How Mugilan's Passed the PMP Exam? | PMP Success Story #pmp #chennai #infocareer

Myself Mugilan, I'm a project manager working for Technicolor Connected Home. Been with Technicolor for the last two years and I'm into project management for the last 11 years I would say handled various roles, worked with telecom IT and a lot of customers in IT. And project management is not new to me but I've been procrastinating to do project management certificate ever since I was trained in PMBOK 5 I'd say back in 2012, but I was, but I thought at the time I was a little experienced to go for certification so I didn't do it. And when I was in DxE, you know, aka HP Enterprise, I was given your name. You know, if I want to go for certification and that work enrollment is too hectic for me to, you know, sit for. I did not have a chance to, you know, think about it but in Technicolor we were given the opportunity to sit for a certification and that's when you know, I recalled your, your name and info career, you know, to as a good training provider in Chennai. So I contacted you and you gave a presentation and everyone is convinced and we had the training back in January like you said before Corona so can't really, you know, think that it's been a year, you know, and heavier, you know, after all. So in terms of the training, you know, it's, the content is, I would say it's really good. You know, although it's five day span training, you guys have covered the most important topic in terms of making people understand what is the core of PMBOK is concentrating on the topics where people pay less attention, I would say. But the way it was structured is very good and I can still remember the time I spent during the, the training back in, you know, January, you know, when we were discussing each and every topic and how it was taken through. Right. It was, it was really good. You know I, when we, you know, when we were at the training, you know, you said like you have to pick a date and you have to, you know, 21st I believe. But due to, you know, Corona and everything, you know, complete studying the Ping buck once. So time went on and back in November I decided like, you know, I'll schedule the exam and then I'll have the urgency to study. I scheduled it in scheduled for December 5th again I started but personal commitment commitments pulled me back and I couldn't do it. So December. You know, the one other thing I would point out is that the WhatsApp group that you know you guys, you know, don't pressure us but, but keep us informed. What is happening around and the repeated sessions for people who are yet to get trained, that was really a motivating factor. I would say it is not something a reminder. It's a motivating factor to align with our motivation and our goals. So I'm convinced that I want to get certified in pmp. So motivation factors keep on pushing me to, you know, I would say plan for it and you know, in a structured way you guys are proposing. So I decided I'll take the holiday season a long leave and sit and study for it, do nothing else. So I took around eight days leave and started studying one fine Saturday morning. So it was very slow at the beginning but after the fourth or fifth day I was able to complete all the knowledge areas except stakeholder and some topics in procurement. Then I contacted you for the mock up exams and started giving one the the real good thing I would like to point out is that we have to take the exam at the time we have scheduled and we have to, you know, take the mock as a serious examination, you know, in terms of the mindset and everything. So I was able to do I believe five mock including the cold pack and everything. And I scored consistently above 75 but below 80 in the 75 to 80 range. And I initially when I started, I started in my own comfort time. But once I rescheduled the exam to 29th, I kind of aligned to the time of the exam and it really helped me a lot in terms of setting my mind to, you know, to be ready for that because I am a night owl. So I stay up till 2 or 3 so early morning schedule is not going to work for me. But the time I took is around 8:00pm it really, you know, worked for me and the exam. Although taking the five mock test, you know, the exam experience is different. I don't know where I'll be if I don't. I would have not taken the mocks to be honest, because I can still recollect at some point in the exam I was just reading the question, reading the options and answering it, no second thoughts. So that strategy really helped me to, you know, I was lagging 20 minutes behind in the second half of the exam and this strategy helped me to gain 5, 10 minutes of the time to review it. And I did it for 40, 50 questions without blinking continuously answering the questions, looking at the options from bottom up. And the exam is really a different experience. And the training, when I open the book I could still remember, you know, the training we had back in January, how things were explained and it all coming back. It does not really happen in every other exam. And it was, it was really good actually that the way you explained, you know, in terms of, let's say risk management or I think which is COPE management integration and the tips you give in terms of the things we have to do before the examination and how to approach the questions, those really helped me a lot. What happened actually is that, you know, I completed the exam and I thought like, you know, from my previous experience, you know, I'll get a scorecard immediately, then there will be a review or a feedback, they ask. But it was something different. I was given the message that, you know, I passed, but I didn't realize that. So I thought like I clicked next and I went to the survey and completed and the application closed itself. I was, you know, for nearly one hour I was like thinking whether I cleared it or not. And that's the, that's the reason when I called you and then messaged you the next day, you know, I was asking, you know, this is the message I got. Is this something mean that I cleared it? So then you. Then I remember that one of the videos explained how to get the scorecard from psn. Then I went in and I checked. Then I got about Target. Then I was like, okay, I'm certified. That was a relief actually.

Very good, very good. Thanks, thanks, thanks. That's a great moment when you see. Congratulations. So that's. Thank you, thank you for sharing that. And so tell us what, what do you want to say to PMP aspirants? Okay, so anybody who want to go for exam, what do you want to say to them?

