IT Project Manager career advice please

[Brias LP]

I will appreciate some advice. I am a Project Manager with a PMP and has worked in the utility sector for the past 7 years.
I am considering an industry / sector change based on 4IR and imminent changes. I also would like to have exposure to the ICT environment. What certification would be most attractive to potential employers and will help to avoid a big salary reduction?
Thank you

 

[Y'all Qaeda]

I will appreciate some advice. I am a Project Manager with a PMP and has worked in the utility sector for the past 7 years.
I am considering an industry / sector change based on 4IR and imminent changes. I also would like to have exposure to the ICT environment. What certification would be most attractive to potential employers and will help to avoid a big salary reduction?
Thank you

If you already have PMP then get PMI-ACP.

 

[R13...]

Yeah Agile is the thing these days especially for 4IR where most of the solutions are still nascent.

 

[Brias LP]

If you already have PMP then get PMI-ACP.

Thank you for the reply. I see on the PMI website that there is a requirement to comply with before taking the exam.

"1,500 hours working on agile project teams or with agile methodologies"

I am not aligned here.

Same old catch 22. You need experience to get part of the action but with no experience you cannot get in to get experience. It works out to about 9 months of full time work to get the min experience.

 

[Steamy Tom]

Thank you for the reply. I see on the PMI website that there is a requirement to comply with before taking the exam.

"1,500 hours working on agile project teams or with agile methodologies"

I am not aligned here.

Same old catch 22. You need experience to get part of the action but with no experience you cannot get in to get experience. It works out to about 9 months of full time work to get the min experience.

As a project manager you should know that you can promise to get 9 months of work done in 3?

 

[NightShift]

You could go get a Certified Scrum Master cert, which compliments the PMI well if you're looking to go agile. You just have to be clear on what you want to do though because alot of work that gets given to "Agile" PM's is actually Scrum Master work, and that work might not actually be Project Management related. Otherwise try some of the really big corporates that don't always look for specific domain expertise.

And then finally, just tell the PMI how you have been agile in your career. Sell that ****. There's a reasonable change they'll take your word for it and not check your background. My PMI-ACP application was accepted based on the info I provided.

 

[Y'all Qaeda]

You could go get a Certified Scrum Master cert, which compliments the PMI well if you're looking to go agile. You just have to be clear on what you want to do though because alot of work that gets given to "Agile" PM's is actually Scrum Master work, and that work might not actually be Project Management related. Otherwise try some of the really big corporates that don't always look for specific domain expertise.

And then finally, just tell the PMI how you have been agile in your career. Sell that ****. There's a reasonable change they'll take your word for it and not check your background. My PMI-ACP application was accepted based on the info I provided.

Until you draw the lucky card and they audit your experience.

I'd say, if you purely want to have an agile cert, read through "twice the work in half the time" then write the scrum.org PSM1 exam and start plying yourself into agile projects, get the experience and then go ACP.

Alternatively, depending on the projects you're working on, see what goes hand in hand with that. Maybe you could rotate towards training? What about DevOps? Is there an opportunity there? SAFe? You can do a SAFe RTE cert that will effectively give you the "program manager" role within the SAFe framework. Do Leading SAFe, which is a good entry into understanding SAFe, then go into that direction.

What type of work blows your hair back?