PMP Exam Prep: Meet The Instructor, Matt Luik
December 2024
This is an introduction to PEAK PM Prep’s instructor, Matt Luik. Matt teaches the PMP Exam Prep online course. The next PMP Exam Prep cohort runs January 13 to March 21, 2025.
Tell us about your journey to becoming a PMP-designated Project Manager.
Throughout school and university, I always believed that my strengths were in technical areas (mostly math and science), leading to a Masters Degree in Civil Engineering and later a Finance MBA. However, not long into my first job at an engineering consultancy, I realized that I was less interested in deep technical work and more excited by building and leading teams and working with clients to understand their goals and help to achieve them. I was fortunate to work alongside some really great project managers who helped me understand the value of formal project management in delivering consistent, repeatable, and predictable project outcomes, and they encouraged me to pursue the PMP designation to advance my career.
Tell us about your history instructing PMP.
I have been teaching project management, construction project management, and PMP exam prep courses at universities and through corporate training since 2012. Project management (and the PMP exam) has changed a lot in that time, and I find that teaching is a great way to share my passion for project management while staying current with emerging best practices. Sometimes I get the opportunity to introduce students to project management for the first time, and other times I’m meeting students after they’ve been thrown into project management with no formal training—they’ve already found lots of things that don’t work, and they’re eager to learn best practices to remove the chaos from their projects. Over the last few years, I’ve seen a huge increase in the number of students wanting to earn the PMP designation – they recognize the value it brings in validating their project management knowledge and experience and helping them to stand out in their profession. To date, I’ve helped over 1,000 people pass the PMP exam on the first try, and I’m looking forward to helping the next 1,000.
How did you get started with REDI to deliver this program?
I’ve recently taken several courses through REDI’s Real Estate Development Leadership program and was impressed with the quality of education that REDI provides. As I got to know the REDI team, it became evident that they’re as passionate about adult education as I am. Recognizing that the PMP designation is increasingly important in the Real Estate industry, we started talking about what a best-in-class program could look like, and before long we had talked ourselves into building it!
What is the biggest misconception potential learners have about preparing for the CAPM or PMP exams?
There are a few misconceptions that I come across all the time.
1. People believe that they need to read the PMBOK Guide to pass the exam. This is understandable, as it’s a required textbook for most PMP prep courses out there. The truth is, even if you could take a copy of the PMBOK Guide into the exam with you (which you can’t), it wouldn’t help you one bit.
2. Students expect that to pass the PMP exam they must memorize a whole bunch of equations, process maps, and definitions. In my experience, students find greater success by prioritizing understanding and logic instead.
Why do you teach a 10-week online program?
Studying for the PMP exam can seem like a daunting task—I know, I’ve been there. People embark upon the PMP journey full of enthusiasm but either fail to get started (life gets in the way) or fail to see it through (life gets in the way again). They failed before they even took the exam! Some students I’ve helped have been “studying for the exam” for over 20 years before they found this program.
Our philosophy is “work smarter, not harder.” Peak PM Prep is the world’s most efficient PMP exam prep course—we get students to “Peak Readiness” on exam day in just 10 weeks with the minimum amount of work. We do this through a structured approach in a flexible online environment, supported by weekly live coaching sessions.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give someone who’s starting their career in project management?
Project management has technical elements to it, such as developing a project budget or schedule, but above all, project management is about people. As project managers, we have to set expectations, manage expectations, and communicate.
Painters paint, bakers bake, and project managers communicate!
Ready to elevate your project management career? Learn more about the PEAK PM Exam Prep course here.