Taking the Plunge

Alas, my poor study group is no more.  It is down to just one - me.

I can appreciate the reasons the others gave for leaving the group.  Not only are there a lot of high profile initiatives taking place, there has also been a lot of turnover, recently, leaving the rest of us to fill in the gaps without a lot of time for personal study.  In any case, when they do decide to pick things up again, they will at least have the study resources we were able to pool for our meetings.  I just hope they can make time for it before the exam changes, sometime next year I believe.

Speaking of the exam, I finished and submitted my application tonight! YAY!!!  I would celebrate, but I am too tired right now from staring at the computer and filling out the application.  I can finally get back to studying.

For those of you just starting out in the world of project management, I am going to remind you, again, to track your PM time and effort as if you were filling out the exam application, even if you are not sure whether or not you are going to take it.  It may seem like extra work now, but it will save you time in the long run.  Filling out everything in my Access database helped me find some minor issues I will be fixing, and some typos I need to correct, but overall, being able to copy and paste everything from Access to the application made it go pretty smoothly.

My target date for taking the exam has slipped a few weeks, as a result of having to track down and review old project information.  But the application is in, now.  Whew!  I think I'll wait to celebrate until I get the results.

Now that it is just me studying, I might have something new to write about every three weeks.  I'll make an exception and post a little sooner, once I hear back from PMI.  Assuming everything is approved, I will schedule my exam (most likely December) as soon as I hear back from them.

BTW, job hunting and preparing for the exam at the same time is NOT fun.

I am probably misquoting the following, and I don’t know the author’s name, but one of the most relevant expressions in my life right now is, “You make time for the things that are important to you.”  And I should add to that quote the following, “…but you can’t do everything.”

Using my life as an example; my family is important, work is important, religious/spiritual activities are important, social activities are important, and professional activities (such as preparing for the PMP exam) are important.  Can I do all of these?  Yes, a little at a time, and some will demand more time than others.  I also have to watch how much time I commit to each of them (i.e. work/life balance is important).  Another “for example” is preparing for the PMP exam – an appropriate topic for my blog, don’t you think?

For example, I am currently pursuing self-study with a variety of resources, and group study with several people at work who are also working toward achieving the credential.  The problem is that every week there only seems to be two of us who are available for the scheduled meeting (this week is my turn to be absent because of an ad hoc staff meeting for several teams in my department).  One would be incorrect in assuming that meeting to study together is not important – there are just other important things that also need done, and you can’t do everything. 

My local PMI chapter has a PMP prep class starting soon.  It is a 12 week class that meets once a week.  Each meeting is 3 hours long, and the price is very reasonable, especially compared to the courses offered by private companies.  I would love to attend the class, for several reasons, but because of all of the other important things going on in my life I don’t have 3 hours on the night in question to commit to taking the class.

Another factor that is challenging my schedule is that I have to start paying student loans back soon, and I need to start looking for ways to either supplement or increase my income.  However, preparing for the PMP exam is still important to me.  Even more so if I end up looking for a new job.  I may not take the prep class, but I can still self-study and try and meet with my study group.  I am going to encourage those who are able to meet this week to still do so, if we can’t meet another day or time.  I need to keep the commitment going.

I have to admit – I have spent more time updating my resume than studying the past couple of weeks.  It has been several years since I needed a resume, and I was hoping to not need one until AFTER passing the exam.  Not having the PMP credential will make it harder to compete in the current job market, but I think my degrees (MBA; BSIT in Project Management) and experience will help.  Who knows, sometime in the next few weeks you may see a posting about the difficulties of studying for the PMP exam while starting a new job.  I’d like to avoid that, and I don’t want to abandon my study group, either.  Even if I did change jobs, I might not have to abandon my group.  You make time for the things that are important to you, right? 

But you can’t do everything.