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Careers, certifications and interviews: questions

Questions on careers, certifications and interviews: short warm-ups, then what each harder question tests, the first step of a good answer and its follow-ups.

9 questions: 3 warm-ups and 6 with model answers · Levels: Fresher to staff

Warm-up questions

Short questions with short answers, each answered in full.

Fresher to mid

In a company that uses both plan-driven projects and Scrum, how do a project manager and a Scrum Master differ?

Answered in the lesson Project careers: coordinator to lead
Fresher to mid

How does a programme manager's work differ from a project manager's?

Answered in the lesson Project careers: coordinator to lead
Fresher to mid

What goes into a project portfolio, and what do you take out before you share it?

Five short documents from one project you led: the charter, the delivery plan, one page of the risk register, two status reports and the retrospective summary. Together they show the choices you made, which a prose description cannot. Before sharing, remove the real names of people and clients, invoice amounts, vendor contract text and anything else that is personal data, and keep a ratio where a figure matters, such as a quote 28 % over budget. Check your employer's rules first; if they forbid sharing even a redacted copy, build the portfolio from a volunteer or community project you led.
From the lesson Project careers: coordinator to lead

Questions with model answers

What each question tests, the first step of a good answer and the follow-ups to expect.

Fresher to senior

Your log shows three projects you led: 2023-01 to 2023-06, 2023-04 to 2023-09 and 2023-11 to 2024-03. On a fourth, 2023-02 to 2023-08, you assisted another lead. For a PMP application with a bachelor's degree, how many leadership months do you enter, and how do you treat the fourth?
What it tests

Counting led months once each, leaving out support work, stating the shortfall against the 36-month bar, and laying the log out so another person can check every row.

First step

Put the three led projects on a month line, merge the ones that overlap and add the merged lengths. Keep the naive sum beside the counted total. Decide the fourth separately: the question is whether you owned its plan, risks or outcome, not whether you were busy during those months.
Follow-ups
- A fifth project you led ran 2023-05 to 2023-10. What does it add?
- How do you enter two overlapping projects on the application?
- A friend wants her six months as a deputy under another lead to count because it was real project work. What do you tell her?
From the lesson Project careers: coordinator to lead
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In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 4 minutes
Mid to staff

A draft Scrum Master posting sits inside a fixed-price vendor contract that already names a project manager who "owns the plan". It says the Scrum Master "confirms the sprint plan, grants leave and sends the client a status report every Friday". Would you apply, and what would you agree in writing before accepting?
What it tests

Sorting each phrase of a posting by who really holds that decision, and negotiating a written boundary between a Scrum Master, a project manager and the Developers.

First step

Sort the three phrases by who holds that decision under the 2020 Scrum Guide: the Developers, the Product Owner, the Scrum Master or someone outside Scrum. Then decide what you could accept as a service to others and what must go back to its owner before you say yes.
Follow-ups
- The hiring manager says the client insists that the Scrum Master confirms the sprint plan. What do you offer instead?
- The posting also asks for a PMP and a Scrum certification. Does that change the conversation?
- Two Sprints in, the Friday report takes a full day each week. What do you do?
From the lesson Project careers: coordinator to lead
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 4 minutes
Mid to senior

A team lead with a bachelor's degree led one project in months 3 to 14, a second in months 10 to 20 and a third in months 30 to 41. She has 12 hours of project-management training. She asks you for a plan to apply for PMP within a year. Where do you start?
What it tests

Counting experience in months the way the owner counts them, finding both gaps in numbers, and turning them into a dated plan with evidence for an audit.

First step

Lay the three projects on a calendar and count each month once, not each project. Compare that total with the months her education level needs, and compare her training hours with the hours the application asks for, before you suggest any course or date.
Follow-ups
- What does she gain and lose by taking the entry credential before PMP?
- Which records would you ask her to keep in case the application is audited?
- A fourth project ran inside months 12 to 18 in the same job. Does it change the count?
From the lesson PMP, CAPM, PMI-ACP, PSM, CSM, PRINCE2 compared
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
Fresher to senior

A colleague forwards a flyer: a five-day "40-hour PMP bootcamp", eight hours a day on site, "backed by the exam owner", "real exam questions" and "your fee back if you do not clear on the first attempt". He asks whether he should pay. What do you check, and what do you answer?
What it tests

Testing a training offer against the owner's published rules, working out hours of instruction in numbers, and separating a refund term from evidence that the training counts.

