Hours Needed Annually To Complete The: Fill & Download for Free

There was no minimum. We flew as much or as little as money was allotted to us by OPTAR funding.However flying in the Reserves, there was a minimum number of annual flight hours needed, or else you were dropped from the Reserves. (I forget what that number was, but it was low.)40 flight hours a month were needed when I flew to maintain efficiency, but with budget cuts pilots are flying a lot less now.

Well, I wasn’t fired. However, I found out that I was about to be replaced by a former employee, who was going to get paid $10k more annually and who was going to have fewer responsibilities. Needless to say I could see I was not valued.At that time I was working in a bakery that provided bread to about 150 local restaurants. We were a niche bakery that could provide these places with custom sizes of items, or proprietary recipes. I held numerous positions over the three years I was there. I had managed day and night shifts, managed production, filled in as a delivery driver, and so on; working crazy hours for peanuts.The last position I was offered was a night manager position. The night shift was responsible for baking and packaging products, and loading the trucks for their respective routes. I was tasked with cutting back the necessary hours to complete the shift, because we were through the roof on labor costs, particularly on that shift. The problem with night shift is that no one could leave until everything was finished. That could be 10PM, or 330AM. We simply could not predict what the day would hold. But, I saw a number of glaring inefficiencies, so I figured I could make it happen. He offered me a salary to incentivize me to use less hours. AND I DID.One of the biggest inefficiencies was that the previous manager pulled himself off the production floor to create invoices as orders were being filled. This process would take hours, as they would kind of trickle in. He was also keeping himself out of filling orders, or any other work. When I started, I stayed on the floor until everything was done, helped load trucks, and got everyone out before I started invoices. It would take me about an additional hour, but I was saving a lot of labor hours just by getting the other six people off the clock earlier. And, we were finishing earlier because there were my additional hands. What was once routinely finishing at 1AM became everyone leaving at 10 every night, even on days with heavy orders. Effectively I was cutting out 18 labor hours a day. Do the math. Even with crap pay, that saves a huge amount of money.However, now my boss determined *I* wasn’t working enough hours. So he kept trying to get me in earlier and earlier, without changing my pay. I reminded him of what he tasked me with. He couldn’t seem to see the problem. We went back and forth on this for a couple months.Then, one night I was doing invoices. Right beside the keyboard was a typed-up job offer for our former day shift manager. He had left after 16 years because he wanted a change of pace. The offer was giving him my job, but a more stripped down version. You see, when I got this position, I still kept all of my old responsibilities. I simply inherited another position at the same time. He was being offered $10k more, would have fewer hours, and less responsibility. This showed me that my hard work meant nothing. I was going to get pushed to the side over favoritism (Nothing against the former employee, he was a great guy).I woke up the next morning and flung resumes and applications EVERYWHERE. I didn’t care what I did. I’d drive a garbage truck if I needed to. I was not worried about “dignity”. Hell, I would have taken less money (even though I wasn’t being paid enough as it was) if it meant that I would be valued for what I did. I finally landed a new job with an amazing local business (this experience would make for another post) and gave my boss a two-week notice. When he asked why I was suddenly leaving I told him the truth. I told him I could see that I was not valued for my work, and I was not going to be pushed aside so unfairly. I had to look out for me and my family. You could see the “oh no” look on his face. He finally acknowledged that he understood. I left and began working for my current company, which I still love to this day.About a month later I got a call from my old boss. Apparently the former employee declined his offer (after I had told him what happened to me). He wanted me to come back. Things were in shambles again. I politely declined and told him I was much happier where I am now.Sometimes, sticking to your guns is hard. It can be scary throwing yourself into the unknown. Ultimately, I think I value my job today much more because of the stark contrast against where I had been. Even as hard and stressful as it was, I’m glad I experienced it.EDIT: Holy cow! 1400 upvotes in less than 24 hrs!? The most I have ever gotten before was maybe five. I guess my experience struck a chord with a lot of folks? Thank you for the upvotes. I’m curious to hear about your stories in the comments.EDIT again: I seriously never thought I would see the day where an answer of mine got over 13k upvotes. Looks like this is a common feeling around the world.

