I am a PMP

So as many of my friends, family and colleagues have known for the past couple of months I’ve been taking a course to become a certified Project Management Professional or PMP.  It was a two month long course which was held every Monday and Thursday evening and lasted for 3+ hours per class.  Having not taken a serious class in quite some time I did find it a struggle to get my mind wrapped around the material, especially the parts that required straight out memorization.  I would scream and curse at myself every time I started to lose focus while studying the material or couldn’t remember a simple list of terms.  I began to seriously doubt that my mind was functioning above anything greater than a life supporting subsistence level. 

During the time of the class, my training routine took a serious nose dive.  The two nights per week completely eliminated any chance to work out on those days and on the other nights; I was consumed by studying and preparing the homework for the next class.  Also add to the fact that my good friend and training partner @aristorat was no longer able to train with me due to the illness of his wife. 

Somehow though I made it through the course and started to catch on to the ways of a PMP as the course progressed.  However, I was still not at all confident that I would pass the certification exam.  Once the course was over, I knew I still had a lot of work to do if I wanted to pass it.  I had originally set the test date to be on my birthday (May 7), but knew early in the week that I was not ready.  Fortunately, I was able to reschedule the exam to the following week.  In fact, I first rescheduled it for May 11 and then changed it again to the 12^th.  The temptation was to keep on postponing the test, but that would just serve to make me stew over it for a longer period of time. 

As I was going, all I was doing was studying for the exam to the neglect of my children and job search.  I was simply focused on studying, eating, drinking, sleeping with the occasional run or bike ride with @aristorat.  I was consumed with passing this test and failure was not an option.  I hesitate to think about how I would have felt and what I would have done, had I not passed the exam.

By the time Monday the 11^th rolled around I was a complete wreck.  I spoke to one of the students from my class that told me she passed it and asked her opinion on it.  She told me that there were a lot of questions on the exam pertaining to information that required straight out memorization.  If that was the case, I was seriously fucked.  I decided at that point that the best course of action was to just let the cards for where they may.  I took a sleeping pill, and went to bed early so I could forget about fretting over the exam.  I woke up the next morning reasonably refreshed and committed to memory some last minute things I knew I would need for the exam.

I got to the testing center with plenty of time to spare and they let me begin my exam early.  Before I was allowed into the exam room, I had to completely empty my pockets and lock up anything, but the bare minimum of clothing required.  I had the feel they would have preferred I got completely undressed and perhaps wore a hospital gown so there could be no possibility of cheating,

The time limit for the exam was 4 hours.  It took me 3:53, which left me only a few minutes to go over the questions I marked for review.  I barely made it through any of these questions before my time was up.  Before they told you the results of the exam, the infernal computer made you answer a survey about the facility and other items.  I couldn’t stand it.  I just wanted to know if I passed or failed.  Finally after the survey, the computer started to do its calculations and after a minute or so when the screen went blank and I thought the darn thing crashed did the computer come back with a result.  I had passed.  I sat there for about 5 minutes in total relief before I was able to move.

The first thing I did once I collected my belongings from the locker was to tweet to the world that I had passed.  I then practically floated home from the exam center while calls from friends started to come in to ask how I did.

Later that night I went out for drinks with my friends Chris and @aristorat to celebrate.  We drank a lot and ate a lot and I blew off a lot of steam that had been building up for the past few weeks.  I was really glad it was finally over with a successful conclusion.