I am a Project Management Professional (PMP)
As of this afternoon, I am now a Project Management Professional (PMP), certified by the Project Management Institute (PMI).
In order to achieve this certification, I had to document 4,500 hours of time leading project tasks, 35 contact hours of project management training, and pass the exam. I actually documented about 5,600 hours of time and 71 hours of training. This certification is not so much a new skill for me as the formal recognition of skills that I already have and use. This should enable me to more easily get through the screen for positions that require these skills and/or certification.
My wife got this certification several years ago, so we are now a 2 PMP family.
A quick life update
Here’s what’s going on in my life at the moment.
Job Search – I’ve been putting most of my effort into gaining Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the PMI. My application has been approved and I’m scheduled to take the test next Thursday. I’ve been spending the majority of my time during the day preparing for the application, taking an online class, or studying. As a result, my job search has been more or less temporarily stopped. This certification will open up many job openings that I do not qualify for today – not because I can’t do the job, but because the company chooses to require this certification.
Church – As I wrote below, Project Open Door has completed its work. We’re going to have a bit of a social celebration soon to close out. Deacon stuff is keeping me busy – I had coffee duty last week, Shrove Tuesday dinner this week, and next Sunday I’m serving communion at the morning service and perhaps again at the Worship in a New Key service. I may also play drums at the WINK service in some fashion, and we have youth group afterwards. Tonight I’m going to the Pennington School with our youth director to see the production of Wizard of Oz that at least one of our youth is in.
Home – It’s been a busy week – Carolyn or I have been out each night this week with something. Monday was the monthly ham radio emergency test, Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday, last night was her yoga and Ash Wednesday, and tonight I have the school production. The weekend is hockey-free and will be quieter. House is fine, wife is fine, cats are fine.
Faith and Discomfort
As my readers know, I’m going through a tough time right now. Being out of work for 6 months (tomorrow) is very difficult.
I have often heard people make statements about people going through difficult times (unemployment, death in the family, personal health problems) along the lines of “he/she has his/her faith to comfort him/her”. Or people speak about how their faith has been a comfort to them, creating a feeling of peace.
I don’t get that. I can’t think of a single experience when my life was difficult where my faith was a comfort to me. I can think of several happy times where I’ve felt something akin to “God in the room” and once akin to “God in my heart”. But those have never been difficult times. When life gets tough for me, it seems like God is absent.
For me, faith has always been more of a discomfort. I’m Presbyterian, and like all Reformed people I believe that we are not as good as we can be and must always strive to better ourselves. For me, faith is part of what pushes me to be a better person. Faith is a Discomfort. Faith is a way to push me off of my comfortable pattern of behavior in order to better myself or help others more. I’ll never be perfect. Faith pushes me to be better.
My pastor did a sermon on this that clearly stuck with me as I remember it over 2 years later: The Discomforter
That’s great while things are good. When things are bad, faith is still pushing me to improve. At that point I’m in a more fragile state – needing to be reminded that I am good. And my faith is telling me otherwise – that I can be better. The conclusion that is easy to draw is that my lack of perfection (or distance from perfection) is the reason for what happened to me. This is particularly true in work-related trouble – it’s easier to take a pass on personal reponsibility with a bad situation in a family member or a health situation.
I’ll also note a previous post that mentions the situation (coincidence?) that the worst parts of my life have been preceded by heavy church involvement. I’m not sure what the cause-effect relationship is there.
So for me, faith is more of a discomfort.
There is one exception. When life gets me down, the people who help me the most (aside from Carolyn) are church people. They do their best to understand what is happening with me, and to try to keep up with my life even though that might involve hearing unwanted bad news. Church people will pray for you, and even if God is not hearing those prayers you know that someone out there cares for you – and usually not someone who wants something from you. I’ll admit it – I’m not an easy person to deal with when experiencing heavy negative emotions, but they keep trying.
I know what you’re thinking. You’re saying to yourself, “Hey, Mark! Those people ARE God’s presence for you.” And you’re probably right. And I do realize that and appreciate it (though that appreciation may not make it through the emotions that I’m feeling to the surface).
I just don’t get faith as comfort.
So God – thank you for your people who you have sent to help me. There are too many of them to list here, but know that I see their efforts and appreciate them. Amen.
2008: My personal year in review
Filed under: Admin, Job Search, Life, Religion, Work, Young Adult, Youth
Good riddance.
