Onward to Opportunity

As a company grade officer, I spent a lot of time working on projects. Just like when a bell rings an angel gets their wings, so also when a general gets a great idea, an Army captain gets a project.

So to get credit for all the project work I've done, I'm going to pursue a Project Management Professional certification. Fortunately, as a transitioning Army veteran, it'll be free.

In speaking with the local USO Pathfinder office I learned about Onward to Opportunity (O2O), a program sponsored by Syracuse University's (specifically, the Institute for Veterans and Military Families) and the Schultz Foundation (the Starbucks people).

Here's how that works:

To help veterans transition to the private sector, O2O offers a certification training program. Veterans choose from among several programs (Six Sigma, I.T., Human Resources, or Project Management), take online classes, and then take the certification tests for those programs.

The last one, project management, seems most interesting to me. Having served on tactical unit staff for the past three years, I've done nothing but work on projects, so it seems like the thing that would come most naturally.

Plus, in September, I remember applying to jobs and being asked, "Do you have a PMP? No? Well, give us a call back when you do." And that was the end of the conversation.

So now, even though I do have a job lined up, the timing works out for me to do the seminar and start on the PMP certification.

It's kind of funny, though -- SY's naturalization ceremony took place at the same time as the ONE PRESENTATION I was so eager to be in on, so I'll completely miss it. Very sad.

Oh well, I can start doing the classes on Monday.