Prince 2 project management Q?

[in2dagroove]

I am a mature female with over 30 years office work experience who wants to improve her promotion chances. The roles I am interested in are asking for the Prince2 PM Q as a minimum so I am going for it. Can anyone give opinions on whether to do it on line or is it best to attend a class? Also can anyone recommend a college/company they have used recently? Any help would be much appreciated

Hi, I'd say unless you already work in a project management role and are used to the lingo, then don't do it online. It uses very specific terminology that you have to quote exactly in order to pass and a lot of acronyms etc, so personally I think it would be a lot to get your head around online.

Can't remember who I used, but it was a 1 week course Inc exam for foundation and practicioner levels.

Would agree with ChristmadTree much easier to do it in person and to do both the foundation and practioner at the same time.
I was already in a project environment when I did mine and found it very straightforward but there were people on the course who struggled but the tutor really broke it down to make it easy to understand.

Thank you both that's very helpful . I am increasingly becoming involved in large projects and the terminology used during meetings is at times a challenge for me to grasp , which is another reason to do it I suppose!

Deffo attend a class

Yes, do it on a course and get practioner too at the same time. If you have been in an office for 30 years you will no doubt have done most things covered and will not find it hard. It will just be the terminology to learn.

See if you can get a (second hand) study book on Project Management as a broad discipline and anything on PRINCE2.

What has led to you doing PRINCE2? What about PMP (Project Mgt Inst qualification) which is widely recognised.

My DH did it in a class (some years ago now). I just asked him, and his opinion is if you can do it in person rather than online it gives you a better chance if getting your head round it all to pass.

I did the 1 week course a few years ago. Would definitely recommend doing it face to face. Even though I had worked in project management for years, we didn't use a lot of the lingo that PRINCE2 uses so it was a lot to take in. And they tried to prepare you for the exam and how the questions are set.

What industry do you work in? PRINCE2 is mainly public sector and capital projects. Other qualifications like APM are more practical.

Definitely do it face to face. I had over 20 years experience when I took the course and really struggled with it

It would have been really really difficult on line.

I’ve just started the APM fundamentals online, and will go on to the APM PMQ, also online. I’m involved in leading a project now so wanted something I could work on quickly, and also on my commute by train.

I asked around and the APM seems to be more widely recognised in business.

www.parallelprojecttraining.com/distance-learning/

I'm a PMO manager with 20 years project management experience and now have PMs reporting to me. I agree with others, PRINCE 2 would be really hard to pass without some practical experience. I did it in 1999 and I'd been a junior PM for a couple of years - I didn't find it easy although I did pass. It's an expensive course( or was then) if you fail. My employer paid, but only for the first attempt.

What industry do you work in? I'm now in telco/IT and do not look for PRINCE 2 from candidates . PMP/Agile certification is more relevant and usually a degree (but I'm happy to not bother with that for a good candidate). I know it is still relevant in other industries, esp public sector, but worth being aware of how transferable it is.

Would your current employer be prepared to pay for you to do the course? Probably not a good idea if you are thinking of leaving, but would give you an idea of how employable you are as a project manager if you asked...

I work in the public sector and Prince2 is referred to in several vacancies

Prince2 is definitely a classroom one. I worked in Project mgt in an environment that used all the language and don’t think I would have passed if not in the classroom. I usually prefer online training.

Mines expired now and I’m investigating options so thanks for all specifics mentioned.

I did the first bit (foundation) including the exam online which was easy enough, but the second bit (practitioner) was a lot harder and if I remember, it had to be refreshed every few years (not just cpd) in order to retain the full qualification. It was about 6 years ago so may have changed since!

I’m also in the public sector and did prince 2 through work - paid for - so worth an ask. We had a trainer come in and do about 10 of us across the department in one go on site as it was more cost effective than sending us elsewhere. I’d agree with pp definitely one for a class, it can get very confusing quickly at first so it’s really useful to have a sounding board in the trainer and other students. We did a 1 week course too with exam at the end.