It’s not that the year was all bad. Some of it was really very good. It’s just that the bad outweighed the good. Most of this was due to one very bad thing.
Work
This was a particularly bad year. I’m not going to go into details, but you should assume that life at my former employer wasn’t particularly fun before August. In August, I was laid off from a job that I’d held for 13 1/2 of the last 15 years. It only helps slightly that this employer ultimately filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November.
And if that wasn’t enough – the economy tanked at the same time. The cause of the company’s failure wasn’t solely the economy, but it was a big part of it. Jobs just plain dried up from September through early December. There are signs that things are easing now.
If it weren’t for positive things and positive people in the rest of my life, I don’t know how I would have handled this.
Church
The good:
I LOVE my youth group. The young men and women that I work with more or less every week are all wonderful, and I learned a lot about myself, them, life and God over the last year. Sunday afternoon/evening is the high point of my week.
The summer trip to the Montreat Youth Conference was one of the top 10 experiences of my life. I truly feel that God spoke to me that week in some fashion. I know that my faith deepened, and that the same happened to most if not all of the group from our church that went on the trip. I also feel that I grew outside of the religious aspects. (Of course, this high leaves me wondering where God is in my life now, when things are not so good.) The biggest thing that I learned this year – while I care a lot about our youth, they care about me too.
Putting together the Moderator Meet and Greet event in April was a lot of fun as well as being a lot of work. I met a lot of new and wonderful people. The event was well attended, and I hear that it helped commissioners make a decision at General Assembly.
Meeting in person and working online with other church leaders has been mostly positive. I’m amazed at how strong the online Presbyterian-and-beyond religious community is. I’ve felt support when I needed it and given and watched it flow the other way when others needed it.
Serving as a deacon has been rewarding. This is work that I know that I can do and do well, and that is relatively easy, and that aids the church. That’s sort of the point, isn’t it? I just have to be careful not to schedule myself too heavily (like the Sunday that I had coffee service AND served communion AND agreed to set up tables for a later event).
My committee studying hospitality, visitor and community issues for the church has nearly completed its work. We have identified 19 issues and more than 19 suggestions for how to change/fix/handle those issues. We present to the Session in February. The team has worked hard and learned a lot.
Serving as the new webmaster for the church’s website and weekly e-mailed newsletter has been a growth experience for me. It has forced me to learn new technical skills and also to generate a little content independently.
The bad:
The worst has to have been the controversy over my blog in March/April/May/June of this year. I don’t know if people realize it, but the church was about 12 hours from losing me in April – the only things keeping me were the facts that Youth Sunday and the Moderator Meet and Greet were imminent responsibilities of mine. This event only took 2nd to the loss of my job in how poorly I felt while in the middle of it.
I am also continually dismayed by the negative tones in some conversations/fights/battle-royales in the church community over the hot button issues of today. Those of us within the church fight harder and with less love than we do with our colleagues in other denominations or religions, even though the points of disagreement are far smaller and unimportant.
Home
Home life continues to be solid. Carolyn and I have ridden out the very rough patches of the 2nd half of the year with no negative effect on our relationship. Most of this is due to Carolyn’s very conservative nature when it comes to money, and the strong planning ability that both of us have. She continues to be supportive at a very difficult time in my life and it has brought us if anything closer together.
The cats are still fine. They turn 13 tomorrow. Isaac is still suffering from a bit of arthritis in his hips, but the daily Cosequin is helping. Both of them still have a fair amount of kitten left and still go running around like crazy animals occasionally. Albert has had no recurrence of his kidney issues.
The house is fine. We have had to put off a bit of home repair work (mainly fixing the fireplace chimney that failed a while back) for economic reasons. Nothing important is wrong, and we continue to love living here. It’s a great neighborhood – not too noisy, not too quiet, and plenty of kids running around.
My car has had a rough year. I was rear-ended in July and minor damage was done to my rear bumper. It was fixed pretty quickly, but it took about 4-5 months before the insurance companies paid my deductible. Here’s a tip – no matter how late you are, don’t pass on the right on a one-lane on-ramp.
Health
No major changes. On the Montreat trip I lost a number of pounds due to the stairmaster-like qualities of the village of Montreat (to get anywhere you have to walk down a big hill and up a big hill). The emotional strain of being out of work took off some more. I’ve managed to end the year a net 10 pounds down. Otherwise, my health remains the same.
