Anybody still studying for the PMP?

universalfrost

how is every body doing?

i landed a job with the treasury dept as a senior PM , but had to move to WV for it... i am singlehandidly rolling out an EVM and EVMS for the deparment and also standardizing all their templates (they had a mis matched grouping of templates and non met the basics....)... all the pm's are junior with the exception of 1 who is senior , but is a contractor who is leaving after his current project is over....

work is fun , but going to be a challenge getting the functionals to move towards EVM and the associated changing of how they do business... .

Quantumstate

No change for me. I don't want to leave Seattle, but there is no reason I shouldn't be able to get a tech job here. Gotten fairly discouraged and slacked off the job apps. Been working more in my old real estate field, though have little hope of getting financing.

Have a phone interview hopefully this week with a consulting company for Sr PM. Phone interviewed with the hiring manager weeks ago and she seemed to like me, but they have had a hard time getting others to interview me. Last week phone interviewed with what seemed like a junior dev, and it seemed like I overdid it on the tech shop talk; he seemed a bit intimidated. I think I'm still in the running but it just takes them forever. Seems like a great place to work though.

Got another phone interview with Microsoft two weeks ago (Performance Computing), but when he found that I have a computer security background he referred me to another hiring manager. The MS recruiter said it in such a way that it wasn't a turndown, but referral to a better fit. They're behaving like these skills are rare. She encouraged me that all you have to do is get hired, then all opportunities are open. So she arranged me a phone interview last Friday with the hiring manager, and it turns out he is a really nice guy. I think that went well and he said he will arrange for onsite interviews this week or next. They seem to have noticed that I gave up on Microsoft a month ago when that Key Manager decided to ditch my candidacy, and are encouraging me, but you never know.

At this point I am so out of practice for regular work that I wonder if I could fit in anywhere, without seeming terribly naive or green. Ten months laying around applying for jobs.

Meanwhile I am trying to make my real estate go. I am really good at that. Stock market took the fortune I'd made in real estate about fifteen years ago. Financing is getting easier now, but I just do not have 15% to put down.

N2IT

QS that is great news. Keep your chin up you'll do fine. I am glad to see things are progressing in the right direction. Good luck on those interviews and with your real estate effort.

-Patrick

Quantumstate

Well for the consulting position, I was turned down in the phone interview by the Sr PM I'd be working with. No reason given, but he seemed to be looking for ways to knock me out rather than probing my abilities.

And for the Microsoft position, I made it through three technical phone interviews and was invited to on-site interviews for a Sr. PM position. I made it through two days of those and had one day of interviews left when I got a call from HR cancelling the rest of my interviews. For those who don't know how this works, you go through a seiries of interviews over several days, and if any manager decides against you, all subsequent interviews are cancelled. HR was still gathering info, but knew at this point that I came off well but that my knowledge of viruses was not up to par. (The job was involving this) This is confusing because I was never asked about viruses, only about a few aspects of security. But the bottom line is I'm out. HR said that I got on well with the hiring manager, so she is checking with him to see if there is anything else he might have for me, but let's face it, I'm out.

I knew going in that I wouldn't be able to take another rejection from Microsoft. I've applied for 236 PM jobs there, not to mention hundreds and hundreds elsewhere. This seems hopeless. I'm going to start looking in to getting disability.