Which opportunities will a PMI certification give me? This was the question which set the stage for the evening where PMI Stavanger had four speakers lined up to give their thoughts on the matter.

Which opportunities will a PMI certification give me? This was the question which set the stage for the evening where PMI Stavanger had four speakers lined up to give their thoughts on the matter.

Ketil Espenæs, Consultant at Bouvet and the leader of PMI Stavanger branch, gave a quick introduction to the 25 people that had turned up for the event. The participants ranged from students to project managers from different industries locally.

Opening presentation by Ketil Espenæs

The first speaker was Knut Kvarme, from Miles, who had a very interesting presentation about agile frameworks in general. Knut talked about how they relate to standard project management practice and the different types of certifications (including PMI-ACP) and why it is important to be certified. He showed useful overviews of which certifications are available and which will give you the most benefits. In his opinion the PMI-ACP was the best certification which would give you the most value in the long run, both as an employer and employee.

Knut Kvarme talked about agile techniques and certifications

The second speaker was Pål Gjerden from Statoil Kapitalforvaltning. Pål is also a member of the leadership team of the PMI Stavanger branch. He did a fascinating walkthrough on his experience working as a project manager at CSIRO Australia and how his PMP credentials made him a top pick among the applicants. He also emphasized how helpful his PMP certification was in becoming productive right away in an organization with a dedicated project management office (PMO). We even got a glimpse of boxing kangaroos and the local crocodile dundees.

Pål Gjerden spoke about how his PMP certification greatly benefitted him in Australia

After a nice break with sushi and networking we were excited welcome Radu Achim, from Oceaneering, who gave a great presentation about how a Six Sigma certification comes to use when working with process improvement in the oil and gas company Oceaneering. He also gave us his thoughts on why certification is important and why it is beneficial to work in an organization where project managers are PMP certified. Since the people in the team were certified they spoke the same language and had a common framework, securing efficiencies when simplifying complex processes within Oceaneering.

Radu Achim presentating on Six Sigma and benefits of certifications

Last speaker of the evening was Mattias Georgson Petrèn. Mattias is a regional PMI mentor and shared his knowledge about PMI and certifications. He walked us through the history of PMI and gave some basic background on the PMBOK guide. He also listed ten benefits on how why certifications matter and also showed some nice overviews on how PMI certifications differ from others like Prince 2.

Mattias G. Petrèn showed us all the benefits of PMI certifcations

We got good feedback from several of the attendees and hope to see many of you again on our next event in November.

Click here for the slides from the event.

PMI-ACP = Project Management Institute Agile Certified Practitioner

CSIRO = Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

PMP = Project Management Professional

Prince 2 = Projects In Controlled Environments

PMBOK = Project Management Body of Knowledge