First step

Ask the provider for the hours of instruction per day, after meals and breaks, and look the provider up in the owner's own directory by its exact name. Hold the refund line aside until both answers are in.
Follow-ups
- If the days are 6.5 taught hours, does the course still meet a 35-hour requirement?
- How do you answer the claim about real exam questions?
- What would make you advise him to buy the course anyway?
From the lesson PMP, CAPM, PMI-ACP, PSM, CSM, PRINCE2 compared
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
Fresher to mid

A developer in a Scrum team of two years wants one Scrum credential in the next two months. She has a small self-funded budget, would rather study alone and has never led a project. She is choosing between PSM I and CSM. Which do you recommend, and what do you ask her first?
What it tests

Choosing between two Scrum credentials from entry route, exam format and upkeep, and making the choice depend on the candidate's constraints.

First step

Ask whether she can attend a 16-hour course and whether her target employers name one of the two. Then set the two exam formats side by side: questions, minutes, the share needed to clear and what keeping each current costs.
Follow-ups
- How much room for error does each exam leave, in questions?
- What changes if her employer will pay for a course?
- What do you say if she asks which one employers prefer?
From the lesson PMP, CAPM, PMI-ACP, PSM, CSM, PRINCE2 compared
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 2 minutes
Mid to senior

An analyst has 90 hours before her PMP exam and wants to keep 20 % for mocks. A diagnostic test scored her 70 % in People, 60 % in Process and 78 % in Business Environment, against a target of 80 %. How would you split her study hours across the three domains?
What it tests

Turning published domain weights and a diagnostic score into a study plan with numbers, and saying when to redo it.

First step

Take the hours left after the reserve, then write the three domain weights from the outline beside her gaps to the target. Decide how much each should count before you divide any hours.
Follow-ups
- Why not give all the hours to the weakest domain?
- How would the plan change after a second diagnostic?
- Which part of the outline is missing from a split by domain alone?
From the lesson PMP, CAPM, PMI-ACP, PSM, CSM, PRINCE2 compared
Model answer, Pro.
In the answer:
- Model answer
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 2 minutes

All Project Management & Agile interview questions · The Project Management & Agile track

Warm-up questions

In a company that uses both plan-driven projects and Scrum, how do a project manager and a Scrum Master differ?

How does a programme manager's work differ from a project manager's?

What goes into a project portfolio, and what do you take out before you share it?

Questions with model answers

Your log shows three projects you led: 2023-01 to 2023-06, 2023-04 to 2023-09 and 2023-11 to 2024-03. On a fourth, 2023-02 to 2023-08, you assisted another lead. For a PMP application with a bachelor's degree, how many leadership months do you enter, and how do you treat the fourth?

A team lead with a bachelor's degree led one project in months 3 to 14, a second in months 10 to 20 and a third in months 30 to 41. She has 12 hours of project-management training. She asks you for a plan to apply for PMP within a year. Where do you start?

A colleague forwards a flyer: a five-day "40-hour PMP bootcamp", eight hours a day on site, "backed by the exam owner", "real exam questions" and "your fee back if you do not clear on the first attempt". He asks whether he should pay. What do you check, and what do you answer?

A developer in a Scrum team of two years wants one Scrum credential in the next two months. She has a small self-funded budget, would rather study alone and has never led a project. She is choosing between PSM I and CSM. Which do you recommend, and what do you ask her first?

An analyst has 90 hours before her PMP exam and wants to keep 20 % for mocks. A diagnostic test scored her 70 % in People, 60 % in Process and 78 % in Business Environment, against a target of 80 %. How would you split her study hours across the three domains?