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Project managers are in high demand and have no difficulty finding a job. Becoming a certified project manager with this Google professional certification will give you an edge when applying for related positions.
In this review, you’ll learn everything you need to know about Google Project Management Professional Certificate.
By the end of this review, you’ll know what it takes to become a Google Certified Project Manager, how long it will take, what costs are involved and what the learning environment looks like.
What is Google Project Management Certificate?
The Google Project Management Professional Certificate is an entry-level project management certification prepared by Google and offered through Coursera. It helps students build the skills needed to work as project managers in various industries with a starting salary of more than $59K per year.
This Google career certificate is a great first step if you want to start a career as a project manager. It will also give you more than 100 hours of project management education to pursue the CAPM certificate, which is a globally recognized certification in project management.
Who Should Follow this Certificate?
This Google Certification is suitable for anyone wishing to start a project manager career. There are no prerequisites or prior experience required.
Upon completion of all six courses that are part of this program, you can apply for a number of entry-level jobs including project coordinator, project analyst, technical project manager, and project administrator.
What You’ll Learn?
By the end of this certificate, you’ll have the skills needed to run successful projects from start to finish. You’ll learn how to create a project plan, how to monitor a project, and how to create effective project documentation.
You’ll also learn the foundations of Agile project management, with a focus on implementing Scrum events, building Scrum artifacts, and understanding Scrum roles.
Time Investment and Certification
The total time to complete the Google Project Management Certificate is 140 hours. If you allocate 35 hours of studying per month, you can finish all courses in 4 months.
To get certified, you need to complete all six courses and pass all exams and assignments.
How Much Does Google Project Management Certificate Cost?
The total cost to get the Google Project Management Certificate is $156. The course is offered by Coursera through the Coursera Plus subscription which costs $39 per month. On average it takes 4 months (4 X $39) for students to complete the course and get certified.
Coursera offers a 7-day free trial to review the course material before committing to a paid plan.
Google Project Management Certificate Contents
This certificate includes six online courses. Although you can take the courses in any order you want, it is highly recommended to do them in the order specified below.
- Foundations of Project Management
- Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project
- Project Planning: Putting it All Together
- Project Execution: Running the Project
- Agile Project Management
- Capstone: Applying Project Management in the Real World
Course 1: Foundations of Project Management
In the “Foundations of Project Management” course, you’ll be introduced to the world of project management. You’ll learn the basic terminology and understand what a project manager does on a daily basis.
In week 3, you’ll also learn about the different project management methodologies and how to choose the most effective technique for a given project.
The course is broken down into four weeks and the total completion time is around 15 hours.
| Topic | Time To Complete | |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Embarking on a career in project management | 3 hours |
| Week 2 | Becoming an effective project manager | 4 hours |
| Week 3 | The project management life cycle and methodologies | 4 hours |
| Week 4 | Organizational structure and culture | 4 hours |
Course 2: Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project
In the second course, you’ll go deeper into project management and discover how to set up a successful project plan. You’ll learn what tools to use, how to set goals, milestones, and deliverables.
One of the most interesting topics of this course is that you’ll learn how to use Google Sheets for project management. As part of the graded work, you’ll have to complete five quizzes and a hands-on assignment.
The total time investment for the “Project Initiation” course is 18 hours.
| Topic | Time To Complete | |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Fundamentals of project initiation | 2 hours |
| Week 2 | Defining project goals, scope, and success criteria | 6 hours |
| Week 3 | Working effectively with stakeholders | 5 hours |
| Week 4 | Utilizing resources and tools for project success | 5 hours |
Course 3: Project Planning: Putting it All Together
The third course is your path to become a Google Certified Project Manager is the “Project Planning” course.
In this course, you’ll learn about the key components of a project plan and how to accurately set timeframes and milestones.
In weeks 3 and 4, you’ll also get a better understanding of how budgeting works for a project, what risks are involved and how to manage those risks effectively.
The total time to complete this five-week course is around 25 hours.
| Topic | Time To Complete | |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Beginning the planning phase | 5 hours |
| Week 2 | Building a project plan | 5 hours |
| Week 3 | Managing budgeting and procurement | 5 hours |
| Week 4 | Managing risks effectively | 4 hours |
| Week 5 | Organizing communication and documentation | 6 hours |
Course 4: Project Execution: Running the Project
The “Project Execution” course will teach you how to actually run a project. While the previous courses were more on the planning aspect of a project, this course goes deeper into managing a project.
