Just did Prince2 training for practitioner

[george99]

It will help get your CV through the melee certainly but as Cojak says not all projects follow Prince2 these days, but it doesn't hurt to have the certification.

Too right.
Most of my clients are NHS and 9 times out of 10 times if you follow PRINCE 2 they will throw it back at you. They say they follow PRINCE 2 - but they don't; very few are willing to take responsibility for anything or to do any work at all on their own project. They think the PM is there to do the lot for them (in half the time, on a shoe-string and bottom dollar rates, blind-folded and with one hand tied behind their back).

.....and it is that time of year again for the NHS: Having done very little to plan ahead - now that the bank holidays are over - the panic will be on to deliver projects in half the time required with insufficient resources, for tuppence etc etc

[vegan4life]

First off all thanks for the positive comments.

Just a general response re. whether or not Prince2 will help in terms of improving contract chances. I totally agree that you cannot beat actual experience and am 100% convinced that if you do a decent job badges probably don't really matter too much.

Before going back to contracting, I had several years experience managing small software projects (circa 50k-100k), however the way my company delivered projects was totally unstructured. So although I did a decent job under the circumstances I got a shock when I realised how little I actually knew about projects. Although I have a ton of experience out in the field getting my hands dirty - at the moment I feel like an apprentice . So prince2 is part of my plan to improve my knowledge and hopefully get a few extra shots at getting interviews. Also got business process modelling and M_o_R in my sights - but that might change.

FWIW only a couple of guys on my current programme of around 40 have prince2 - that includes several PMs - so I don't know what I should take from that.

[PinkPoshRat]

I took my Prince Practitioner 10 years ago, it's obviously expired now (the qualification only lasts for 5 years, and you would have to pay OGC shed loads to resit their exam again.)

When I'm interviewed I occasionally get asked whether I'm Princed, so I tell them that I never bothered renewing it - so far it's not caused me any problems. They are more interested in what I have done on previous projects, their £value and who the client was/what we delivered.

M_o_R is very good to have but only if you can demonstrate how you've managed all the risks, issues etc etc. 9 out of 10 clients will not have heard of the qualification!

For software project management purposes, try your hand at Agile methodologies and don't ever rely too much on Prince!

[craig1]

I know people with Prince2 Practitioner whose most challenging project has been their weekly shop at Tesco. To make it valuable would need a pre-qualifier like PMI Professional where you need to prove thousands of hours of PM experience before you're allowed to sit the training/exam.

I've been a PM since the 90s and I've refused to take the Prince2 course. Not because it's not potentially valuable, just as a point of principle. It has probably cost me a few roles with agents who haven't much of a clue but then I've not exactly been under-employed in the last decade. If a private sector client says they need Prince2 Practitioner as a mandatory requirement then I get a clear message that they really haven't much of a clue about project management.

[churchy80]

As a newbie heading into the contracting world I was thinking of going for the Prince2 certification. I read a lot of information which advises, if you want to go into Project Management, get certified. Which is fine, but how do you back it up with the experience? As I am unqualified and inexperience is prince2 worth it? I'm looking to build myself up with the experience in future contracts (somehow!).

[filthy1980]

As a newbie heading into the contracting world I was thinking of going for the Prince2 certification. I read a lot of information which advises, if you want to go into Project Management, get certified. Which is fine, but how do you back it up with the experience? As I am unqualified and inexperience is prince2 worth it? I'm looking to build myself up with the experience in future contracts (somehow!).

unless you get lucky you have to start at the ground up

apply for project support / co-ordinator roles even Jnr PM roles, apply your knowledge gain experience

either the client at the time will bump you up if there is a need for an additional PM or somone will take a punt on you cos you'll have some experience and won't be as expensive as an experienced PM

[northernladuk]

unless you get lucky you have to start at the ground up

apply for project support / co-ordinator roles even Jnr PM roles, apply your knowledge gain experience

either the client at the time will bump you up if there is a need for an additional PM or somone will take a punt on you cos you'll have some experience and won't be as expensive as an experienced PM

What Flithy said. Remember as a contractor you are being taken on as you are skilled in your field. You will not get training and very few lucky breaks to change career. You need to go permie for that. You can get lucky as said but for every role you can think of there, however junior are going to be 100's of people going for them with experience and qualifications ahead of you so will be at the back of the pile.

Ok so you get one lucky break which takes x months to get but even then it will take x-(a bit less) to get the second and same third. It is a very long difficult path.

[gclark80]

What Flithy said. Remember as a contractor you are being taken on as you are skilled in your field. You will not get training and very few lucky breaks to change career. You need to go permie for that. You can get lucky as said but for every role you can think of there, however junior are going to be 100's of people going for them with experience and qualifications ahead of you so will be at the back of the pile.

Ok so you get one lucky break which takes x months to get but even then it will take x-(a bit less) to get the second and same third. It is a very long difficult path.

I've done PMP, but am looking to opt for PRINCE2...do you think I should?

[gclark80]

I've done PMP, but am looking to opt for PRINCE2...do you think I should?

No replies?

Anywho, I have decided to go for PRINCE2, with Firebrand - in 2 months. I've started with Managing Successful Projects..seems doable enough...What else should I be studying?

[filthy1980]

No replies?

Anywho, I have decided to go for PRINCE2, with Firebrand - in 2 months. I've started with Managing Successful Projects..seems doable enough...What else should I be studying?

i've done prince 2 and got the cert, did some pmp cbt's too abt a year ago, found that much more useful as it's more tools and techniques based

i would definitely get the prince cert as it will at least give you an idea of what projects should be doing and with the knowledge you can always cover yourself in trying to adhere to the methodology when a clientco just pays lip service to it and trys to challenge you