1.
Jeannine Javier

Feb 2, 2020Feb 2 at 8:33pm

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Tell us your career goals and the role of PM. Evaluate the value of certification, such as PMP from PMI.

I have almost thirty years of IT experience behind me. I am not sure what lies ahead. I wanted a Master’s degree to give myself options. Project management training and certification is strongly encouraged by my company. I figured it makes sense to add this specialization to my degree. I have managed projects before, and I may get certified, but I am not sure. I like the idea of managing project portfolios. Vinopal (2012) explained that a project portfolio contains an inventory of the current and potential projects of the firm. I have juggled multiple projects at different stages when I lead a security team. Barkley (2014) noted that managing project portfolios help get programs approved for budgeting. I didn’t handle budgets, but I got quotes and worked on pricing for procurement. My boss wants me to pursue project management and will help if I want to go in that direction.

I currently do cybersecurity on a government contract. I have a CISSP, a Security+, and got Splunk certified at Splunk Conf. last October. I have wanted to get the CISA and CISM certifications from ISACA. I might do that next. PMP would be an excellent certification to have. I think my company will pay for the test. If so, I will try it.

References

Barkley, B. (2014). Modern project management. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.

Vinopal, J. (2012). Project Portfolio Management for Academic Libraries: A Gentle Introduction. College & Research Libraries, 73(4), 379-389. doi: 10.5860/crl-277

2.
Brittany Nunez

TuesdayFeb 4 at 2:17pm

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I graduated in 2017 with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, so I am fresh out of college. Once I graduated, I realized I did not want to work in the Psychology field. IT has always interested me, and it was a field that I had general experience in while growing up. There was an opening at JP Morgan Chase, and they were open to interviewing recent graduates. I was very anxious since I did not have any professional IT experience, but I went in for the interview anyway and I was offered the job. I have been working in Global Technology Infrastructure (GTI) with JP Morgan Chase for three years. It has been such a great experience. I had to learn everything from scratch which was fun, and stressful at times. I was also promoted during that time which is a big accomplishment for someone without any experience. During my time in GTI, I became interested in Project Management. Project Management interested me because it is complex, and there are a variety of projects to work on, so every day is a different day. I really like how everyday can present a learning opportunity, so I feel that PM would be a great career path to follow. I also wanted to push myself again, and do something that I did not have any experience in. I’ve always wanted to go back for my master’s in Business. Once I became interested in PM, I decided to go back to school for a masters in Organizational Management and specialize in Project Management. Once I graduate this year, I plan on going for my certification in either PMP or Scrum master to start off. A scrum master certification is “an agile method of iterative and incremental product delivery that uses frequent feedback and collaborative decision making” (Silger, 2011). My IT experience with either a Project Management or Scrum Master Certification would make me a valuable employee because I can fuse together my IT knowledge with the Line of Business side while working on projects.

References

Sliger, M. (2011). Agile project management with Scrum. Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2011—North America, Dallas, TX. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.