UBC Project Management Certificate
 

I am wondering if anybody has taken the Project Management courses offered by UBC continuing studies? The tuition fee is a bit steep at $10,000 for 4 months of full time studies.

I am an Electrical Engineering grad with approx 1 year of project coordination/estimating work experience. I have an interest in pursuing career in Project Management and I am wondering if anyone knows if the program offered by UBC is helpful in landing a job as a Project Manager at all.

Thanks In Advance

Whoa, I just saw your post via google search.

I'm taking it (100% Online though, not part time) right now. Hopefully you're still alive and can see this. :D

And this thread is officially.. revived. :thumbsup:

...wait so do you think the degree is useful then slammer?

^You mean "designation".

Project Management: :lol

^ It's hard to say. I'm still in the early stages, but this is what I noticed.

a) The course is rather useless unless you already have some project management experience.
b) It's definitely not the best value. Cash grab anyone? :rolleyes:
c) Stupidly enough, many employers specifically list such a certificate as a requirement on many jobs, if you look around in postings.

So I'm not sure what to say, other than "won't learn much, but *may* get you a job"?

I'm unfamiliar with the UBC program but I found the PM course at SFU pretty helpful when I was doing my undergrad (although it's a course, not a program). Is this to help you get your designation? It's pretty much useless unless you actually have PM experience... no one will hire a fresh PM with no experience just because you have a designation. In fact, pretty much all of the project managers I've met don't even have the designation although I know a few are trying to get it.

I've taken the course at UBC and in-house company PM training.

Here are my thoughts:

1. UBC - Cash grab. They are a PMI certified training institution. Of course they are going to charge an arm and a leg. The overall quality of the course, I did not find any different than the training received at work. The in-house training I received was taught by the same professor at Langara.

2. If you have experience in a PM role, you will realize that the PMI is a scam but as such, I am being facetious. Their fees are ridiculous not to mention their training and meeting seminars. I've been to several and found no real benefit whatsoever.

3. Having the training is one thing but having experience is another. Many companies will hire candidates with experience whether or not they have formal PMI training and/or their designation. The designation is primarily a bonus but will not necessarily land you a job.

4. From my own experience as well as the opinions of colleagues, after taking the course, we had to forget everything we learned. Each work environment will have its own corporate culture and you have to adapt to it. I'm not implying this is always the case but applicable in a broad range of industries, save for construction. Case in point - this all depends on your field of work.

5. Young project coordinators and PMs are the worst. They think they know everything after taking a course or a program in project management. They are stubborn and stuck in their ways from training, referring back to PMBOK over and over. This does not work as per #4.

That being said, despite the downfalls and drawbacks of PM training, especially through UBC, I would still recommend taking a simple/basic course through SFU (Continuing Education) or at Langara to any aspiring project coordinator/manager. While the training at UBC is intense and thorough, I personally feel that they simply embed peoples minds with the fact that the PMI standards of project management are the defacto standards of practice churning out a lot of young and inexperienced PMs with hopes that they will score that job paying $80K a year with benefits.

Vinny_G - The program at UBC provides you the training hours/credit to meet the prerequisite for your application towards becoming a candidate for a PMI designation (if that makes any sense.)