Every course Dad sent, ordered by the closest date I can actually finish. Dates re-verified live on each provider's own page, 23 Aug 2026. Prices are off the page: the published figures are real, but tax is added at checkout, so the advertised number is never what gets paid.
The plan, in three moves
1
PMI Project Management Basics — DONE 20 Aug ✓ — two days before Dad’s deadline.
23 contact hours banked. That is the CAPM education requirement, cleared.
2
An MS Project course — this is the live one now, days not months.
The tool the job actually runs on. This is what makes me employable, not the theory.
3
CAPM exam — parked, unlocked and bookable, but not the assignment.
PMI's entry credential. Needs matric + 23 contact hours. Both cleared. Dad didn't raise it when he named the next course.
Tier 1 · done ✓
01 · COMPLETE ✓ 20 AUG
Project Management Basics
Project Management Institute · Official PMI course · order #25001892240
⚡ Live campaign · IPMA Young Project Manager of the Year
AWARD · ENTRY CLOSES 30 SEPT · NO EXTENSIONS
IPMA-SA — Young Project Manager of the Year
National award · finalists 23 Oct · ceremony 20 Nov, DHL Stadium CT · written assessor report win or lose
Webinar
Wed 26 Aug 11:00 — joining link requested by email 24 Aug · reminder set 10:43
Entry
3 true stories × 500 words — one doing-the-work · one people · one bigger-picture, each as situation → task → action → result
Proof
Max 2 pages per story — a third of the marks. No links allowed anywhere; apps go in as screenshots
Referees
Supervisor with contact details (Dad — rebuild story) + client's written okay incl. satisfaction (KHOZA?)
Fee
Unknown — nothing on their public pages; register at the portal to see it checked 24 Aug
Submit by
20 Sept — own buffer · hard close 30 Sept, they grant no extensions
THE ECLIPSE runs through this: make one thing daily · show one thing weekly (the Dad gate) · enter one thing quarterly, judged by strangers. This entry is quarter one's detonation — and money or fame only count when reality pays them.
DEAD-WEEK SPRINT · 3 CERTS BY SUN 31 AUG · START TONIGHT
While waiting for Bright — the certificate week
Tonight
PMI — Generative AI for Project Managers · ~5 hrs · same issuer Dad already saw · done by Tue → send it to Dad · enrol
Tue–Sun
Columbia University — Construction Project Management (Coursera) · ~31 hrs · the headline — Ivy name, construction-specific · enrol
Weekend
Procore — Project Manager Certification · 3–10 hrs · construction software the industry runs, real final exam · enrol
Optional
Primavera P6 intro (Udemy) · skill-buy for the planner lane, light paper · check page
Sequence: PMI lands Tue · Columbia + Procore land Sunday · drip each certificate to Dad the day it lands, not batched. Bright + MS Project pick up Monday — the streak never shows a gap.
Tier 2 · the tool — MS Project · up next
02 · SOONEST · START ANY WEEK
MS Project — Fundamentals / Advanced / For PMs
School of IT · online with a live lecturer
Format
Online, live lecturer — flexible scheduling
Location
Remote (they serve Jhb, Cpt, Dbn, Pta)
Length
10 hours — the shortest of all of them
Cost
Off page — advertised figure + tax at checkout; only the checkout total is real
Dates
None fixed — “flexible, choose your own dates & times”, start anytime verified 23 Aug
Finishes
Any week I choose — 10 hrs total, so days after booking
Gives
Certificate of completion + optional Microsoft cert prep
Why it ranks here: shortest hours of all of them, online, and no travel. Covers scheduling, Gantt charts, resource allocation, critical path and dashboards — the exact daily work of a planner.
run it to checkout — tax lands there, not on the advert
North-West University · Unit for Continuing Education
Format
Not stated on the page
Cost
Not published
Dates
Not publishedverified 23 Aug
Finishes
Cannot be confirmed — no dates and no duration published, so 2026 is unprovable
Entry
Basic computer skills assumed
NWU publishes almost nothing on this page — no price, no dates, no delivery mode. It's an enquiry form only. A university name on the certificate is the one thing it has going for it. Email them; don't wait on it.
Parked · out of the picture for now — my call, 16 Aug
06 · PARKED
Certificate in Project Management
University of Johannesburg · Continuing Education
Format
Part-time and online
Location
Online, or Doornfontein campus — my city
Length
3 months
Cost
Not published — must be requested
Applications
Open until 14 December 2026
Faculty
Engineering & Built Environment · Quality & Operations Management
Why it's worth it: a real university certificate, in my city, in three months, in the exact department that feeds construction and engineering project work — which is Dad's world.
Parked 16 Aug — my call. Three months is more than the fast route needs, and the fee was never published anyway. If it comes back: applications stay open until 14 Dec 2026, so the window survives the whole year. No phone call needed until then.
Prefers a 3-year tertiary qualification; work experience considered instead
Contact
Simbulele Mtshotane
The heavyweight option. University of Pretoria name, industry CPD points that count in construction, fully online so no travel.
Parked 16 Aug — my call. Eight months against a fast route measured in weeks, with a similar entry-level outcome. The 17 Aug intake passes without me; if this ever comes back it's a later-intake decision, not a now decision.
Higher Certificate: Operations Management in Project Management
DUT · Durban Business School · NQF 5 · SAQA 111412
Format
Contact-based — lectures, group work, case studies
Location
41/43 M L Sultan Rd, Greyville, Durban
Length
1 year
Funding
Self-funded only — no NSFAS for part-time
Why it's closed: DUT's own page requires a minimum age of 23 and 3 years of work experience. I have neither yet. It's also in Durban and contact-based, so I'd have to move. Park it — it becomes possible later, and the job itself supplies the work experience.
A project planner or scheduler does one thing: turn work into a dated, costed, sequenced plan, then track the real world against it. The deliverable is the schedule.
The tool matters more than the theory. A certificate proves I understand the language; the software proves I can do Monday's work. That's why an MS Project course sits at the same priority as the qualification, not below it.
Microsoft Project is confirmed. Dad sent four MS Project links and no Primavera links — that's the answer to which tool his world runs on, and I don't need to ask it. Primavera P6 is the heavier tool on very large construction and engineering jobs; it's worth learning later, but it isn't the assignment.
The path now: PMI Basics ✓ → MS Project. That's the assignment. Dad didn't raise the CAPM when he named the next course, so it's parked — the 23 contact hours are banked and the exam stays bookable if it ever comes back. All online, done inside weeks.
Worth naming: none of this needs a university degree or my matric maths mark. Every gate here is money and time, not marks.
What’s live now
Nothing is waiting on Dad. Everything below is admin — get real prices in writing, then book MS Project.
Dad — certificate sent 20 Aug ✓. CAPM not raised by him, so it isn't the assignment. Next course = MS Project. Closed 23 Aug.
Classic — the 1 Sept online intake is the next fixed one. Ask what the booking cutoff is — it isn't published anywhere on their page.
School of IT — run it to checkout to see the real total with tax, and what's included.
Prospen — price for the 14–18 September Sandton course.
NWU — price, dates and delivery mode, since none of it is published.