35 Days and Counting Down

It’s been about 10 days since I’ve had the opportunity to put my thoughts up here online. It’s not that I been away at some exotic destination with no internet, or that I was in a motorcycle accident and the doctors put me into an induced coma. No, unfortunately.

Today marks the 5 week, 35 day count down to my scheduled taking of the Project Management Institute examination for Certified Project Management Professional.

I scheduled the test o the date of November 18, 2021, about 3 months ago, and I am adamant about not changing that date. The test date is the Thursday before Thanksgiving, and boy, if I pass, I will have a lot to give thanks for.

Regardless, I must take the test within 1 year of being approved for taking the test, which was February 2021. So I don’t have much choice in the matter!

I’ve actually been studying and preparing since around October 2020, when I took a 36 hour online course. This was a requirement for even applying to take the certification exam. The other requirements was that I also needed to detail thirty-six months of real-world project management experience as part of the application process.

While there is one master guide, affectionately called the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK), it does NOT contain everything you are expected to know. Also, as of January 1, 2021, there is a new test and the updated book for that wasn’t published until August 2021.

So for the last 10 days, I have been studying using an exam simulator. The amount of material to cover is massive.

So it’s been cramming time for me.

Here is the 975 page PMBOK Cover. It’s cool looking for sure. If you were just the ever so slightly interested, you can see an overview of the material that is covered. This is the 100,000 foot level of detail.

A major focus of the new exam is on Agile and Hybrid Methodologies. It is critical when starting a project to not just assume you should use Agile, Waterfall, or some other Product Lifecycle Approach. You need to make a conscious decision on how you want to run the project. So this Product Lifecycle selection approach adds to the complexity of the knowledge and experience needed to become a Certified Project Management Professional.

So wish me luck!