Prince 2 Course, Worth it?

TheEffects

Hi

I wanted to know if prince 2 qualification is of worthwhile for someone seeking to get into project management without experience or is it essential for experience to be required?

Kind Regards

JReacher1

It will help but without project management experience it's pretty useless. It tends to be a tick in the box that some employers look for but they will look for experience first.

AlecEiffel

Its a good qualification but in isolation won't get you a job as a PM.

PRINCE2 is a high level PM methodology, it doesn't teach you detailed things such as gannt charts etc. If the organisation doesn't use PRINCE2 for their projects you need to adapt and tailor the skills PRINCE2 gives you (it does overlap other PM methodologies).

I'd like to get into project management myself and did PRINCE2 last year as part of widening my skills. My latest job didn't really allow me to get involved in projects and I'm currently job hunting after being made redundant 2 months ago. One of my 'nice to haves' in my search is the opportunity to be involved in projects, in the hope that I can at least use PRINCE2 in the workplace and hopefully if I still want to and expand my skills enough, make the jump into PM.

DKLS

P2 is what I would refer to as a Door opening qualification it doesn't teach you how to be a PM, but most PM jobs ask for it as a minimum.

As a project methodology its pretty flawed and from my experience I haven't found any organisation that uses pure PRINCE2, its usually a mixture of P2, Agile and Waterfall or variants of.

If you do decide to study for it focus the majority of your efforts on chapter 19 of the book.

tgon

PRINCE2 at at least Foundation level is quite essential. MSP too but more for programme management after some experience is gained.

InsideInsurance

Prince2 is required in certain circles, namely IT in the FS world and there are a fair amount of jobs in those circles that you wont get an interview without P2 on your CV but you wont get an interview just because you do have it.

On the flip side there are some business change people who actively dont like seeing P2 on a PM/CM CV because of the fear it is too structured/ onerous and not able to deal with highly dynamic situations.

Getting into projects, from outside IT anyway, is always a little difficult and having P2 on your CV may help a little but I'd argue most get into it via their current employer and getting asked to assist on a project or two and working your way up to workstream lead etc.

If you are self funding then make sure you do your homework on the provider. There have been a few posts on here from people seeing Prince2 courses but no exams being advertised on GroupOn etc but when you add on the cost of the exams they were significantly more expensive than buying course + exam together

directdebiter

TheEffects wrote: »

Hi

I wanted to know if prince 2 qualification is of worthwhile for someone seeking to get into project management without experience or is it essential for experience to be required?

Kind Regards

Yes. You need qualifications and experience usually for most PM jobs. So this would tick one box. You will struggle with opportunities I think without prince2 given the amount of PM jobs that ask for it. Have a look at current PM jobs e.g. www.projectmanagerjobs.co.uk and you will see that the majority want Prince2 or equivalent qualification. HTH.

TheEffects

Hi

So its best bet then to gain more entry experience as a PM to then latter go on the Course?

The only reason i ask is that I found a cheapest quote around £640 from knowledge academy for parts 1 & 2, and was thinking of self funding, thinking it will boost my career. But as alot have said knowing the methodology is different to having the crucial experience.

Thanks everyone for your comments..

mgdavid

One route in would be to do the Prince2 1-day introduction course and go for a job as a project co-ordinator. Then you'll have 1 to 1 contact with projects and PMs and will see what it's all about and have the opportunity to pick up bits of project work as you learn and gain experience. Then when you are ready ask your employer to put you on the P2 Practitioner 1-week course with exam at the end. If the employer has a structured career path, a pass should give you the promotion to PM. If they don't then that's the time to change jobs.

joolsey

Crumbs.......lots of advice here and some seems conflicting so I hope I don't add to it!!

I am PRINCE2 and ITIL qualified, managing a group of IT service people. In my (humble) opinion I wouldn't interview someone for my team without a good qualification and if you want to be a PM then yes you do need to do P2. An alternative would be ITIL as this is specifically for the IT industry, but I believe that they are similar to each other in lots of ways so wouldn't have a problem which you had. Doing the qualification shows you are a self starter so its more than just a 'tick in the box' for me.
My advise would be to offer to do a project for a charity - it may be that you could assist in a fund raising event or another project that would help support the community and also give you some solid experience to put on your CV. Let them know when you approach the charity or organisation that you are newly qualified and looking for experience and they will probably be thrilled to have you!

Have a look on Groupon.....make your area London and look for on-line P2 or ITIl courses. I have seen them on there for circa £100. The exams are usually around £90 - £100.

Hope that helps and good luck......there's no such thing as wasting money on education!!

J

[Deleted User]

joolsey wrote: »

?..

Have a look on Groupon.....make your area London and look for on-line P2 or ITIl courses. I have seen them on there for circa £100. The exams are usually around £90 - £100.

J

I am not sure how a company can offer a course for £100? The cost of the PRINCE2 manual on its own is more than this and then there is the trainer to pay.

Exams cost about £179 for Foundation and £250 for Practitioner. These are the prices set by the exam provider.

You can self study for the course and just pay to sit the exam, or there are online courses also. No idea how good they are.