I'm thinking of doing a project management qual. I've been in consulting about 4 years and think it would add to my skills and be a useful qualification. But should I do prince 2 or PMI? I understand that prince2 is largely recognised (often required) in the public sector where it originated. Also, that PMI is more recognised by the US, and banks in the UK who might have a US influence. However, if I'm not looking to work in public sector, the US or a bank - which qualification should I choose? I am hoping to understand what the best course content is and also which is most widely recognised by other UK private sector companies and also globally. Would prince2 as a qualification benefit me at all in the US?Thanks

Don't bother, they're often considered a complete waste of time and money unless you want to do freelance work in the public sector or with banks.On a more general note, in my experience client senior managers (and very often management consultants) tend to have a cavalier disregard for good project management and the value that it brings. A pretty high proportion of project failures come as the result of unrealistic "high level" plans and woefully overoptimistic timeline estimates. And given that A LOT of nontrivial projects fail, there are clearly lessons to be learned here.EC

HiDepends want you want. If you want to learn how to do projects and programmer well findthe part of your firm that does projects well and learn from the experts by working on their engagements and maybe doing their courses. If you want to get certified in the same then prince 2 is not bad and has international recognition but pmi is probably better recognised but more commitment is needed.The membership of q prof body is probably more valuable and the latter would give you that.Also talk to the apm (.org.uk) who are uk centric and will help on certification.Neither prince2 nor PMI will make you a project manager any more than reading the highway code teaches you to drive. But they do help Hmm ... Execs ignore the value of good project management and projects fail. Wonder if there is a link ...

PS - I have quite a bit of project management experience (both successful and otherwise) where it's my c0ck that's been on the block. I get the correlation.

Thanks for the replies. I too have recognised the importance of good project management. Its amazing how some consultants, despite excellent specialist knowledge/ technical skills, are let down by poor project managment.Since I don't want to be one of those wasters, and also dont want to have to sit on a PMO project for months, I think I'll see if my firm offers PMI. Then I can apply it to my own engagements.