NJ TRANSIT Partners for Inaugural PMP-Certification Training Course

The NJ TRANSIT Capital Programs Division partnered with the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s (NJIT) Professional & Corporate Education division to bring the agency a first-of-its-kind Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification exam prep course.

The first class of 10 NJ TRANSIT employees participated in classes at night and on select Saturdays for nine weeks to complete the classroom section of the program and are now eligible to apply for the Project Management Professional exam through the certification sponsor organization, the Project Management Institute (PMI).

The first class participated in the PMP Certification training from multiple departments under the NJ TRANSIT Capital Programs Division (State of Good Repair Program, Resilience Program, Financial Compliance, and Delivery & Administration) as a pilot training program. This allowed the multiple teams with diverse backgrounds to learn about the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) best practices to help enhance project management knowledge across the various departments.

As the agency strives to become a best-in-class project management organization, increasing the number of staff that exemplify the standards followed by PMBOK will be a key factor in continuing to improve project execution. The first NJ TRANSIT-NJIT PMP training course started in January 2022 and was completed in early March 2022. During the course, the participants learned key PMI PMBOK project management concepts and bonded together as a broader team, an important step in building and enhancing an empowered, cohesive, and effective project execution organization.

Unique to this pilot program, the agency’s Capital Programs executive leadership worked closely with NJIT staff using specific use cases to develop a customized curriculum. The nine-week, converged-learning program was conducted on nights and select Saturdays and fully co-facilitated between NJ TRANSIT executive leadership and the instructor from NJIT to apply key PMBOK learnings and real-time practical project management best practices being implemented within NJ TRANSIT and the Capital Program team portfolios.