What comes to mind for you when you hear about California? Is it the beaches? The food? The people? The technology? For some, it’s the career opportunities. While there are other states which draw more of the management talent in the USA, we can’t forget a little place called Silicon Valley that births the latest and greatest tech companies to grace the earth.
The rare ones who go on to become unicorns become too big for their own good. They might try to maintain a start up culture, but inevitably, politics gets involved as well. Politics isn’t always a bad thing though, it just means that you have to know how to navigate bureaucracy and red tape to get what you want. This is a useful skill to know as you work for larger and larger companies, making your mark.
If you’re currently based out of California and looking to work up, you might want to look into getting a PMP Certification online. I’ll cover this below. If not there are a couple options for getting a project management certificate which can also boost your career prospects. Let’s dig into it now.
1 – PMP Certification Online
I’m starting off with the global standard of project management certifications, the PMP Certification. PMI is the owner of the certification and numerous third party education institutions run classes to train you up in this certificate before doing an exam. The Project Management Academy is big one operating out of California. If you’re interested, click on the link above to check out their online classes.
2 – UC Berkeley Extension Project Management
UC Berkeley is one of the first places management professionals think about when it comes to getting high quality project management education. It’s a graduate course that has a number of required subjects before you graduate:
- Project Management
- Project Leadership and Building High Performing Teams
- Project Initiation: How to Launch Successful Projects
- Project Execution and Control
It can be done in person or online, tends to take 1-2 years and at $6,900 USD is great value for what you’re getting.
If you want something that’s a bit of a lighter load but still practical, there is also Berkeley’s Online Technology Project Management Boot Camp. It takes about 18 weeks and is an in-person, hands-on format held in Silicon Valley. Consider this option too if you’re working in tech management.
3 – UCI Project Management Certificate
UCI is the second well known university operating out of California that offers project management courses. At $3,585 USD, it’s cheaper than UC Berkeley but is by no means poorer in terms of the experience or quality of the certification. It’s delivered entirely online over the course of 6 weeks as well, so another great option if you’re not close to the campus itself.
Similar to UC Berkeley, they have four course units that need to be done in order before you can graduate:
- Project Launch
- Project Planning
- Project Execution
- Project Practicum with Multiple Projects
The goal is to be theoretical and practical, so you don’t suffer from death by Powerpoint. This might be more up your alley if you’re looking to fork out as much, but still want a solid grounding of project knowledge skill to use at work.
You should consider the PMP Certification if you’re well into your career and want the best the industry has to offer. However, if you’re looking to build into getting a PMP, going with a university and doing one of their project management courses might be a better choice. See what works better for you.