We have to, you know, those who are aspiring have to have determination because training is wonderful from Info Career and the way things are explained and their experience put forth. And I even saw a comment in LinkedIn when I posted the badge, someone who I worked with four years back said that, you know, they are quoted Info Career and yourself Lashmi and they said like, you know, I got certified from their training and I congratulate you for that. So the training is very good. So you have to have the determination to sit and study for the exam and follow the guidelines you guys are providing and take the mock exam seriously. And the rest is something, you know, you just go through it and if you follow this, this instructions, I would say you should be able to clear it. That's important. Determination is important. And those who want, those who are procrastinating. Like myself, you know, giving excuses to work and giving excuses to other commitments. So we have to at some point come out of it and plan for it because it is just a beginning of a journey because clearing the PMP is the first step and we have to continue improving ourselves in terms of the updates coming up. And that's, that's about it. Determination is a key I would say. Very good.

Thank you. Thank you for sharing it. And finally see this last three months now whatever you learned is a different issue, different thing. Okay. But the last at least two to three months, the way you work, the way you prepare, where you doing a lot of things would have been changed. Okay. So yes, the way of the way of life also would have been got altered. Okay, so how was that? What did you learn in this 2, 3 months of period in the last preparation?

So yeah, the key thing for me to unlearn what I have been doing. So I've been doing projects based out of the PMBOK methodology or framework they call it. So the earlier projects when be it in Ericsson or txc. So the derivation is from bmb. So I have to unlearn all those things and especially I have to plan for, for completing the read through of the PMBOK and that road to project success. So that is, that is the plan I've been doing for a long but every time I do it it is, it is either slipping or I'm crash, I'm completely crashing or closing it. So getting the momentum to. I would say I had my personal milestone. If I complete the first three chapters of the PMBOK within a day or two I told myself it's an achievement and the rest of the items are more of explanation. You can get it from the training if you recall the training. So the planning and setting myself small, small milestones to achieve and moving forward. So that is something, you know I used to do it back in college but after like 12 years I'm doing it and I was studying for three hours sometimes you know, seven hours a day like I was awake till 4am and hattps open and going back to PMBOK to verify, you know that is something I have not done for a long time. That is really, you know, refreshing. And I can clearly say now because of the preparation I did I should be able to take up any certification because I'm ready for it. Yeah, mindset is ready. So I should be able to take up any certification and I have a plan, you know a plan which, which worked, you know, perfectly. After a long time.

Sure. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks McLean for sharing it. It builds enormous trust on you itself. Okay, so that's great. And so how about the resources, what you practiced on the Road to Project Success IC LEAF and little about that resources.

Sure. The reason I relied mostly on PMBOK is that is mainly because of the way I read. I read or when I read, I interpret know what they are trying to explain. But Road to Project Success is very good in terms of summarizing things to a very key aspect. So when we read any process or any process group, they provide a basis of why they are, why they have this process, what is the outcome, what is the benefit. And RTPS has a crisp of that. It's really good. And every time we take the module based test in the infographic website, we can assess our understanding level. Let's say if we are looking at a schedule in a knowledge area and we might confuse between different scheduling, scheduled optimization techniques. But when we take that question, we know for a fact that we have got things confused or mixed up so we can go back and correct it. So that is like a first step of clarifying our understanding of the concepts. Then when we move to the intermediate and advanced levels, things starts to feel more like the actual examination wherein you don't know that the question is either from stakeholder analysis or any other part of the process. But you have to read the question, then start to answer it based on the options. Then the mock exams. So the mock exams are really good, resourceful and it sets the mind to it. I'll not say, you know, some people say that, you know, I took that mock exam and I got 10 questions from that mock exam. No, it's not correct. Actually the mock exams from Info Career sets the mindset that the difficulty of the question and how you should be prepared to understand that. Because time is the essence. So we can all study, we can all follow the training and follow the videos. But time is essence and it creates the mindset for us to do the task of reading and understanding the 200 questions and looking at the four options and answering it. And within, within that stipulated time frame that is really important. So I would say if you follow the instruction and practice it diligently, you know, we should be able to, you know, clear it with. I not say, ease with comfort.

I would say thank you, thank you for saying that and sharing that and anything. Finally you want to say to the people.

I'll give the real time example. So I believe we had 20 or 21 people in the batch. Right. And most of them cleared in the month of May.

Correct?

Correct. Right. And surprisingly, seven people cleared it. And I remember talking to the lead, Sri Krishna. He told me that six people have created and someone is writing as we speak. And I told him a message saying that you will get everyone cleared because you are in good hands. So you have to have that confidence. And it is not something that one person referred you. The previous people, the previous peers of project management who I spoke with, referred Info Career and Lakshmi Shekhar. If you want to get certified and if you want to prepare for the exam and understand things clearly, go to them. So it's, it's a proven fact. You know, I've experienced it and I should be, you know, happy to recommend to anyone who would like to, you know, go for it.

Thank you. Thank you. That's lots for me to hear. Hear that it's a lot for us. So thank you for sharing that. Okay. And so thank you for joining this call and I want to acknowledge you and as well as your team members, plus your family members. Please convey our wishes to your family members also. And please be in the community. Please be in communication. We already moved you to group of people, so please network there and then learn, keep learning and be in communication with us.

Sure. The pleasure is mine.