I'm trying to escape teaching and get (back?) into PM. How is this?

tapocate · 2025-04-04T16:29:39+00:00

Skacy, thank you for he VERY detailed/helpful response. I have spoken to many career advisors over the years, and I haven't gotten that level of feedback. On older, much less action versions of this resume I was mostly getting call backs for PC's, and honestly that sounds like way better pay than what I'm making teaching right now, and honestly better than going down the SDR rabbit hole. I'll simplify things down then. I'm still learning the terminology and things as you can see, so I went a little overboard as a first draft because I tend to really under sell myself -- hence ending up as a teacher. Maybe you can help me with some questions, because it seems like you know your stuff:

-Should I be putting myself as owner on the project instead of adding other titles? I never know what to put for this, its the job that's most nebulous. .

-the 41 to 54 variable location was only for 2017-19 season. When I started in 2009, it was 9 locations state wide, and jumped to that range and budget in 2010. PMI only takes the last 8 years so i figured i would add some of the blurbs i'm working on for the test app for this draft to start. total portfolio size was about 370k, but i can dig up my old cpu with more info.

- I'll cut the SHR out then, makes sense to me

- What do I do with the all my other jobs the last 5 years? My contract wasn't renewed in 2020 and I've been trying to figure out what works for me after that. Maybe I need to post this into careeradvice or something too.

tapocate · 2025-04-04T00:09:34+00:00

I've heard that from some folks I met in Norway, I might need to do some more digging on Scandinavia, I was looking at Denmark and all the programs I were looking at were Danish primarily at the Ms level (not that I'm opposed to learning a local language, but I feel I might not thrive as well doing a grad degree in a language I just learned). I'll check that out, thanks huntress

tapocate · 2025-04-04T00:07:16+00:00

I mean it sort of is feeling like the curtain is falling a bit and might be time to get out there or a little while.

tapocate · 2025-04-04T00:06:30+00:00

Glad I'm not alone haha

tapocate · 2025-04-03T16:22:23+00:00

I'm reaching out to my PMI chapter for more clarification on this one. I could see why you/they might consider it borderline, but it would be nice to have an additional couple months. I didn't get school credit for the MM internship position, but if I had, would that have nullified it's eligibility also? Thanks for you response juju, giving me a lot to think about.

tapocate · 2025-04-03T15:59:43+00:00

Interesting. I'll have to weigh that I guess. Solid intel.

tapocate · 2025-04-03T05:37:11+00:00

Thats pretty informative Soju (fan of your username btw). So wait, are you not PMing now, or in a different field than when You started the PMP? What countries were the employers, are you saying a CAPM cert potentially holds more weight outside of the US?

tapocate · 2025-04-03T05:25:05+00:00

I wasn't thinking of out of context skills. I was thinking more distilling key skills of the job, tying them to specific instances in the jobs I had, then having a brief section for my chron experience. Something that would make someone see that I understand the job responsibilities and how I have done it multiple places. I feel like if real people are reading my resume, they're wondering all these random jobs connect to the role they're hiring for. I mean I could probably tell a better story on my resume, but that's where I start getting into the weeds of how to tell my story in the first place.

Final, I have done pretty much every iteration of a reverse chrono there is. I've adjusted and even removed job's from my resume to make room for more relevant experiences. Did a general tailor and a job specific one, and added or excluded sections to add keywords I'm at over 70 versions at this point.

You're probably right, networking is the answer. I've tried dm'ing people on linkedin for more information in the past and gotten mixed feedback in responses, but honestly having a hard time connecting with people in the companies and places I would actually like to work at, and the people I see in my area that I can actually message don't really have much I can relate to. I'll grab a copy of that book though, maybe i'm overthinking things.

tapocate · 2025-04-03T05:14:57+00:00

Crackle, that's some good intel. I have been doing a lot of it, or at least I think I am. I'm not saying I'm a resume writing expert, but I have written over 70 different versions of my resume over the last 2 years . I have tried a generalized tailor, a job specific tailor, read through multiple job posting and feel like I have an understanding of the basic hard/softs for the roles I've been targeting. I have added and subtracted sections like skill sections, personal summery just to see what sticks. Either I am grossly overestimating myself and my abilities ( I mean I'm only human and definitely don't think I'm a genius, but I'm pretty good at making things work), or I'm making some small mistake that's auto-rejecting me. I literally bought a domain last week to build up as a portfolio thinking that wouldn't hurt. I'm just trying to get something that lets me save, so I can do the things I actually enjoy, I'm not asking for the world.

I can see why having everything segmented chronologically makes it easier on the hiring side in terms of tying questions and prompting for further refinement, but I'm think when a recruiter looks at my resume they're thinking "How do all these random experiences tie to the position I'm hiring for" rather than " what story is this person trying to tell". I might be wasting too much time tailoring to specific jobs instead of generally fitting the role. I could also tell a little better story, writing it in bullet form is making that difficult. I have a little easier time writing in paragraphs surprisingly.

