If you run a search for “project management” across the web, chances are you’ll come up with a number of websites making recommendations for the exact software tools with which you can make use of your PMP training and certification. If you have the relevant background to draw upon, you may find some of these articles quite informative. But that’s not necessarily the same thing as finding them useful.
After all, once you’ve completed a PMP training and certification program course and gone on to find your ideal entry-level position in the field of project management, you won’t get to choose the type of software that your employer runs, will you?
Actually, the answer to that may not be so clear cut. Of course, no established business is about to ask its newest employees about recommendations for institution-wide changes. They’re unlikely to even ask about changes you’d make on your own work computer. But this doesn’t mean that you won’t have an argument to make over the long term. And depending on factors including your own personal persuasiveness and the extent of your information technology training, your employer just might listen.
This is in line with subjects we’ve broached on this blog before. High-profile PMP training and other IT-related coursework provides you with an opportunity to influence the institutional culture of any firm that employs you and is suitably attentive to the views and needs of its workers.
In the past, we’ve used this fact to explain why it can be worthwhile to pursue a broad range of information technology training programs, possibly including courses in both ITIL and agile, the latter including both certified scrum master training and certified scrum product owner training. While generally only one or the other of these categories are used by a given institution, you’ll find that some IT professionals advise becoming familiar with both. Even if one is normally unutilized, your procedural training might still come in handy in some specific circumstances.
More than that, you might someday find yourself in a position to influence your employers choice of procedures. This, of course, depends on your PMP training and other aspects of your background being sufficiently high-level that you can both recognize and effectively communicate the nature and benefits of potential improvements.
The same goes for the choices of software utilized by your company either within your specific role or across the institution. Some of the articles that are available online might make compelling cases for one piece of software or another, but this is unlikely to convince company executives, especially if they have been doing things a certain way for a long time.
If, however, the descriptions jibe with what you have learned from your PMP training, and if it’s clear to your employers that you have a well-rounded understanding of your field, then you might find yourself in a position to customize your work environment and make significant improvements to overall institutional culture and organization.