As higher education costs continue to grow, certificates are an affordable alternative. This is especially true in the project management field, as a four-year degree can easily cost a student ten of thousands of dollars. However, while a project management certificate is far cheaper, only 5% of holders are able to find jobs, leaving the natural conclusion that they aren’t so valuable after all. Nick Stekovic, the creator of Project Management Revolution, offers his thoughts on how today’s PM certification programs are failing short to prepare their students for the workforce and why the solution comes down to four factors: people, applicable practice via simulated projects, correct resume writing and interview preparation, and guidance for the first 90 days on the job as a project manager.
“The project management certification programs are very good at teaching one thing – theory,” says Nick Stekovic. “Don’t get me wrong – theory is essential. You must know the difference between Agile, Waterfall, and Hybrid methods in order to be an effective project manager. However, problems in the industry today are arising because students are kept in that hypothetical space. They never have a chance to put those methods into actual practice and play them out from the start of a project to its conclusion.”
The result is that individuals interested in a project management career typically don’t have the courage to even apply for a job because they don’t know how to manage projects or people and have never had a proper walk-through. If they do apply, they may not get an interview because they don’t know how to write a resume that gets them calls. If they are interviewed, they are unable to answer targeted questions about how they would handle various situations.
The other issue concerns the two biggest hurdles in project management: managing your own stress effectively and then managing dozens, or even hundreds, of team members, all of whom have their own unique personalities and temperaments.
With over 17 years managing $150MM+ projects and teams from Deloitte, Accenture, PWC, and CapGemini, among others, Nick spotted gaps in degree, diploma, and certification programs and decided to translate his experience into a nine-to–14-week coaching program: Project Management Revolution.
Nick’s four-step program fills these gaps and gives individuals what they need to successfully transition into this career and feel confident, especially during the first 90 days in the position, which can feel overwhelming if they are not prepared. He focuses on showing people how to master themselves and others, guiding them through the theory of project management, applying the theory in practice using virtually simulated (Agile and Waterfall) projects, and helping them master their resumes and interviews by working one-on-one with them.
Each student gets a complimentary 35-page insight report on their personality to initiate the process of learning applicable psychology. This lays the foundation for understanding themselves better, as well as other people, to understand how to deal with everyday pressure and stress often encountered in project management.
As a second step, Nick brings in the actual theory behind project management from PMI’s model (Agile and Waterfall) into actual practice through virtually simulated projects with pre-filled templates and step-by-step video guidance on how each project would typically be run. In addition to virtual projects, the program teaches basic and advanced knowledge of commonly used project management tools such as Microsoft Project, JIRA, Confluence, and SmartSheets in order to keep everything under one hood.
Live weekly Q&A sessions and Interactive workshops are held where students can ask questions related to the training and beyond with Nick.
The bottom line of this training is guaranteed landing of a project manager job in 12-14 weeks, or Nick coaches you until you do (provided students follow the program and come on each call asking questions).
Ultimately, Project Management Revolution is about giving certification holders and individuals jumping into this career a way to put it all together and jump right in on the job. Dozens of students have gone on to work for leading public, private, and government organizations around the globe, clearly demonstrating the program’s weight, effectiveness, and Nick’s ability to translate his extensive knowledge to all these professionals.
For more information on transitioning into a project management career in 12-14 weeks, please visit the website.