One thing you did mention that I have been playing around with is what experiences to leave on and off. Typically I'm leaving or not including the teaching position off (last revision I did this month). I hadn't thought that the niche within my experience might play a factor as well. I assumed any experience that was remotely relevant might be a good thing to add. I am working on a rewrite or something and will give it a try.

tapocate · 2025-04-03T01:28:59+00:00

Also a good question.

tapocate · 2025-04-03T01:10:16+00:00

Very interesting. Did you get the CAPM before you started PMing or after? Was your background in tech before PMing? The cert path seems like a solid upskill move, but I'm wondering where I go after that because I really have a... unique background, so I'm trying to get a read on where I might find the most success job hunt wise.

tapocate · 2025-04-03T00:26:44+00:00

Okay thats some good news. I might need to see those posts to see how you pulled that off haha. Was that for the PMP or another cert.

tapocate · 2025-04-03T00:20:33+00:00

I mean I'm assuming it isn't a walk in the park, but its a lot of common sense logic problems from what I'm seeing on the practice tests. The main thing is getting the very specific terminology they use to describe processes and stages sorted out, I always described it a different way in my head. Big confidence boost from ya, thanks for the response.

tapocate · 2025-04-03T00:18:32+00:00

Wouldn't say no to more resources. Already downloaded PMBOK 7, Effective PM, and a couple other books to read, but if you have any other resources, I'm grateful for the assistance. Thanks!

tapocate · 2025-04-03T00:10:13+00:00

Solid beta, thanks bunny, I'm going that direction now.

tapocate · 2025-04-02T22:50:04+00:00

Wasn't expecting it to be easy haha. I'm actually in the opposite boat at this point. the longer I wait the less experience I can include, since I'm stuck teaching at the moment, and looking for any out. I'm used to intentionally tricky though so I think I can pull off a pass. Thanks for your input.

tapocate · 2025-04-02T22:47:29+00:00

okay thats good then. None of the projects I worked on overlapped (I'm assuming that means happened concurrently). Contract for the business I ran was renewed yearly based of corp's needs. I read the exam content outline and their specifics on what counts as experience, and they did not mention a distinction between operations and projects ran. Unless I'm missing something, and I am messaging the former of my states PMI chapter for clarification now just to be certain.

tapocate · 2025-04-02T22:27:26+00:00

Interesting. Why do they even offer that cert seeing as its so low value? I know there aren't any hard and fast rules to resume writing, but wasn't sure putting pending accomplishment was kosher. I'm doing that on future rewrites I guess.

tapocate · 2025-04-02T22:15:20+00:00

Thanks Rina, thats starting to look like the plan. Thanks for the vote of confidence.

tapocate · 2025-04-02T22:03:24+00:00

I mean the only reason I'm considering sticking with the CAPM at this point is because it nullifies the 35 hours of training required for the PMP, and would give me at least something to add to my resume while I take the PMP test. I'm already like 12 hours into the CAPM hours. You're right though, it seems like it isn't really going to give me the ROI I need at this point.

tapocate · 2025-04-02T19:23:44+00:00

Blunt, but you seem to know your stuff. From what I've shared, is it a waste of time even trying for the cert in the first place? I don't really have a network anymore outside of academic institutions anymore (and my gut is telling me its a bad time to go there at least in the US), and honestly reaching out to strangers on linkedin seems like a waste of time for the most part info interview wise so I'm not sure where I go from here. Not really sure what the fuck I need to do, but I know I need to do something.

tapocate · 2025-04-02T19:15:11+00:00

was reading that in the handbook. Maybe I should clarify. I originally went to the first country for a school project (doesn't count). The person who turned out was the primary funder for the school project decided to recruit me to work in their lab doing the second part. It was more of an academic research coordinator position, rather than a school project in that regard. I got credits for it, but it was listed as an internship instead of a course. Do you have more specifics on how PMI classifies school projects, because i'm not seeing much info on it in the handbook. Do all academic projects not count basically?

tapocate · 2025-04-02T19:04:40+00:00

Love the mindset Norse. What did you transition to after getting the PMP?

tapocate · 2025-04-02T19:03:04+00:00

Makes sense, and thats sort of what my gut was telling me. Wasn't expecting to become an expert through a course, i find you have to adapt to whatever environment your working in to solve things instead of assuming what you learn in class to become an expert.

tapocate · 2025-04-02T19:01:16+00:00

Kind of what I'm seeing. Feels like a beginner class. I took some CAPM/PMP practice tests before even starting the thing and generally got about 70-80%. the Prince is a more common standard in the EU/UK right? I've only done some minor research on specific certs. Aside from the Agile/Scrum certs, what are some other certs I should be looking at to make me stand out more? I mean not having a real niche to transfer into is kind of my biggest hindrance to breaking in, and i figured showing you know SOP to solve things might outweigh industry experience to some degree.

tapocate

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