MS Project Ceritification

[Roanoke - VA]

Is there any type of certification for MS Project 2003? If I wanted to teach
MS Project 2003, would I need to first take a certification test for this?

Thanks.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Roanoke - VA --

Before you would attempt to teach Microsoft Project 2003, I would recommend
that you be strongly conversant with project management principles and the
project management process, and have signficant experience with using
Microsoft Project in a work environment. Microsoft Project is totally
different from other Office software applications, such as Word and Excel,
which someone can learn by using a book or taking a class, and then turn
around and become a teacher of the software.

The world is filled with Microsoft Project teachers who do not know how to
use the too in the real worldl, even though they teach the software for a
living. I would hate to number you among their ranks. To test your
knowledge of the software, read through the questions in this newsgroup and
see if you can answer any of the questions. If you can answer many of the
questions correctly, then you may be ready to teach the software. If you
cannot answer many of the questions, then you probably need more experience
with the software. A software certification will not qualify you to teach
Microsoft Project 2003. Hope this helps.

 

[Steve House [MS Project MVP]]

I absolutely echo Dale's comments. There are a lot of trainers around who
teach MS Project strictly from the mechanics of "how to work the software"
and some of the most popular courseware is written from that same
perspective. I personally find that approach extremely lacking. A far
better approach is a course in "Project Management Using MS Project"
focussing on the ideas behind the product. You don't need to be a
professional writer to know everything there is to know about using MS Word
but you do need to have at least a good feel for the concepts and
disciplines of professional project management in order to use MS Project
most effectively.

As to certification tests, there really aren't any currently specific to MS
Project. There used to be a MOUS certification for Project from Microsoft
similar to the user certifications for the other Office products but that
has been withdrawn for some reason. Replacing it is a joint venture
initiative between Microsoft and the International Institute of Learning
that you can read up on from this link -
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2003/oct03/10-14MSIILCertPR.asp.
There's the PMP certification from PMI (www.pmi.org) but that is not
software specific, in fact doesn't deal with software at all, and in any
case requires far more than just writing an exam to obtain, including a
requirement for substantial on-the-job work experience as a project manager.
Another exam-based certification, the IT Project+ certification from
Comptia, has a certain degree of popularity as an entry level PM
certification because it doesn't have the job experience prerequisite of the
PMP but again it doesn't deal directly with MS Project or any other PM
software per se.

My own opinion only - as a society and as an industry we have come to value
real education way too little and certifications way too much. I still
harbour the ideas implanted by my university profs many years ago that the
only time anyone should give a damn about whether you got your ticket
punched is when you're still wet behind the ears and applying for your very
first real job fresh out of school.

 

[Dale Howard [MVP]]

Steve --

As always, excellent comments based on your years of experience! Well said,
my friend!

 

[buggerbuggerbugger]

My own opinion only - as a society and as an industry we have come to
value real education way too little and certifications way too much. I
still harbour the ideas implanted by my university profs many years ago
that the only time anyone should give a damn about whether you got your
ticket punched is when you're still wet behind the ears and applying for
your very first real job fresh out of school.

amen.