I’ve been project managing, in various capacities, in various industries, for over 25 years. For most of that time, I was not a “certified” project manager. I did an excellent job, but had my share of shitty “lessons learned” meetings at project close-out. I didn’t get my PMP until 3 years ago…didn’t feel the need for it, fear of tests, didn’t want to study, blah, blah. I decided to take the exam because I wanted to see if I could do it, but, more importantly, I was about to present a seminar, to a dozen information technology nerds, on what PM was all about. I was afraid twenty years of experience wasn’t enough. I needed certification to impress my audience. I took the test.
It was a tough test, taxing my knowledge with questions on subjects I don’t use everyday. I answered all the questions in about two and a half hours and then spent another hour looking at my answers with a brain full of self-doubt. I passed the test.
Back then there were no exam-crams, no boot camps, no claims of guaranteed test-passing. I did look at the information provided by PMI, but experience was my only teacher. Now, magazine ads tout boot camps where I can spend 5 days and pass the test at the end of the week. I can find a multitude of books on “How to pass the PMP test” at the local book store with such titles as: PMP Certification For Dummies and PMP Exam Cram.
Not to say I wouldn’t have used these if they had been available, but my concern is: flooding the market with the “Paper PMP.” Any of you who are familiar with the IT industry may remember back a dozen years ago when the “Paper CNE” flooded the market or more recently the “Paper MCSE” has crashed a few networks. The only way to get ahead in the IT industry was to have certifications, and the industry responded by cranking out thousands of Paper [name your favorite technology here] Engineers.
Of course business owners, like myself, got tired of, or worse, burned by hiring these technology marvels because they couldn’t put any of their knowledge into practice. Boot camps or exam cramming books emphasized test preparation at the expense of practical knowledge. The “paper engineers” diluted the marketplace systematically. First it was the CNE (Certified Netware Engineer), then the MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer), then a whole barrage of Cisco certifications. Each was at first the hot ticket and then fell off after an influx of test-passing-with-no-experience engineers.
With every new technology or endeavor, there have always been professionals who were self-taught, and many of them are the most intuitive and valuable employees. Unfortunately, some are overlooked or taken advantage of because their skills are not apparent on a resumé. I can see where this kind of person can benefit from a boot camp. Even if it is merely a test-preparation seminar, they are simply getting ready to prove what they can already apply.
Yes there is a lot of studying and learning required to be a proficient Project Manager, but the best learning I got was from the School of Hard Knocks (experience). And yes, I’m glad I got my PMP, but sad that someone with $5,000 and a week of free time can also. I just hope they get some hard knocks before managing a project.
