More about PMP Certification

A number of PMP-certified project managers, and managers who hire project managers, wrote to comment on my advice to "Certified or Certifiable." One of the best was Earl Parsons, who gave me permission to reproduce his comment for general reading here. But first, one correspondent took me to task for failing to expand the acronym. Good point: PMP stands for "Project Management Professional" and is the Project Ma

A number of PMP-certified project managers, and managers who hire project managers, wrote to comment on my advice to "Certified or Certifiable." One of the best was Earl Parsons, who gave me permission to reproduce his comment for general reading here. But first, one correspondent took me to task for failing to expand the acronym. Good point: PMP stands for "Project Management Professional" and is the Project Management Institute's certification.

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Bob,

In discussions like this, you need to remind people that there are three parts to the PMP certification.  These are the exam, a requirement of 7,500 hours of experience, and the completion of 35 hours of formal instruction. So you can not just wake up one morning and decide to become a PMP. You have to get the experience and then take the exam.

If you are new to project management you might consider PMIs lower level certification, the CAPM, which only requires 1,500 hours of experience and 23 hours of formal education.  The Body of Knowledge for this exam is
also lighter than the PMP.

If you have the experience, I would recommend that one go ahead and take the test.  Remember that you will be competing for jobs with people that have the certification, and the numbers of postings that list PMP as a requirement is growing.  Without it your resume won't make it past the thirty second initial review or the automated process that many employeers are now using.

Earl Parsons   MS PMP PMDP ITIL CISA

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So there you have it. To receive PMP (or CAPM - Certified Associate in Project Management) certification, you have to have real-world experience. Increasingly, in order to get real-world experience you'll need a PMP, or at least a CAPM certification. It might seem to be a Catch-22, but really it's no different from developers needing experience in order to be hired to get the experience.

- Bob