Reply to: Just did Prince2 training for practitioner

[northernladuk]

update - after 5 months the prince2 stuff is almost forgotten (only joking).

seriously - I think prince2 might be more valuable once you are in a PM role. no one cares in my BA current role that I am prince2 certified.

however - from time to time the prince stuff kicks in and I can offer little insights or suggestions that the non trained types don't seem to have.

For me it was partly about understanding the project lifecycle - the training forced me to study and really think about it.

however - frankly it was also about getting a badge that might give me an edge when looking for contracts.

Mal is right in what he says but to get past the agents who don't know their arse from their elbow you have to wave the right pieces of paper. If a role says Prince 2 required you will have to have it just to get past the agent to the client. It is exactly the same for ITIL. I did Prince just to get 'the badge' as the poster above said and it has helped.

[vegan4life]

update - after 5 months the prince2 stuff is almost forgotten (only joking).

seriously - I think prince2 might be more valuable once you are in a PM role. no one cares in my BA current role that I am prince2 certified.

however - from time to time the prince stuff kicks in and I can offer little insights or suggestions that the non trained types don't seem to have.

For me it was partly about understanding the project lifecycle - the training forced me to study and really think about it.

however - frankly it was also about getting a badge that might give me an edge when looking for contracts.

[malvolio]

As I said a long time ago, when hiring I'm not interested in what you say you can do, I'm interested in what you have done. Certifications improess agencies and HR, but 'd rahter be impressed by severl projects delivered to time and to spec.

I knew Prince in depth, having learned it in the dark ages before even the upstart Prince2 came along, but have fogotten most of the stuff you find in the exams, mainly because I never used it. Has never stopped me delivering stuff though. I can't quote the detail but the basic process is embedded in the way I approach things.

[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

[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?

[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?

[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.

[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

[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!).

[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.

[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!

[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.

[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

[norrahe]

Hi and congratulations! I am going to London the week after next to a 5 day course that includes both the Foundations and the Practitioner exams. The training company sent me pre-class preparation material that I found very-very helpful. The OGC book is a must, but reading through it I was quite lost at first. It's not a light reading that is for sure. With the pre-class material finally it makes a whole lot more sense.

Do you think this certification is going to make a big difference in finding project management contracts? It should, but honestly what is your opinion?

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.

[cojak]

Hi cojak & TykeMerc,

Thanks for your feedback, I appreciatre it. I managed projects for years, but I thought perhaps having another trophy might be good. Anyway, it will at least prove that I visited London

Oh, I'm all for trophies istvan, and if you're an experienced PM it will certainly do no harm.