I have mentioned here a few times (1,2,3) that I was endeavoring to acquire certifications that match my experience in project management, operations, agile and business analysis. I didn’t have the opportunities to attend college and while I am proudly self-made after I moved out of the house and on my own at age 18, I have never proven my knowledge in any way except experience.
16 months ago, I shared some thoughts on Project Management Institute’s PMI-PMP and PMI-PgMP certifications and while these were very challenging, I continued to use budget awarded to me at Credit Karma ($5,000 per fiscal year for any employee wanting to grow professionally) to continue studying and acquiring certifications relevant to my experience and career ambitions. Little did I know the direction this study would take.
Beginning in August of 2023, I have since acquired 16 certifications as well as valuable experience attending Duke’s Executive Education seminar focusing on conflict resolution and influence. As of today, I’m putting new certifications on pause for a couple of years.
These acquired certifications were the most challenging and required the most study:
- Project Management Professional (PMP)®
- Agile Alliance Certified Scrummaster
- Program Management Professional (PgMP)®
- PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)®
- PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)®
- PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP)®
- PMI PMO Certified Professional (PMI-PMOCP)™
- Agile Hybrid Project Pro
Six months ago, after taking roughly nine days (3 courses) of boot camps related to some of the above certifications from Project Management Academy, I emailed their general inbox and asked if they were looking for instructors.
Part of this was thanks to the amazing experience I had with them. The content, instructors, backend software, practice exams and course materials were fantastic and I really enjoyed my experience. It was very professional. While I may have passed without these, I actually learn more in a classroom environment where I take off work, strap in via Zoom or in person at a hotel conference room and immerse myself with other learners in the material.
The other driver for reaching out to them is because I found over these last 2 years that I began unofficially acting as a career-coach or mentor to people who were looking to get certified. Even my wife is currently studying for her PMP with my help. I was helping colleagues and friends apply for exams, sharing links to materials that could help them study and working on their study time with after-hours zoom calls. I experienced how much these certifications helped me in growing my skills and establishing myself as a domain expert that I was driven to teach and coach. It was a higher calling that sort of came out of nowhere.
Over the last few months, I had multiple sessions with the Project Management Academy / Educate 360 team. They reviewed my background, we did interviews and info sessions and they even had me on two occasions teach content related to the PMP with little preparation and create a course from their materials. Every step of the way, it felt like an out of body experience despite living and breathing this material every day as a professional program operations manager.
After a few months, I received an offer to come aboard as a contract instructor for Educate 360. I would initially shadow a course that I had already taken as a learner and then teach a course with a seasoned instructor sitting in to rate my abilities. If I passed this, I would be invited to begin teaching classes.
Of course, I have a day-job and it’s a high-level role where I’m committed from 8-5 every day. I’m also a father to a toddler and we’re in the middle of rebuilding our home or moving (not sure yet) but this firm offers classes every day. Most are during business hours but there are many slots that take place on nights and weekends. My wife and I sat down to discuss the opportunity and how it aligns to my career goals (which I’ll talk about in another post when I find time) but the chance to teach this material to dozens of people a week and take up one or two courses a month could work and it would enable us to reach some financial goals sooner even if I just do it for a couple of years. As an instructor, my first 35 hour course required preparation in the way of about 70 hours preparing my presentation and notes. Sometimes the weekend courses will require travel and there may be a couple of weeks a year where I have to take time off that would have been spent on a vacation to go teach a class for a corporate group.
These are all sacrifices but I think this is working a muscle that makes me a stronger team-member at my day job. 8-5 is their time and 5-11 is my time. Making some extra money, helping people in their careers and working on my skills as a coach and instructor is going to be well worth it.
So from today, I am certified with Project Management Institute (PMI) as an instructor for the PMI-PMP, PMI-ACP and CAPM. I can also teach courses on any of the other certifications I hold except Certified Scrummaster (CSM) because that would require a CST or CSAT certification but not outside of the realm of possibility.
I’m nervous that I won’t connect with my students and bring the materials to them with the clarity and relevance they need to pass their exams and I’m worried about the balancing act from a fast-paced day job, being a father and teaching these courses. Maybe it’s one class a month as all I can handle but we’ll just have to see.
After running my first course, there were a few areas I could have done better and it’s very challenging to stand in front of a close of 10-20 strangers for 4 days reviewing 500 pages of content, finding stories, having conversations, drawing difficult concepts but I did well enough that I’ve been invited to continue teaching for PMA.
This is an exciting next step in my career. Thanks for reading.