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Holidays

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Here in the UK this coming weekend is the May Bank Holiday weekend, the last long weekend for some time, in fact until the end of August.

No doubt in true British style lots of people will want to go away for the weekend. This peculiar British practice entails sitting in traffic jams to eventually get to a very crowded sea side town, enjoy expensive accommodation, crowds and poor service.

Some people go away to Europe, providing there are no strikes on the trains or planes. We have done this ourselves on occasions. One of the great benefits of living in the UK is the proximity of Europe and the cheap transport links to it.

But on this occasion we are going to stay home and relax. The weather forecasters are tipping beautiful weather, at least for Saturday and Sunday, with Monday tipped for rain.

So to all our UK readers, have a great long weekend and come back safely. If you are not in the UK don’t worry – it’ll soon be your turn.

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Princes

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The particular Prince I have in mind this week is not Prince Charles and not Prince the musician. It is in fact not a person at all – it’s a project management methodology known as Prince2.

Those of you who regularly read these letters or our Jack’s Guides e-books will know that we often are critical of the IT training industry.

Of course, like all industries, there is good and bad, but the IT training industry is riddled with very expensive courses of dubious value.

Of these courses, one that I have always supported is the Prince2 training. For anyone who wants to get into IT Management, Project Management or even Business Analysis, Prince2 is becoming a must-have.

The nice thing about Prince2 is that it is based around common sense and is not particularly prescriptive. It is rapidly becoming the de facto standard around the world.

It’s one of those qualifications that is not particularly expensive or difficult to get, and yet it gives you an international qualification held in high regard, which is the entry to many high paying jobs.

I’d like to be able to recommend that you buy “Jack’s Guide to Project Management with Prince2”, but I can’t – for a very simple reason; it’s not ready yet, but we’re working on it. However the manuals published by the Prince 2 organisation ( www.prince2.org.uk )  are excellent, if a little dry.

The reason I have mentioned Prince2 this week is that I have received an email from a Prince2 training organisation concerning changes that are about to happen.

One change is that a new set of Prince2 manuals are about to be released. This news may not seem earth shattering, but in fact it’s quite a rare event. Prince gets revised only every few years.

A more urgent change is that the practitioner level exam may be about to become much more difficult, so, if you are thinking about doing it, now may be a very good time to get in before the rules change. For full details follow this link:

http://www.focusprojects.co.uk/faq/27/

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Just Do It!  (Who said that?)

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Right now is the perfect time to re-invent yourself and prepare for the good times just around the corner. Doing some Prince2 training may be just the step you need.

We at Jack's Guides are committed to helping you realise your potential.

We believe that anyone with average intelligence can find the IT career they want. The paradox is - it's an industry desperate for talented people and yet it's not at all clear how people can get into it or prosper in it.

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These topics are discussed at length in our e-book “Jack’s Guide to Lots More Money” available at http://www.jacksguides.com/itjobs.html

If you are ready to make the leap into a much better paid job or contract, and be perfectly positioned as the recession eases, see our website at www.jacksguides.com