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This is Why I'd Recommend the Google Project Management Professional Certificate... (5 Reasons Why)

This is Why I'd Recommend the Google Project Management Professional Certificate...


Coursera offers a project management certificate by Google which can provide individuals with the skills necessary to manage projects effectively. The certificate is an excellent way to learn about project management and improve your skills. While there are other ways to train to be a project manager, this is certainly quality material from a brand that is recognizable across industries. Here are the reasons why I'd recommend it:

#1. Project Management Skills That Transfer Across Industries in the Real World

The assignments for courses 1-5 are for hypothetical shipping project. The Capstone (6) project is a hypothetical restaurant project. The courses discuss how project management can be used in different industries, not just software and construction, though software and construction are frequently mentioned. Basic examples are also briefly discussed on how Google employees and the instructors have use their project management skills in the real world.


#2. Certificate Can Be Completed Quickly

For most of the 6 courses, you should plan to complete one course each 4-6 weeks and the recommended timeframe for certificate completion is about 6 months. However, you can do it faster. I was able to complete the course within 3 weeks during a two week work vacation, but that was a pretty intense pace. Please see the subheading below on my tips to complete the course quickly as this insider knowledge will help you navigate the course more quickly. The effort you put into earning a credential, will always affect the outcome of the quality of your performance on the job. So it may be best to choose a reasonable pace for your schedule and circumstances. It is much better to walk away with a certificate and receiving the full benefits of quality training.

#3. Bonus Features

Achievements:
  • 100 hours of project management education. 
  • Each course has its own certificate, 6 course certificates.
  • Professional Certificate. Completing the entire program qualifies you for the Professional Certificate (which has all 6 courses listed on it). 
  • Badge through Credly that you can send as a transcript for college credit for some degree programs.
Course Materials:

The program course material includes videos, practice tests, tests, interactive elements, readings, additional articles and resources, downloadable templates, peer-graded assignments, and a capstone peer-graded assignment. The course materials are comprehensive and provide students with the skills necessary to manage projects effectively.


6 Courses: 

  1. Foundations of Project Management
  2. Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project
  3. Project Planning: Putting It All Together
  4. Project Execution: Running the Project
  5. Agile Project Management
  6. Capstone: Applying Project Management in the Real World

Interviewing and Career Preparation Benefits:

The benefits include a Grow with Google Meets PMI 90-day free trial, access to the Coursera Job Platform, Big Interview access, and Interview Warmup practice. You will need to need to compete courses 1-6 to unlock access to these tools.

#4. Courses Build Real World Skills

The Google Project Management Professional Certificate is for for beginner and intermediate project managers that do not have other formal training or certification. The student would be seeking a career in one of the related jobs below and hoping to gain or strengthen the skills below.

Related Jobs:
Project Manager, Project Coordinator, Project Assistant, Operations Manager, Operations Associate, Program Manager, Scrum Master, Project Associate, Project Analyst, Project Administrator, Technical Project Manager

Skills developed in the course:
Organizational Culture, Career Development, Strategic Thinking, Change Management, Project Management, Stakeholder Management, Business Writing, Project Charter, Project Planning, Risk Management, Task Estimation, Procurement

Assignments

Quiz, Practice Quiz, and Assignments

The peer-graded assignments for courses 1- 5 are focus on a hypothetical company called "Office Green" and their "Plant Pals" shipping project. Some of the practice quizzes build on each other for the peer-graded exam assignments in the Capstone project. This hypothetical company is different than the one used for the Capstone project which is covered below under its own subheading.

Peer-Graded Assignments 

Peer-graded assignments require two reviewers to grade your assignment. I found it easiest to use Google Drive rather than conventional files. Before submitting your assignment, check the grading rubric on the submission page and make sure you have the elements that will get you the most points for the assignment. If you are graded unfairly or made too many errors, you can resubmit the assignment, or update and resubmit the assignment.

Be patient while waiting on peer-grades. Keep in mind that peer-graders are students and make mistakes, so you may have to resubmit your work because of their mistake. Mistakes are part of the learning process. So follow these tips and be prepared to quickly resubmit an assignment if necessary.

Tip: When attaching my Drive assignment link, I left a note for the students who would be grading to thank them and offer my assistance in grading their assignment if they left their link in the comments. I also put the words "CLICK HERE" in the link's title so it was easier to see the link since some students said they couldn't find my document when peer-grading the assignment. I have had this same problem with other peer-graded assignments in Coursera, so check frequently to see if your peer-graded assignment has been graded properly, and if it hasn't, you can opt to quickly resubmit to have it graded by two additional students.

Capstone Project

The capstone project focuses on "Sauce & Spoon" and their project for tablet installation in their restaurant locations. Some of the practice quizzes build on each other for the peer-graded exams. The assignments in the capstone really 

#5. Downloadable Templates

The project management templates that you will use for the assignments can be saved locally to your computer or can be stored on Google Drive. You may keep blank templates and the ones you completed for your assignments to reference in the future.

This is Why I'd Recommend the Google Project Management Professional Certificate...

Overall, Google has done a great job of covering the basics of project management and discussing basic agile concepts. It is a lot of good information, the assignments are practical, the downloadable templates are an added value to the course, and it is very accessible as a Coursera Plus certification. I'd highly recommend it for beginner to intermediate project managers who are looking to solidify and certify their skills.


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