Skip to main content

To PMP or not to PMP?!

That is the question!PMPorNot

As implied by its name PMP (Project Management Professional), to obtain such a certificate you should be a professional in the field of Project Management… To my surprise, almost 95% of the people I met holding this certificate know nothing about Project Management!! They think that studying for this certificate and obtaining it means they are professional, although they should be professional to deserve such a certificate.

I understand that one of the prerequisites to get this certificate is to have some practical experience in the Project Management field. But for some odd reason, I discovered that the people I am talking about, which are a majority in the field now, don’t really have experience, some of them are even fresh graduates…

I once had a very aggressive argument with a “kid” in my team, and by the word “kid” I am referring to his age and his attitude in despising my knowledge and experience due to his ignorance, he was very aggressive and arrogant because he was studying to get his PMP while he didn’t know there were differences between requirements and design!! Unfortunately, such a kid will soon be a project manager! I really empathy his future teams Sad smile

Just to clarify, I am not against the certificate, I am against the people who claim being project managers while knowing nothing about Project Management. As for myself, I decided not to take this certificate because the only reason I will take it for is to write its name in my CV to be able to compete on jobs with such idiots, and this is something I don’t want to do in order not to disgrace such a respectful certificate.

As for the others, the question remains open… “To PMP or not to PMP?”!

Comments

Ayat Elshami said…
I'm currently planning to get the certification Menna... but the true reason is not to claim that I am a project manager, let alone professional. I found that I want it for two reasons:
First, my current job conditions don't help me get enough management experience. So, I thought maybe if I get the knowledge, I will find myself implementing what builds the experience.
Second, actually everybody else is getting it, and I don't want to be left behind. For me, it's an attempt of staying marketable... hoping that it would open my mind u p a little bit....

And, a third secret, I found out that I enjoy passing exams coz it it reminds me that despite being quite bored with life in general, I am still up to short-term challenges.
Mena M. Eissa said…
Learning is one of the best things one can do in his life... One who doesn't learn cannot be counted among living people... My concern here is not about the certificate... rather, it's about how people behave when they pass the exam and get the certificate... many of them mix the real experience and the essence of project management with some book knowledge, and think they know everything in the world for this reason.
I encourage you to learn and to get the certificates you want while making sure you're not wasting your time on something which you don't really need.
As for being marketable, there are two options:
1. be marketable based on true experience and willingness to develop yourself
2. be marketable based on certificates that don't relate to your real experience
The bottom line is if you can make use of what you learn to grow quickly on a scientific basis, GO FOR IT, otherwise, avoid it!

Popular posts from this blog

The Triangle of Tactics

Sometimes referred to as the Triangle of Horror… where the PM tries his best to maintain his balance while walking on the very thin project rope between this triangle and the Project Constraints Triangle (time, cost & scope). The triangle sides represent: The Team, The Client and The Management Every side of this triangle is obsessed by the sole idea that the other two sides want him dead, i.e. the team thinks that the client and the top management want him dead and vice versa. Usually a good PM gets lost while trying to maintain this triangle in good shape to keep all parties satisfied and happy while making them think they are his first and only priority to get out what is needed from them for the sake of the project. From my perspective, this is a much harder balance to keep rather than maintaining and managing the Project Constraints Triangle… It highly depends on people, their culture, maturity level, and on the PM’s ability to understand this and deal with it in a ...

The Bus Driver

They took some time to plan for the trip… They drew the road map, bought some food and beverages… and got equipped with the necessary tools… They were going to travel through the woods to draw the magnificent scenes which were observed by their neighbors early this year… This wasn’t their first trip together as a team, though they were all excited… The bus driver was in charge for making the big decision in the trip while taking care of the travellers’ team while of course driving the bus and communicating daily with his supervisor in the station. The map was clear, the weather was very well studied, though the bus driver expected to pass by some pitfalls in the road as there were some reparation in the way. He reported this to his supervisor and requested to take some more supplies just in case they have to camp one or two days more, but the supervisor refused “ the trip has to be completed on time and the painting should be ready for sale by the end of the week ” Anyways, ...

The Triangle is missing The Circle

By experience -the bad one of course- I discovered that the famous Project Management triangle is missing a very important containing circle… The Strategy Circle . The Strategy Circle is my simple explanation for many of the catastrophic situations projects end up with. I totally believe that this should not happen and that Strategy exists to set goals and directions for the benefit of organizations and accordingly for the benefit of projects and teams. Unfortunately, I witnessed many cases where it was exactly the opposite. I was an eye witness of the failure of many projects and sometimes companies because of misunderstanding the meaning of Strategy and how to use it to bring companies to success. Some companies bankrupted because of this! De-formation Effect The Strategy Circle is sometimes surrounding the Project Management triangle and thus imposing pressure on it and suppressing it and some other times it is pushing on the triangle from the inside and thus inflatin...