the type of people who most needed a PM to keep them on track and focused on the bigger picture.

Or oppositely, you get a shitty PM who is only worried about completing the project on time and on budget, and doesn't give a shit to anything else.
There are good and bad engineers, there are good and bad PMs, and there are good and bad engineers who are PMs.

I never worked with a PM (engineer or not) under 35 who ran a large scale project effectively. Experience coupled with intelligence is key.

[350zguy]

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Or oppositely, you get a shitty PM who is only worried about completing the project on time and on budget, and doesn't give a shit to anything else.
There are good and bad engineers, there are good and bad PMs, and there are good and bad engineers who are PMs.

I never worked with a PM (engineer or not) under 35 who ran a large scale project effectively. Experience coupled with intelligence is key.

Yeah agree. There are good and bad PMs and engineers. The point I was trying to dispute was previous comment making a really generally statement that "most professional engineers who are PM's are laughable."