- If you're just getting started
in your project management career,
you might be asking yourself,
"What classes do I need to take?" and
"Do I need a degree?"
I've been coaching and mentoring project managers now
for a little over 15 years,
many of whom have gone on
to have very, very successful careers.
Today in this video, I'm gonna share with you
the advice that I've shared with them.
(calm electronic music)
All right, so in this video I'm gonna talk to you
about the three different paths
that I think you can take
when it comes to getting your education,
your certification and landing that first job.
Also, I'm gonna do something a little bit risky today.
I'm gonna share with you my biggest regret
about how I got my start
and what I might have done differently
if I could do it over again.
Also, if you stay tuned,
I have a very special offer for you
which we'll talk about at the end of this video.
It's an offer I think you'll be interested in,
especially if you're just getting started in your career.
However, having said that,
I think you're gonna enjoy, or it would be something
that would be very useful for you regardless
of where you are in your career path.
In this spirit of our theme for this month,
for the remainder of this month and for next month,
this video is really speaking mostly towards
people who are just getting started in their career.
It is also somewhat North American focused.
However, having said that,
a lot of what I'm going to say to you today
will apply regardless of where you are in the world.
So in order to land a PM job these days,
if you look at the job boards and you look at the postings,
almost every single project manager job
requires a PMP certification.
Rightly or wrongly, that's just the way that it is,
at least here in North America.
There's a lot of debate
around the value of a PMP certification,
and that's a subject for a whole other video.
But fact remains you need one
in order to get a job in most cases.
So when you think about what classes
you might need to take to get started,
knowing that you're gonna need a certification,
I would recommend finding classes
that help you to take the PMP exam.
Now, there are two certifications I want you to be aware of.
There is the PMP, which is for project managers.
Your prerequisite to get a PMP is that you actually
have to have project management experience,
and in our next video,
we talk about that chicken and egg scenario.
In order to get the designation,
I need to have project management experience.
But in order to get a project manager job
where I'd get the experience, I need the PMP.
Lot of people ask me,
"How do I deal with that chicken and egg scenario?"
and we will cover that in the next video.
But just know that the PMP
is for project managers with experience.
There is another little-known, lesser-known certification
that PMI offers, and that's called the CAPM,
the Certified Associate of Project Management.
It's the same test, but you do not have to,
or you're not required, to document
that you have previous project management experience.
So with no experience whatsoever,
you can take the test, you can get your CAPM.
Now what does that give you?
A CAPM actually makes you eligible
for a lot of entry-level PMO jobs,
such as the project administrator or project analyst,
project control officer.
There's a lot of different names
for those entry-level roles.
But essentially these are the roles that,
these are the people that work with
and alongside experienced project managers
to help those project managers manage
larger projects and programs.
It's an awesome job for someone just getting started
because you get to work alongside experienced PMs
in large projects and you get to understand
how all of those things work,
and your ass is not on the line because it's not you,
you're not managing the project,
you are assisting the project manager.
So a PA job is actually an excellent job
for people to get started.
Okay, so let's get to the other juicy topic here
which is do you need a degree to be a successful PM?
And the short answer to that question is no you do not.
A successful PM is a person who has the ability
to bring a bunch of different people together
to pool their skills and their resources
to achieve great things.
A degree, whether you have a degree or do not have a degree
doesn't determine whether or not you can do that.
Usually it's your experience that allows you
to do those types of things.
In the project management world, experience is king.
However, having said that,
if you want to manage specific kinds of projects,
for example if you want to build rockets for NASA
or if you want to build oil platforms
in the middle of the Pacific Ocean,
or if you want to build bridges and skyscrapers
and things like that,
then you probably will need a degree
in some other discipline
before you can be considered to be a PM
on some of those projects.
So for example, if you want to build bridges for
your local municipality,
you're probably gonna need a civil engineering degree
before you can even be considered to be a PM
who might be in control of a project team
who's building the next Golden Gate Bridge.
So in those cases, if there's very specific kinds
of projects you would like to manage,
then path number one out of the three paths
that I said we would cover today
is get a degree in a different discipline,
whether that be a scientific one or an engineering one,
get your designation and then
begin your project management career.