How difficult is PMP certification?PMP exam is considered as one of the most difficult Professional certification exams mostly because of its huge syllabus, the dedication required, type & length of the questions asked, duration of exam & answer choices. It tests the candidate's in-depth knowledge of Project Management skills & patience level. The preparation details are outlined below -Work experienceYou need 35 PDU’s (35 hours) for application.Study of PMBOK 6 (or latest) as a guide bookStudy of a Textbook (Example - Rita Mulcahy)Practice tests before the final exam (3 to 4 exams recommended, but varies person to person, each exam of 4 hours)How long would it take to prepare for it?It varies based on the work experience, knowledge level & the academic background you have. To make it simple I will split the candidates applying for this exam in 2 categories (based on the academics).Category 1: Candidates with Project Management academic background, Example - Post Graduate Construction Management courses (offered by NICMAR, IIT-Delhi, IIT-Madras, NIT-Trichy, NIT-Surathkal, etc), MBA in Project Management or Construction Management & similar type.Category 2: Others with on job project management experienceThe main reason for doing this categorization was to assess the time required for preparation based on the academic knowledge or on job experience already possed by the candidate.Since category 1 candidates will have a brief understanding of the subject & familiarity to the majority of the terms being used in PMBOK or reference books, they tend to take less time as compared to Category 2 to complete the course.I personally believe 45 days for Category 1 & 60 days for Category 2 will be a suitable time period to be ready to clear the exam in 1st attempt (PMI allows 3 attempts, 1st attempt is free & 2,3 are chargeable). But again it varies from person to person depending on their capabilities.Sources for accessing PMP course contentsIt is always advised to attend online/classroom classes (based on candidates' choice) from the institutions who will cover the entire course contents & also give 35 PDU’s completion certification. These are so many websites, Apps & Institutions providing these courses (Example - Udemy, Simplilearn, etc).If the candidate has the basic knowledge & don’t want to spend money on getting 35 PDU’s, then they can easily refer to the Linkedin Learning course (Certification preparation: Project Management Professional) by trying the 1-month free premium membership. (You can thank me later)I (Category 1) personally have completed the course & exam (online) in 45 days. You can see my preparation timelines in the below snapshot.Choosing the Exam fees -PMI offers 2 types of certification fees - PMI members, PMI None-membersNone-members - $555 + $99.9 (tax) = $654.9 (Rate as on April 2020)PMI-members - $405 + $139 (1 time charge) + $98.28 (tax) = $644.28 (April 2020). You have to pay 129 dollar as annual renewal fee for keeping the membership.It will be wise to take the PMI membership for not only saving some 11 dollars but also to access e-learning platforms, project templates & connecting to the PMP professional across the globe as well.Practice Test -Before becoming ready for the final PMP exam, it's very much important to assess your understanding & patience by trying 3 to 4 practice tests. Review of the test results & keeping track of progress always give a boost to your confidence level. You can refer the below cycle which I followed for practice testsReview the notes thoroughly & schedule a time for the testGive exam (take 10 minutes break after 2 hours, it's as per PMI guidelines)Review every question (both correct & wrong answers) after the test - Please note that this is the backbone of your preparation. if you only review the wrong answers & leave the correct ones, trust me you are doing a great mistake. Because while answering there will be many questions where you would have just guessed the correct answer. so by reviewing them you are making yourself confidentmake knowledge dump, notes & identify weak areasgo back to text & guide book to refer the weak areasI have personally not spent a single penny for the practice tests as I find sufficient free online practice tests for my preparation. (If you need the list, please comment with your mail id).Hope these pieces of information will be useful.Best of luck for the exam.