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Masters Degree in Project Management without degree

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  • 05-08-2015 12:24am
    #1
    boobar
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,226 ✭✭✭


    Folks,

    A friend of mine with about 15 years of experience working in IT, 5 years in a management role wants to look into the possibility of doing a masters in project management.

    He has no degree but thought his work experience may compensate for the lack of the degree.

    Has anyone any experience of having been accepted on a masters programme without a degree?


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    #2
    djpbarry
    Registered Users Posts: 13,104 ✭✭✭✭djpbarry


    boobar wrote: »
    He has no degree but thought his work experience may compensate for the lack of the degree.
    If he has so much experience, I'd be inclined to ask why he needs the degree?


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    #3
    johny33
    Registered Users Posts: 55 ✭✭johny33


    he can get a certification like PMI or Prince2 or similar...doesn't have to study for years


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    #4
    darragh o meara
    Registered Users Posts: 3,229 ✭✭✭darragh o meara


    Might be easier to go down the Certified Project Manager road, it's still a lot of work and I'm sure employers will favour someone with this as it requires real life experiences over a person with a masters degree with no experience.


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    #5
    boobar
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,226 ✭✭✭boobar


    djpbarry wrote: »
    If he has so much experience, I'd be inclined to ask why he needs the degree?

    He feels that when applying for jobs, there's a big gap when discussing formal education. The Project Management certification route would probably help a lot.


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    #6
    djpbarry
    Registered Users Posts: 13,104 ✭✭✭✭djpbarry


    boobar wrote: »
    He feels that when applying for jobs, there's a big gap when discussing formal education.
    To be honest, I really doubt it matters all that much at this stage of his career. Sure, most of his peers probably have degrees at least and it may, on initial inspection, seem like a glaring omission from his CV. But, any employer worth their salt will very quickly realise that this is not terribly important given his extensive experience. I certainly don't think it's worthwhile spending a load of time and money on a Masters for the sole purpose of just having it on your CV.

    As mentioned above, you see PRINCE2 on quite a lot of job specs these days and that might be a more worthwhile route for him to go down. But, to be honest, I'm still sceptical of the value of this kind of certification. My missus is PRINCE2-certified and she'd be of the opinion that adhering to this methodology in a work environment is often quite restrictive and counter-productive - a huge amount of time is wasted maintaining a plethora of PRINCE2-related documents, logs, etc. which had little to do with the project itself.


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    #7
    Sugar Free
    Registered Users Posts: 1,639 ✭✭✭Sugar Free


    OP, plenty of masters will accept experience in lieu of a degree.
    If your friend has 15 years of relevant experience that won't be an issue.

    I know someone who did the PM masters in UCD. He had no degree and was accepted without issue.

    Best bet is to phone the institutions offering the course he's interested in and ask.


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