Begin amassing your experience.
So that's path A, we'll call it.
Now, other people will come to me and say,
"Hey Jason, but at my local college or university,
"I actually see curriculum or degrees
"for project management.
"Are those good ones to get for project managers?"
And I would say absolutely.
I'm really overjoyed, because when I first started my career
there was no such thing as a degree in project management.
It would have been cool if there was
but there wasn't a whole lot of classes available
to us 25 years ago.
So those, I'm sorry, I take it back.
There were classes but there wasn't
actual curriculum and degree programs for it.
I've looked at some of the curriculum
for the local universities and things here in Canada
like in and around Toronto, and I'm really happy
to see the types of classes that are included.
They do cover a lot of the soft skills
that a person might need in order to be successful,
and they get into business theory
and how to make solid business decisions
and they get into finances and all of the things
that might make a PM successful.
So I think the curriculum in some of these
undergraduate degrees is really awesome.
I'm also hearing great things
from the students that come out of those programs
and that start working for me in PMOs.
I listen to them about what they were taught,
the experiences they have,
they do a lot of work experience as well
so you have several projects that you manage
as you go through your degree program,
such that when you get to the end,
you have the requisite experience
to apply for the PMP right away.
So in that respect it's really good.
So yeah, it's a good option, and so path B
would be project management degree,
take those classes and those courses,
get your PMP designation and then begin your career
and start getting your experience.
But then people will say,
"But, you know Jason, you said
"you don't have to have a degree.
"What should I do?
"Should I get the degree or should I not?"
And my answer to that question is
if you can afford it, then go for it.
Because there's nothing better.
I love learning, and there's absolutely nothing better
than having the opportunity to sit down
and devote most of your brain cycles
to just absorbing new information and learning new things.
I think it's fantastic,
and if somebody can afford to do that,
if they have the time, they have the money,
then I would say go for it, do it.
I think it's a great thing.
But if you can't afford it
then I'm here to tell you don't sweat it.
There is a path for you, and that's the third path.
The third path is no degree,
find a class, get your
certified associate of project management,
get that entry-level job,
be a PA or PCO for
three years, four years.
Then get your PMP because you'll have
the requisite experience at that point,
and then go and lobby for your PM job.
It's not a less than path in my view
because three to four years
of real-world experience on projects
is just as valuable, and depending on that experience,
maybe even more valuable
than three or four years in the classroom.
So it's not a less than path.
If you can't afford it, do not go into debt.
That would be my recommendation,
it's been my recommendation for years.
Don't go into debt getting a
degree in project management.
It's not worth it, just get out there,
start working in PMOs,
start in those entry-level roles and work your way up.
Chances are you're gonna land
your first junior project management role at the same time
regardless of which of the three paths you follow.
So if you go for your degree,
in fact I think path number one,
where I talked about getting an engineering degree,
then getting your PMP, then
getting your experience,
that's probably the longest path out of all of them.
But it's worth it if that's what you want to do.
If you want to build rockets for NASA,
then you need some sort of degree
in some sort of science or engineering.
And if that's what you want to do,
then you're gonna want to,
you're not gonna be upset about putting in the extra time.
In that path though,
you probably won't get project management experience
in your undergraduate studies for engineering.
You'll probably have to finish that, get your CAPM
and then work another three or four years,
then get to your PMP,
then get into a project management job.
So that's probably your longest path.
But between path B and C,
so B being you go and you get your project management
bachelor's degree, you get your PMP at the end of that
cause they put in the work experience.
There's a pretty good chance
that you might land a junior PM job after that,
but there's also the possibility
that you'll have to take a PA role
for a year or two anyways.
So again, you take path B,
it may be three to four years of university.
Then another year or so of experience
before you land that first project manager job.
Path C, where you started getting your experience day one,
if you're good at what you do,
I'd be very surprised
if you don't have a junior PM job within four years.
So you actually might, you just might
become a PM faster without the degree.
But the choice is yours,
there's no right or wrong path for any one individual.
It's a very individual thing.
So, in a nutshell, is it worth it, getting a degree?
Yes if you can afford it, no if you can't, right?
Do you need it?
Absolutely not, so if you can't afford it, don't sweat it.
