Student Profile: Vishen Naidoo, PMP

I was born in South Africa but spent my formative years in Malaysia and Australia. As a result of traveling from a young age, I developed a passion for visiting to new places and learning about different cultures. After completing high school, I decided to pursue a similar career to my father, who is a Process Engineer. I started the journey by graduating in Chemical Engineering at the RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) University in 2010. Shortly after, I accepted a job as a graduate Engineer at an engineering consultancy firm in Brisbane, Australia.

Through the power of networking and my strong desire to expand my knowledge, I was able to work in various fields in several interesting locations, including, a gas pipeline project in Papua New Guinea, a synthetic fuels project in South Africa, an aviation project in United Arab Emirates and an underground mine project Mongolia. Since then, I have joined a multi-billion dollar rail project in Melbourne, Australia and am enjoying it so far. Soon after joining, I felt that it was an opportune time to upskill and believed that becoming a PMP (Project Management Professional) would be extremely beneficial towards my endeavor. Since successfully attaining my certification, I have benefitted greatly. I now have a solid understanding on projects and how to respond to challenges, as well as and improved on my interpersonal and team skills. I look forward to applying more of these skills on my current and future projects.

I believe it is essential for all students that want to successfully gain their PMP certification to read the PMP Handbook from PMI. I applied the advice provided by Cornelius Fichtner and listened to the PM PrepCast podcast after reading the corresponding chapter of the PMP Handbook and found that to be very effective.

The week before taking your exam should be about consolidating everything you have learnt to date. Attempt a variety (including PM PrepCast exam simulator) of challenging practice exams and exam quizzes. Aim to achieve above 80%. In addition, I would also recommend refreshing yourself on the PMP Code of Ethics. Through the advice of Cornelius and hard work, I was able to achieve "Above Target" result for all the process groups on the PMP exam. I am convinced that if it worked for me, it can work for you!

Vishen Naidoo, PMP