You’ll learn how to identify which aspects of a project to track, how to analyze the data, and what tools to use to communicate your findings with stakeholders and the project team.
The lessons are spread over six weeks and the total time needed to complete this course is around 28 hours.
| Topic | Time To Complete | |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Introduction to project execution | 6 hours |
| Week 2 | Quality management and continuous improvement | 4 hours |
| Week 3 | Data-informed decision-making | 4 hours |
| Week 4 | Leadership and influencing skills | 3 hours |
| Week 5 | Effective project communication | 4 hours |
| Week 6 | Closing a project | 3 hours |
Course 5: Agile Project Management
“Agile Project Management” is the fifth course in the Google Project Management Certificate program.
In this course, you’ll learn about agile project management including the Scrum framework. You’ll learn what a scrum framework is and how to use it in real-life scenarios.
In week 4, you’ll also learn how to conduct a job search for an Agile role and how to prepare for a successful interview.
The total time needed to complete the “Agile Project Management” course is 21 hours.
| Topic | Time To Complete | |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | The fundamentals of Agile | 4 hours |
| Week 2 | Scrum 101 | 3 hours |
| Week 3 | Implementing Scrum | 9 hours |
| Week 4 | Applying Agile in the organization | 7 hours |
Course 6: Capstone: Applying Project Management in the Real World
The sixth and final course in becoming a Google Certified Project Manager is the “Applying Project Management in the real world” course.
During this course, you’ll practice all project management skills learned so far in the previous five courses.
The course includes a number of hands-on activities simulating the work of a project manager. You’ll be asked to analyze documents, identify requirements and create a project plan.
Once you complete this course, you’ll get your Google Project Management certification and can apply for entry-level project management jobs.
The total time needed to finish this course is 33 hours.
| Topic | Time To Complete | |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Initiating a project | 8 hours |
| Week 2 | Building out a project plan | 9 hours |
| Week 3 | Maintaining quality | 7 hours |
| Week 4 | Effective stakeholder communication | 9 hours |
Google Project Management Certificate Exams
To successfully finish the Google Project Management Certificate, besides completing all lessons you also have to submit all compulsory assignments. The exams appear in the form of quizzes and assignments at the end of each week.
Some quizzes are easy multiple-choice questions but the majority are written assignments you will have to complete and submit through the platform.
In the assignments, you’ll be asked to apply the skills learned during the lessons in practice. For example, you’ll have to create Gantt charts, risk assessment plans, project documentation, etc.
You can see below some sample exam questions to get an idea of what the exams look like.
How Hard is the Google Project Management Certificate?
The Google Project Management Certificate is not hard to get. It’s an entry-level certification aimed at people that have no prior experience with project management. There are no prerequisites other than having basic computer skills.
The way the certificate is structured makes it easy for beginners to follow. The first course is an introductory course to project management and the rest of the courses gradually build your knowledge and skills.
The exams are practical, based on real-life scenarios and on the concepts taught in the lessons. Even if you fail an exam, you can retake it without any restrictions or limitations.
In general, this is an easy certification to pursue if you are just starting with project management.
PRO TIP
Once you complete this course, you can expand your skills by pursuing a digital marketing certification. The combination of a project management certificate and a digital marketing certificate will open up new career opportunities.
Is the Google Project Management Certificate Worth it?
The Google Project Management Certificate is definitely worth it. It will help you build job-ready skills to start a career as a project manager. The course is prepared by Google project managers and is recognized in the industry as valid certification for project management entry-level positions.
Taking into account that the cost to get certified is less than $200 and the total time investment is around four months, this is a good certification to pursue.
In addition, this certificate is recognized by the ACE and you get 9 college credits (the equivalent of 3 college courses at the bachelor’s degree level).
Finally, the Google Project Manager Certificate qualifies for over 100 hours of project management education, which helps prepare you for PMI Certifications.
Other Google Career Certifications
The Google Project Management Certificate is part of the Google Career program that includes four more certifications.
If a career in project management is not what you’re looking for, you can read our review of the other Google certificates and pick a career that suits your needs.
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