That pretty much summarizes the advice
that I give to people in regards to degrees.
Actually I promised you that I was gonna share
a personal story about some of the regrets that I have
about how I got started.
So I'll let you in on a little secret.
I do not have a degree,
and for those of you who've known me for years
we may or may not have talked about this
and so you might be surprised to hear me say that.
I feel like I've had
a very successful project management career.
My situation is I wanted to go to school.
I love, love learning, and to this day
I will devote whatever cycles I can
to the art or the act of learning.
I did study to be an engineer,
an electrical engineer actually,
and I started university
and my family is awesome.
My mother and father gave me the best childhood ever.
But one of the things that was sort of
beyond their ability to give me
was a fully paid for tuition.
So I had to get loans and then
we were able to get some government loans and things
that were deferrable, i.e. I didn't
have to start paying for them until school was over,
but then I had to cover the balance with loans
that were regular everyday loans
that I'd have to start paying right away.
So I had bills to pay, and the course,
engineering studies, that I had chosen,
the class, it was almost like high school,
it was four to five classes a day, Monday through Friday.
So I went to class during the day
and then I worked on swing shift
as a security guard at night
and the school and my job were about 90 minutes
away from where I lived.
So my days consisted of commuting
an hour and a half to school in the morning,
taking my classes, jumping in the car,
going down the street, doing the swing shift
from four o'clock until midnight,
and then driving an hour or so home,
getting home around midnight, one in the morning.
If I had homework, mostly could get it done
while I was doing my security job.
That was the reason why it was such an awesome job.
But I did that,
marginally successfully, for about two years.
And it was really starting to get to me,
and even at a very young age,
it was hard for me to be getting by
on only three or four hours of sleep.
And that was a good night,
some nights I would have extra work to do
and I might not get more than a couple of hours of sleep.
So it got to the point where I was so tired,
I was falling asleep on the road, which was very dangerous.
And there were many days on year two
where I'd pull into the parking lot of the university
and I would just fall asleep.
And I'd miss a few periods,
first and second period of classes.
And after a while I'd missed so much class,
one day they sent a letter home saying just don't come back.
You're obviously not taking this seriously enough.
And that was devastating to me.
And I really wish I had found a way to make it work.
Looking back now I probably could have been more creative,
probably could have found different ways to finance it.
But at the end of the day, what ended up happening was
the moment they said, "Don't come back,"
the class was ended, the deferred loans
were no longer deferred and those came in
and I had a whole bunch of additional bills to pay,
and then I just started working my ass off
to pay all of the money that I owed.
So I walked away without a degree,
I walked away with a whole lot of debt,
and I ended up working for the next several years,
sometimes two and three jobs in order to get by.
But I was motivated and I learned a lot,
and I went into sales and from sales I went into IT,
cause at the time anyone could get into IT.
If you were technical, you were magical back then.
So I was able to get an IT job
and then from there I got into IT management
and then from there I got into project management
and then the rest is history.
But my biggest regret was that I wasn't able
to find a way to get a degree.
And then years later,
I might have been able to go back and finish.
I just regret not having it.
And sometimes I look around, I'm in the company of people
who have master's degrees and PhDs
because I'm working with executives
with a lot of credentials.
And sometimes I let that get to me,
I think, "Oh my goodness, they're so much
"more qualified than me."
But then I remind myself of all that I've accomplished
and I would say that I don't think
I have a less than career than anybody out there
with a degree and in fact I hire a lot of people
fresh out of university now.
So take that for what it's worth.
I offer this story to you
because for those of you who are out there
and you're thinking you can't afford to go to university,
I'm here to tell you you can be very successful
without it even in this day and age.
In fact, and this is why I keep coming back
to go if you can afford it.
Cause there is absolutely nothing better
in my view than learning, learning is awesome,
and that's what makes us human beings,
the fact that we can learn new things.
So if you can do it then do it, absolutely,
more power to you, but if you can't, don't stress.
You can still make a difference in this world,
you can still have an awesome career, just go do.
Just go do, get off your ass, get out there,
get the experience, work your ass off and do your best
to make everybody else around you successful.
And then everything will take care of itself.
