PRINCE2 - Help!

tommytucker7182

Hi Folks,
Im a project manager, but no official "formal" PM qualification to my name, apart from a module in my degree.
I was a project coordinator in Australia for 3+ years, at varying stages of the project life cycle, and im now a project manager in the UK for past 2 years.
I completed a PMI CAPM course in 2017, but found it very bureaucratic - by the time i had finished all modules the CAPM exam was changed to a different version - so i never sat the exam.
Im looking to do a PRINCE2 qual since a lot of recruiters seem to ask for it - but when you google it there seems to be an awful ton of dross out there regarding PRINCE2 qualification. I dont want the 2 day "cram the exam" course.
Has anyone done PRINCE2 that can give me some pointers - seems hard to find even basic information about it. Should it be as simple as "prince2 for dummies book" + a groupon course for P2 foundation, then pay for a practitioner course later?
I dont mind paying for quality, but only if necessary. Id like to learn something in the process of doing PRINCE2 thats practical and useful for project management, if thats possible given the nature of the content!
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
If anyone has any course provider recommendations (if allowed under forum rules?), id appreciate it also - the amount of ads you get shown when you google prince2 is rather disconcerting!

ANDY597

I've done Prince 2 foundation and practioner over a weeks intensive training including the exam with the knowledge academy, classroom based.

Cost was circa 1k but the work paid for it, the issue is the exam is usually not included in Groupon e learning etc.

Foundation was easy to pass, practioner was more challenging. The class achieved a 60 percent pass rate and the resits were expensive for those whole failed circa 300 quid. Luckily I passed as would have hated to trudge through it again.

The fundamentals are that you manage by stages and be aware of all stakeholders and key decision makers. The rest is noise.

Id look at lean and six sigma before Prince as its antiquated and no longer the market leader in my opinion.

Hope this helps.

tommytucker7182

Hi Andy597, yes thanks, thats great.
I suppose a lot of recruiters are looking for a project management qualification to exclude people.

Ive not seen any project management qualifications except PRINCE2 and PMP requested by most of the jobs im looking at. Ill possibly look at the PRINCE AGILE course instead

tacpot12

I've held the Prince2 Practitioner qualification for 10 years. I did a five day course that I paid for and then a one day refresher when I needed to renew the qualification after 5 years. The methodology is very specific and the amount of knowledge is quite substantial - if you want to pass the exam, you really need to do a qualification with a good training provider and expect to spend at least four days learning all the material and taking the exam. Although the exam is "Open book" if you don't know your way around the manual, you can't answer enough questions in the time available to pass the exam!

That said, the qualification is much less relevant. Agile is where it is at these days. I would recommend you do a Scrum Master course in preference to Prince2. It will be better value for the money.

The best bit about Prince2 is product-based planning, unfortunately on a three or four day course you can't learn enough about it to make a difference to your project management practice.

Timpu

I echo Tacpot12's comments regarding Agile. I did Prince2, both levels and it wasn't long before my employer shifted to Agile.

I used the Prince2 for Dummies books (course book and revision guide were excellent). I was falling asleep with the online course and the classroom course for Practitioner was overkill.

jobbingmusician

A bit more info re P2.


The content was revised about 18m ago, so if you literally are buying P2 for Dummies (yes, it exists. I can see one from where I am sitting) make sure it's the new version.

I did mine online and it was OK - unbearably bureaucratic. It was through Barnet and Southgate College. I found it UNBELIEVABLE how awful the salesmen (all men) were when I rang up to negotiate prices*. I eventually got mine - Foundation AND Practitioner, instruction plus both exams - for £500 plus £50 for the big A4 book which I should have bought on Ebay cheaper.

So my advice is....

Make sure whatever you buy is instruction PLUS exam. I can't think that any of the places are going to be significantly superior or inferior on instruction, so you might want to do a cheap Groupon instruction deal and then shop around for the exam. (Be careful though as I have seen £500 charged for ONE of the two exams which were included in my bundle). And if you are going to do both levels, book them all at one swoop - my rationale for this is that they are cheaper to buy in a bundle due to the high drop out rates for the courses (caused by boredom, IMHO!)

Be prepared to be spammed by people trying to sell you PM courses the minute you make your first enquiry. Maybe set up a special email account!

Good luck. (Yes, I did pass both with no problems.)

*Re-reading this... I don't mean the salespeople were particularly bad at B & S Coll. In fact they were some of the best, but they were still along the lines of 'tell us your cheapest offer so far'.

ElusiveLucy

I've been a Prince2 Practitioner for more years than I care to remember. I did my original Foundation and Practitioner in a 5day course with Learning Tree and I have had courses with various suppliers since then to renew my qualification. I've gone back to LT whenever I can as I found their classes a lot better than any others. As part of that course you do the Foundation multiple choice exam on the wednesday and then the Practitioner exam on the Friday. As well as going through the methodology they also teach you techniques to get you through the exam - there are really helpful tips for the different types of questions.

Ezra007

It's not very strategic to learn something that recruiters/employers aren't asking for. PRINCE2 may be antiquated(according to some), but at the end of the day, it seems that it's still a highly requested qualification.

I'm thinking about doing myself.

Have you managed to find a good deal?

All the best :money:

tommytucker7182

To all replyers;
Thanks for the feedback - your time and input is much appreciated.

Im looking at several different roles and the PM qualification range is quite different for seemingly similar roles therefore ill see how i get on first at a few interviews, i can always book a course later when i know which methodology is best suited to the company i join.
Interestingly, there are no jobs im looking at yet requesting agile, but ill keep it in mind - i dont doubt P2 might be out of date.
CAPM was also mind numbingly bureaucratic... but... you gotta do what you gotta do.

I think the course requirement is very much a filtering mechanism... isnt it always... doesnt matter how much you know or how good you are but what tickets you have and what commitment youve made to your own education.