I’m hoping that 2009 will be a combination of the continuance of good things, and an end to the bad things that are happening now. I see new hope in the elections of both our PC(USA) Moderator and the new President of the USA. It remains to be seen if that hope turns into a better reality for the country, church, and me.
Happy New Year!
Thanksgiving Weekend Update
It’s time for another update.
This year is different. Being out of work at a holiday is both easier and harder than usual. Easier – because there’s more free time to prepare. Harder – because the situation does tend to drag on you. This year I am thankful for what I still have: my wife, my home, my health (more or less), my cats, my church youth group, my other church friends, and all of my friends who have been so helpful with my job search.
The job search continues. I have a few irons in the fire for possible permanent positions, and I’m starting to look at consulting as a temporary or permanent solution. I have heard from several companies that they are impressed with my skills and experience, and that they need someone who can do what I do, but that they are unable to hire at the present time. They’re telling me that they’ll get back to me in the first quarter of next year, assuming that I’m still available (and truthfully – I hope that I’m not).
This weekend is alternating nothing and crazy. Here’s a quick rundown:
Today (Wednesday) – Later this afternoon I’ll knock off the job search and start vacuuming the whole house. Tonight Carolyn will start preparing the stuffing for tomorrow’s dinner.
Thursday (Thanksgiving) – Carolyn’s parents will be arriving at our house in the morning, and all of us will head over to my parents in the early afternoon for the big extravanganza. (Carolyn’s aunt, uncle and cousin will go to my parents independently.) The afternoon should include dinner, a post-dinner snooze or walk around the neighborhood, then dessert and probably the Eagles game. The Brennan parents and Carolyn and I will head home and the Brennans will stay overnight at our house.
Friday – The in-laws will head back home at some point. So far, nothing else is planned.
Saturday – No big plans, but there’s a Trenton Devils game in the evening. Carolyn will probably make the dessert for tomorrow.
Sunday – Church-a-palooza. This is what happens when I’m not paying attention while scheduling. I’m on deacon coffee service before and after worship, I’m serving communion during worship, and then after Fellowship Hour is over I’m setting up tables for the evening Hanging of the Greens Advent Potluck Dinner. In the afternoon Carolyn and I will prepare a salad, then we’ll go back to church for said potluck and cleanup. It’s actually a good thing that I’ll be that busy – it offsets the week. This is a semi-historic worship service – the “first elder under age 18 in 310 years” is also serving communion for his first time.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Help name a business
One of the options that I’m considering for my job search is to form my own company providing computer services to churches and church-related organizations. Some of you have received a questionnaire from me that will help me determine the demand for such services and the price that the market will carry. (If you didn’t get a questionnaire and would like to help, send me an e-mail.)
One thing that I’m having trouble with is coming up with a name. The business name I used previously for consulting was based on my name and the word “Consulting”, which is pretty boring. I’d like something that mentions what I do, perhaps has a faith link to it (though not too heavy – I wouldn’t want to turn off clients other than churches during lean times), isn’t commonly used for something else (example: FaithWorks) and has the domain name available on the Internet. (A note on that last – if you want to check DON’T use one of the domain registry sites – that just tips them off to reserve the name for themselves to sell to somebody. Use THIS instead.)
If you find one that sounds good (or if you find one that’s funny that you want to share), just leave a comment or send an e-mail.
Thanks!
A bit of a round-up
Hello, readers. I have been neglecting you lately.
Here’s a bit of a round-up on things going on with me at the moment.
Job Search – I think I’m going to stop counting days on the blog. I’ve been making good contacts in the last few weeks, and today I have my first meeting with a “hiring manager” (someone who is in the right position to potentially hire me). It’s not an interview – just a meeting. The search is going slower than I’d like, but apparently reasonably on track according to my outplacement coach. The economy and general financial crisis aren’t helping.
Church – This part of my “non-work” life is busy. My deacon work is adding a little time to my Sunday mornings, plus I’m serving as the “e-mail reminder” person who sends a note to the deacons scheduled for a particular Sunday. My youth work is keeping me busy as well – the time commitment is a bit higher than last year because of some schedule changes for the Sr. Highs, but it’s completely worth it to me. I was asked to be the webmaster for the church website, and I’m investigating how much time that actually takes – it might be too much. Project Open Door is moving along nicely to the end of our chartered work – we brainstormed issues surrounding hospitality, visitors, relations with the community, and inactive members last week. In our next meeting we’ll brainstorm solutions, and then start writing up the report to the Session to be delivered in January. I’m looking at starting spiritual direction. Aside from a minor dust-up this week, all is well in this department. I will admit to my faith taking a beating due to my job situation, though.