And so I share that story with you
cause I hope for some of you
that it's an inspiration that you don't think to yourself,
"Well gee, I could never have
"a high-powered project management career
"without that degree."
It's absolutely not true.
So with that, I'm gonna end this video,
at least the topic of training and education.
I hope you found this valuable
and now I'd like to talk to you a little bit
about a project that I'm working on.
I've been training project managers now
for a little over 15 years,
and most of that training has been in a classroom setting.
And some of my more recent roles as a freelancer,
I've gone into organizations
and I've seen project managers managing
very large programs and projects,
who are struggling with the basics.
Basics such as how to pull a project plan together,
how to pull together an estimate,
how to establish themselves as a leader.
And I've taught classes for years in person
on how to do those things.
I'm working on a project right now
where I'm taking everything that I used to give
in the classroom setting
and I'm putting it into an online format.
I've already started filming
the video portions of the course.
There's also gonna be very practical pieces to it
and a lot of templates and everything else
and I'm really excited, I'm putting it together now
and I'm gonna pilot the course
on June the first of this year, that's my goal.
So as a project manager, I really hope I hit that date
because now it's public, everyone knows.
That's when I'm planning to pilot, June first.
Now the pilot, obviously as with any pilot,
I'm testing out functionality,
whether or not the messaging is right
and whether it resonates, whether people are getting
real value out of the course
and I'm just testing the format out
and the technical aspect of it,
whether or not logins and getting access
to the course and everything works and that sort of thing.
So for those of you who are watching this video,
if you made it all the way to the end
then you're one of the few people
who is finding this information valuable.
These videos are getting thousands of views,
over 250,000 views so far on these videos.
But a very small percentage of you,
cause I get just statistics,
make it all the way to the end of the video.
So if you're one of those people watching me right now,
I have to believe that this information
is interesting to you, that it's useful to you.
So if you're one of those people,
I'd like to give you a special offer.
Cause this course, when it's done,
I will probably have it on offer
for somewhere in the neighborhood of $250, like $249.
But for the pilot, for those of you who are interested,
I'm putting up, it's actually up
in the upper right-hand corner for you,
I'm gonna put a card on this video
that if you click on it you can go to a landing page
where you can express your interest
in joining the pilot group,
and if you get on that list, I'm gonna have this
landing page available until May the 18th,
at which point I'm gonna close it down,
so between now and May the 18th,
if you go express your interest in the pilot,
you can join the pilot for only $5.
It's a token amount, I'm just trying to weed out
the people who aren't gonna take it seriously.
But five bucks, join the pilot, get on the list.
When the pilot opens I will send you a note
with your own special link
and you can join the pilot for $5.
If you enjoy these videos and you like the format of them,
actually the training'll be even better
because it's gonna have some exercises
and some scenarios so it's gonna be really cool.
I'm really looking forward to it
but if the chats that we're having
are resonating with you then sign up for the pilot.
I think you're gonna find that
the curriculum that I'm putting together is useful for you.
For those of you who are just getting started out
and even for those people
who have been doing this for years.
So click on the card in the upper right-hand corner
and sign up and get yourself on that pilot list.
I'd like to ask you though, however, to interact.
If you think this was useful information,
interact with this video.
That's the only way this video's gonna show up
in the search in the rankings.
You know, if you like the video, give me the thumbs up.
If you didn't like the video, give me the thumbs down.
Either way, let me know what you think.
Also tell me, did you learn anything new today?
What path, if you're just starting out in your career,
what path are you planning on taking?
Are you gonna do path A and go for that engineering degree,
or are you gonna go path B
and actually get a project management degree?
Or is path C the right one for you?
Let me know, I'd love to hear from you.
And for those of you who are already in your careers,
help out some of the other viewers.
Talk about your story, how did you get started?
What kind of degrees did you get?
What classes did you take?
When did you get your certification?
Talk about it with the group here in the chat.
I think it'd be very, very helpful,
and the more we interact with these videos,
the easier it will be for other PMs to find
and so you'll be doing your part in helping
our PM community
get involved.
So with that I'm gonna end this video,
been a little longer than I thought but
thank you very much for watching
and we'll see you next Friday.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét