Prince 2 Course, Worth it?

InsideInsurance

TheEffects wrote: »

Hi

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

The course will be easier if you have a reasonable grounding in projects but I have known a couple of fairly intelligent chaps pass Foundation and Practitioner despite having never run a project and only light involvement in projects

Assuming wherever you works uses waterfall then there is a good chance that it is a prince2 methodology based approach anyway as really it isnt rocket science and its a fairly straight forwarded gated approach. I've worked with many clients and all you would say is P2 based.

Agile goes further from P2, though more by practice than by design.

AlecEiffel

I got a good PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner result having had very little formal project exposure and having never run a project, though I had written business cases in the PRINCE2 style.

A good training provider will give you a lot of pre-course learning to work through to give you the basics so you start day 1 with a basic understanding (on my course someone didn't have time to complete it prior and left after 2 days as it was too much to take in).

The good thing about PRINCE2 is that it is a logically laid out methodology (obviously), and a certain amount of it is common sense wrapped in terminology. So long as you do the pre-course learning and make good notes in your textbook during the course, it is doable.

tgon

AlecEiffel wrote: »

... it is common sense wrapped in terminology.

Quite true actually :rotfl:

Timpu

A far cheaper way to study and pass is using the 'Dummies guide to Prince2' books, there is one that 'teaches' and another for revising. I passed both Foundation and Practioner this summer using these books. They were a life saver.

I found the books far superior to the online (foundation)/classroom (practioner) training my employer provided! I'd spent less than 24hrs in total with these books and still got through the exams with good passes. The books are super focussed so you only get the important stuff.

Btw I have no PM experience but am PM on a project for a business area I have experience in, so the theory helps me understand some basics.

TheEffects

Spider_In_The_Bath wrote: »

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.

Hi

You mention that you can do the exams on their own, by self study. Where is the cheapest exam only facility in London?

Or is it best to do it in classroom with an instructor?

[Deleted User]

TheEffects wrote: »

Hi

You mention that you can do the exams on their own, by self study. Where is the cheapest exam only facility in London?

Or is it best to do it in classroom with an instructor?

There is a list of exam providers on the official website.

http://www.prince-officialsite.com/ExaminationInstitutes/ExamInstitutes.aspx

DKLS

The P2 qualification is a gateway qualification, its only really use is to get past recruitment consultants tick boxes for PM jobs.

Its a flawed and dated methodology, and is way overdue for a new version, but thats at least 2 years away if TSO get their act together.