I would like to start my first blog by telling you about me.  I started working for a large retailer in December 2005.  I started my career with the company as an invoice processing clerk, and then was promoted to an analyst doing forecasting and analysis in the logistics department.  Ten months ago I was promoted again to a financial analyst in the corporate treasury department.  I absolutely love my job and really feel like I am part of a great team!  In addition to working full time I am also working on my MBA in Management.  If that is not enough to keep me busy, in June of 2010 I had my first child, a little girl who is the absolute joy of my life!  I’m signed up to take the CTP exam at the end of the upcoming window.

I decided to take the CTP exam shortly after starting my current position. When I was hired for the position the CTP credential was mentioned as something that management in the department would like me to obtain.  I am working towards being in a management role in the next three years.  I look at the CTP credential the same way I look at the MBA.   If you want to advance in your career you need something to set yourself apart from your competition.  Everyone has a bachelor’s degree now and I feel like I need more in order to advance in my career.  When looking at the competition at my company everyone has a bachelors and an MBA.  I need the CTP credential to make me stand out from everyone else.

After having my daughter I jumped right back into work and school, which having to do again I would have eased back into the busyness of my normal life. I ended up not performing as well as I should have at school and landed myself on academic probation.  I was originally signed up to take the CTP exam in the previous window but with everything else going on I didn’t dedicate as much time as I should have studying for the exam and moved it to the next testing window.  I am now back in good standing at school and feel like I have the proper work/life balance.  I can dedicate the appropriate amount of time studying for the exam.  The extra time was well worth the $125 transfer fee! 

As of now I have not started actively studying for the exam.   I will begin to study during this upcoming week.  My manager is allowing me to block off time on my calendar to go some place quiet and study.

I hope that this blog about my experience will help another CTP candidate who is juggling just as much, if not more than I am.