Bennett WeidemannAI Solutions Architect/Evangelist| ConsultantSan Antonio, Tx, United States
The pursuit of the coveted PMP certification can be as varied as the weather. Project Management is so diversified, it amazes me how many different souls in our world are out there leading the charge to improving their businesses, controlling risk, and ensuring quality deliverables. I stumbled into PM on accident, no really! I had no idea how in-demand the Project Management world had become . . . or that it even existed.
It took me all three times to pass the exam . . . and what a struggle it was! If there's anyone out there that has all but given up, let me encourage you to stick with it. If I've learned one thing in life, it's that failure can be an amazing motivator.
I attended a typical PMP boot camp, learned a ton, got audited, failed the first test, studied, studied, studied, and failed the second test. Then I had a moment of clarity. The test is in a vacuum, and the real world is not.To me, PM is really about the risk, the quality, and how do you control and change it with your team.
The test wants to know how are you going to deal with these things when it all goest wrong? Bottom line: 1. Immerse yourself in the PM world - the terms, the language, the process groups and the knowledge areas. 2. Master the areas of risk, quality, and integrated change control 3. Simulate the 4 hour test many times to get your head in the game. This is what got me over the finish line!
I'm curious to know if there's anyone in the two-time failure club that has a word of encouragement? Saving Changes...
