I'm studying again. Well, I'm trying to study but my stupid ancient laptop keeps refusing to believe it's connected to the Internet which puts a rather big hurdle in my way. I'll have to find a way around it because I've got an exam on Sunday.
Hang on, let's rewind the calendar a bit. Let's go back to the beginning of the year.
In February I set up desk on my new team. It was a brand new team for the company working on a product unfamiliar to the company. It was quite an uncertain time to be honest; we weren't sure if the product would be a success or if our client would continue our contract beyond the initial 3 month trial period, so there was always a big question mark hovering over the team. Given this uncertainty, I tried to think of a way I could make myself slightly less dispensable to the company (having gone through redundancy less than a year earlier I didn't fancy my chances again). I looked at the company as a whole and tried to find a niche I would work my way into. That's not to say that I wouldn't go back to the team I had come from, but I preferred the idea of moving forward given that I was selected for this new team in the first place.
The niche I was looking for showed itself in the form of Project Management. I could see that some of the departments were starting to go down a project-centric route, and after a bit of research and discussion with a good friend who has a lot of PM experience, it seemed a logical and cost-effective route to go down. A website called e-Careers had an offer on their Prince2 Project Management course at the time, and so, armed with a justification in mind, I sought an audience with the Operations Manager, pitched my idea and asked if the company would be willing to fund my study. He said no. So I signed up for it anyway.
I feel I ought to add, the company did put me through a different PM course - the APM Introduction to Project Management course which proved incredibly interesting and has been quite useful, but I had already seen that a lot of PM jobs specifically asked for Prince2 so I considered it an investment in a more commonly used framework.
I sit the exam for the first part of the Prince2 qualification on Sunday, and frankly, I'm nervous. Given my sudden exit from education and the massive change in career path since, I have concerns over my ability to do this. I've fallen into the world of business purely by accident and find myself frantically waving my arms around trying to figure out where I am. What if I fail at something as basic as this? What if I've just been out of the education game for too long now?
If I manage to pass this first Foundation level, then I move on to the Practitioner level of the qualification which is slightly more involved. But given that I was made up to 'Training and Project Lead' only a month or so ago I really need to make this happen. My manager gave me this role with the knowledge that I'm doing my Prince2 course, so in my head the continuation of this role is contingent on me gaining this qualification. It's probably not, and even with the knowledge I have I can provide support to the Projects Officer, but I'll be of far greater use if I get this qualification.
I dearly hope I manage to pull it together on Sunday. There's more resting on it than I can bring myself to put down in writing just yet, and passing it will undoubtedly unearth the thirst in me that I thought was buried the day I withdrew from Durham Uni.
I have plans. Big plans. Once again I'm trying to forge a path into my future that leads somewhere and doesn't just meander through the troughs and valleys I'm so familiar with. Finally, someone has pointed a finger in a direction completely new and uncharted to me but the proverbial grass is so lush over here and I'm truly loving it.
I really need to pass this exam on Sunday. It's the catalyst for a truly exciting looking future.
No comments:
Post a Comment