What You Don’t Know About Google Project Management Certificate

My experience from getting this certification in 7 months.

If you’re aspiring to pursue a career in project management, the Google Project Management(GPM) Professional Certificate might be on your radar. However, the big question is, is it really worth it? In this article, we will answer this question by diving into the following aspects of the course — What does the program entail? The Pricing Policy? The ROI? What impact did obtaining this certificate have on my professional career, and could it potentially have a similar effect on yours?

1. GPM — What this Certificate Offers?

Offered by Google through the Coursera platform, this certificate program promises to provide a solid foundation in project management principles and methodologies. The instructors are all Google employees, who bring their expertise to impart knowledge and skills by mostly sharing their experiences with learners at both entry and intermediate levels of project management. What Google aims to portray is that this certificate can serve as a degree equivalent in the field of project management. Therefore, if you do not have any prior experience in any field, moreover, even if you didn’t go to university or college meaning you’re just a high school graduate, you can just get this professional certificate(or a diploma if you will) and start working in the field of project management. For this reason, the certification is so extensive and has a comprehensive curriculum.

Google also explicitly mentions on the course website, that upon completion, you should be able to directly apply for jobs with Google as a beginner Project Manager or in a similar capacity. Well, of course, Google will consider this certificate as your credential in the field of project management, but what’s interesting is that, in addition to themselves, they also mentioned that over 150 other US employers, including renowned names such as Walmart, Best Buy, and Astrea, do recognize this certificate as your credential as a beginner PM and are willing to entertain your job applications for Project Coordinators or similar roles.

That being said, it’s worth noting that when I searched on LinkedIn for project management or similar roles at these companies, I didn’t see this certificate being mentioned in the qualifications field. Therefore, for individuals without any formal education or prior experience in this field planning to get this professional certificate, and let’s say, apply to Walmart for a job, in this situation, well, I can’t comment on how likely would it be for you to get the job.

Now, it’s also important to mention that, even if you have little or some experience in project management, this course could still be very beneficial to you, as I like to put it, this is a one-stop shop to learn project management from scratch to an intermediate level. I believe you can only become an expert with experience.

Overview of the Curriculum

The certificate program is a combination of six courses, each designed to tackle different aspects of project management:

1. Foundations of Project Management: As the name suggests, this course lays the groundwork for project management, covering essential skills, the significance of project management roles, and expectations from project managers. You will notice that a lot of PM jargon has been used throughout the course, it’s all well-explained with lots of practical examples.

2. Project Initiation: Focuses on the initiation phase, this course delves into activities, stakeholder engagement, and necessary project document drafting for successful project kick-off.

3. Project Planning: After you’ve identified your project deliverables, and you have a good idea about the goals you’re trying to achieve with your project, it will be a good time to introduce the 3rd course. This course delves into key components of project planning, setting milestones, highlighting useful tools for tracking progress, and managing timelines.

4. Project Execution: Exploring the execution phase, this course teaches effective progress tracking, communication during scope changes, and management of project dependencies and risks.

5. Agile Project Management: Shifting gears, this course introduces agile techniques, with a specific focus on the popular Scrum framework, and emphasizes blending traditional and agile approaches.

6. Capstone Project — Applying Project Management in the Real World: This course offers hands-on experience by applying the acquired skills to practical projects, allowing learners to put theory into practice.

2. GPM — Pricing Policy?

It’s time to address the elephant in the room, the price.

Now, in Canada, this certification is priced at CA$ 49 per month for a Coursera subscription. To check the pricing policy in your country, I’d recommend checking Coursera’s subscription policy in your region.

However, before enrolling in the course, I’d suggest you take advantage of the seven-day free trial first where I am pretty sure you won’t be able to complete the certification program(I’d be very surprised if you did, but hey, you saved a hell lotta money) but you can at least try it out for free to see if it’s a good fit for you or not.. that’s what I did!

3. GPM — ROI?

For those who don’t know, ROI stands for, Return On Investment.

So, I spent CA$ 49 per month on this certification, and it took me 7 months to complete it.. therefore this certificate cost me a total of,

CA$ 49 x 7 months = CA$ 343.

Although, based on the suggested pace of the course, 10 hours per week, the ideal time it should take someone to complete this certificate is 6 months. Therefore, the total fee paid for them would be even lesser,

CA$ 49 x 6 months = CA$ 294

Well, even the CA$ 343 was really a fair deal for me, and here’s why…

Google Project Management Certificate also provides over 100 PDUs(Professional Development Units), which is very crucial for professionals(like me), who are aiming to take the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) exam and ultimately pursue the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification offered by PMI(Project Management Institute).

Side note, how PDUs work is, you get 1 PDU for every hour you spend on project management-related activity, be it, learning, teaching or volunteering in project management.

Now, if you’re aware of the CAPM exam you might know that you need 23 PDUs to be eligible to write this exam. And — if you look at the official PMI website, you will find that they too offer a Project Management Basics online course that fulfills this educational prerequisite of 23 PDUs. However, this course is priced at US$ 400(equivalent to CA$ 520).

Therefore, based on my research the Google Project Management Certificate is really a fair deal(at least for me) as it offers the maximum amount of PDUs and a lot of other perks for a much lesser price.

4. GPM — Impact on Professional Career and Personal Experience.

My experience from the course is really good! I think I got the opportunity to assume the role and responsibilities of a Technical Project Manager because of my good people skills, leadership ability, and ability to take initiative, however, as I progressed, I could realize that I did lack some core basic knowledge and skills in project management — I didn’t understand most of the jargon that’s thrown at me; I’m not aware of the tools and processes that might be helpful for me; I was not familiar with drafting formal documentation and record keeping, amongst other things. Thus, I started seeking formal and comprehensive education and training in project management as I never went to school for this. That’s when I stumbled upon this Professional Certificate offered by Google and I gave it a shot as part of my free trial(of course), that’s when I realized, this is exactly what I was looking for!

In conclusion, this certificate program significantly improved my project management skills by filling in the knowledge gaps and providing me with the necessary abilities to handle real-life project challenges effectively.