Reply to: Prince Training

[lukemg]

Thanks all. I am not after a PM job, it's service delivery for me. Just trying to add a string to the bow rather than getting a new bow ! Adverts are asking for this alongside the SD stuff so it might get me on a few more clients desks.
I am very interested in the ITIL managers cert, just got to bring myself to cough up the cash and the time.
There is a good chance the investment will pay back plenty, when tied in with the SD experience I already have. I like the fact that it is hard and expensive and useless without the experience to go with it because these provide barriers to entry.
Witness the value placed on MCSE, MCP's etc e.g. nothing !!

[Sockpuppet]

Why do you think I took the training...I was only born i the 80s

[malvolio]

Which is the real stupidity of it all - to an agent, the guy with one weeks' reading and a marginal pass is a better PM than the guy who been doing it since the 80s...

[BoredBloke]

I wouldn't say that the foundation has no value in the market - it depends on the level which you are aiming at. There are a load of jobs out there at the lower end of the PM chain where they want some knowledge of P2. If you have the foundation then you are a step ahead of the guy who has not.

I'd say it is good to get you passed the initial filter. When I did mine I only just passed because I only got the book the night before my first day. Did 3 days and scraped through. I would say it is easy if you have the book say a week before the course - so you can prep yourself a bit. On the plus side there is only a finite number of questions and a few passed papers can give you enough to scrape through.

[Sockpuppet]

Groan. I'm glad I didnt get that first time round.

[Ardesco]

Prince 2....

Harry....

Oh I give up!!

[Sockpuppet]

Harry?

[MarillionFan]

If the originator of this thread had been called Harry, then this would have been funny.

[malvolio]

Well perhaps, but I'm old enough to have learned PRINCE back in the 80s. The terminology is stil the same, the basic workflow is the same, the risk anaylsis scoring is the same and you still don't use the same 90% of it on most projects!

I was once told it didn't say PM on the CV anywhere. The last gig at that time was to source, equip, staff, design and train a complete Support Desk from scratch,.to budget and time constraints. Clearly not something that requires PM skills then...

[ratewhore]

It is useful for those who work in the public sector. At least you'll know what the project and programme managers are talking about...

[malvolio]

Yep agreed, and that applies to all the trades. One reason I will hire the guy whose CV shows the experience in preference to the guy who has the paperwork, every time.

If only the agencies would realise that - I'd find it a lot easier getting work!

[Sockpuppet]

Except Practitioner means nothing to the ITIL expert: how can you be a certified expert in only one of ten conjoined disciplines?

ITIL Manager Certificate is the only one with any commercial value. Two week residential course followed by a three day exam, sadly, so not for the faint-hearted!

Ok, I was quoting my experiance of a non IT based sector. PRINCE2 is still the best thing we have to the most widely accepted form of PM qualification.

ITIL doesnt apply to my discipline but PRINCE2 is starting to more and more be used as a structure.

Unfortunatly logistics is such a highly regulated market by the time you have stuff such as CPC and your o-licence clients dont look for much else. Ok, you may be legally qualified but doesnt mean you know jack about project management.

[malvolio]

Trust me if your doing the foundation go for the practioner. You'll know enough after the foundation to do the practioner anyway.

Except Practitioner means nothing to the ITIL expert: how can you be a certified expert in only one of ten conjoined disciplines?

ITIL Manager Certificate is the only one with any commercial value. Two week residential course followed by a three day exam, sadly, so not for the faint-hearted!

[Sockpuppet]

Aye.

I wouldnt advise anyone going on PRINCE2 that its going to set the world on fire I just got it so that i can apply for all the gigs that state PRINCE2 is a must have piece of paper for applying.

I've only had one or two people say "oooo...your a PRINCE2 guy. Most pimps dont know what it means".

[XLMonkey]

PRINCE2 foundation has no value in the market
PRINCE2 Practitioner has a tiny wee bit of value (there are lots of jobs that specify it as a pre-requisite).

So, I'd advise doing Practitioner or nothing.

I've used www.skillsolve.co.uk. They're OK, tutors are adequate, materials are good, price is cheap (c. 5-600 for Practitioner). Know a few people who have used Maven, they all rated it pretty highly.