Home – All is well. Carolyn is a conservative spender by nature, and I am one when the situation calls for it. We’ve pulled way back on our discretionary spending and even made some more economical choices with our necessary spending. This is setting us up well for a long siege if necessary. The lack of a job hasn’t hurt my relationship with Carolyn that I can see. The cats love having me home more often. The homefront is safe and stable right now, and financially prepared for a while. Carolyn is still taking next week off from work (a Smith family vacation including my parents and siblings was planned for Orlando – we have to miss it for financial reasons), and I’m taking our anniversary on Wednesday off from job searching.
Ham Radio – I’m still participating a little. I haven’t been able to purchase equipment beyond an HT (walkie-talkie-style radio) and accessories. I saw the trouble in the economy coming even before I knew that I’d be laid off, and chose not to spend in this area. I am staying involved with some emergency management and public safety events, and I’m still attending the club meetings. I think I’m qualified now to get a key to the club’s radio shack and will pursue that soon – they have LOTS of equipment for club member use there. Unfortunately, ham radio activities tend to be scheduled at the same time as church events, and between the two church wins.
That’s about it. As always I welcome any comments, and assistance in my job search.
Job Search – day 33 – trying to be light
Sorry for the lack of posts, but I’m finding that job searching isn’t leaving a lot of energy for blogging.
Here’s the update – I’m still looking. My networking is starting to work better, but it hasn’t led to anything solid yet.
In outplacement, they tell you that you have a job – finding a new job IS your day job now. I’m not finding that particularly motivating (who wants THIS job?), but it does bring up some fun concepts if you think outside the box.
Reasons that the Job of Searching for a Job is Good
- You usually have a really short commute.
- Parking at the “office” is really easy to find (for many people)
- You can bring your pets to work (most of the time)
- The cafeteria is always serving what you want for lunch (or at least what you bought)
- You get to set your own hours
- You have complete control over your schedule, and what you do at any given moment
- You are your own boss (and you are your own janitor)
- The office is not too hot or too cold, or you can fix it
Don’t get me wrong – I’d rather not have those advantages. But at least there is a tiny lighter side.
Do you have any to add? Leave a comment.
Job Search – day 25
I’m sorry I haven’t written about the job search for a while.
Last Monday, I reached the point where I was ready to launch my search. I’m now looking to use networking to gain introductions to people at a list of 70-ish companies and organizations that I’m targeting. I’ve been meeting with friends and former co-workers and family and folks from church to see who knows someone who might be able to help.
So far it’s slow going. I’ve had a few folks who have given me other people to contact, or have done so on my behalf. One person even works at a company on the list, and has talked directly to the right people on my behalf. Unfortunately, the majority of folks that I’ve talked to don’t know anybody in a company or organization on the list.
I did get a nibble yesterday gained through one of these contacts. At the urging of the HR person at that organization, I have applied on their website for a job. It looks like it would be a really good fit. Here’s hoping that it pans out.
If you would be willing to take a look at my list and see if you can help, please send me an e-mail. And thanks.
Job Search – day 16
Today I’m working on finalizing my Marketing Plan, and coming up with a list of companies to target for networking-related job searching. I had a nibble from one company earlier in the week but my research revealed culture issues that would make me uncomfortable there, and they chose not to interview me. That’s either a win-win or lose-lose. My resume is now up on a few job sites.
As part of the survival plan my wife and I are cutting back on spending. We got a really great supportive gift last night. Her yoga teacher gave us a gift certificate to the local Cracker Barrel (we could also have chosen Chili’s).
That is a great gift because it resolves any guilt that I might feel about eating out as recreation. We can eat at home much less expensively than we can eat out. But if somebody else is paying … it works out. Win-win. We get our expenses defrayed AND we get a reason to go out.
Thanks to all who have been praying or thinking good thoughts or helping. Emotionally I am still at a low point but feel it getting better for the first time.
Web Stuff
Presbyterian Bloggers Join | List | Previous | Next | Random | Previous 5 | Next 5 | Skip Previous | Skip Next
Recent Comments
- on A Sad Story
- An early friend
on A Sad Story - on A Sad Story
- on A Sad Story
- on PC(USA) – if we don’t divide, how do we stop fighting?