If you are a PMP certification holder, you must retain your certification in each three years. Otherwise, your PMP certification will expire and you will have to re-sit for the PMP certification exam. In order to retain your certification, you must earn 60 PMP PDUs in each three years. Then, you must apply to PMI for renewing your PMP certification. There are 10 different ways of getting PDUs. We will explore these alternative ways to earn PDU.
Important: Some people confuse the contact hours required to earn for sitting for the exam and PDU hours that you must earn to renew your certification. If you also have questions about this, read our free PMP PDU post.
Getting PMP PDU in a Compliant Way with the PMI Talent Triangle
Previously, there was not too much categorization and classification about PMP PDU requirements. PMI introduced the PMI Talent Triangle in 2016. Based on this PMI Talent Triangle, a professional project manager must have three fundamental skills. These are Ways of Working, Business Acumen, and Power Skills.
(Please note that PMI recently changed the PDU category names in the Education category. From now on the PDUs in the Technical Project Management category are replaced with “Ways of Working”; PDUs in the Strategic and Business Management category are replaced with “Business Acumen”; PDUs in the Leadership category are replaced with “Power Skills”.)
PMI expects PMP certification holders to earn PDUs in compliant with this PMI talent triangle. You can read more in PMI PDU Guide. There are certain PMP PDU requirements and PMP PDU limits for earning PDUs. You can learn all these in our PMP PDU Requirements post.
There are two main categories for getting PDU. These are Education and Giving Back categories. You must earn at least 35 PMP PDUs from Education category. The maximum PMP PDU limit is 25 PDUs for Giving Back category. While these are the PMP PDU limits, you can choose Education category for getting all 60 PMP PDUs to retain your PMP certification.
Watch our “How can I earn PMP® PDU?” video
Another important point about getting PDU is, for the PDUs you will earn under Education category, you must get at least 8 PDUs for each category of the PMI talent triangle. You can earn at most 8 PDUs from the Working as Practitioner subcategory of the Giving Back PMP PDU category.
These are the PMP PDU requirements you should be careful when earning PMP PDU. There are 10 different ways of earning PMP PDU. Five of these belong to the Education category and the other five belong to the Giving Back category. Let us explore this one-by-one.
1- ) Course or Training
Course or training is one of the most popular ways of having PMP PDU hours. There are several classroom and online PMP PDU courses. Once you enrolled in a course or training, you will earn PDUs associated with that activity.
You can earn PDUs by attending educational events held by PMI chapters. PMI has hundreds of chapters. Generally, there is one PMI chapter for each country. The main purpose of these chapters is enhancing the project management knowledge and experience among professionals. These chapters organize events, speeches, conferences and other activities. You can attend these activities and earn PDU respectively.
Training providers organize PDU courses. Generally, these are full day activities. You enroll in these courses and earn PDUs once you completed the courses. However, it might not be easy to fit your schedule with the training’s schedule. Cost of PMP PDU courses vary depending on the country and course content. Roughly, you can expect to pay $200-400 for a one-day PDU course.
The easiest, most convenient and affordable way to get PMP PDU is, attending PMP PDU Courses Online. Online PDU courses cover all 60 PDUs you need and you can complete your CCRS cycle 100% online. Since most of the PMP certification holders are also full time working professionals, it is not easy to find classroom courses or events that will fit their schedule. However, if you attending in an online PMP PDU course, you will be able to watch the courses on your own pace in any place.
You can check out how many PDUs you can earn with Master of Project Academy’s courses on the PDU list matrix.
*The Best Way of Earning PMP PDU
Therefore, we recommend attending in an online PMP PDU course like our 60 PMP PDU Bundle for earning PMP PDU credits. You can complete the PMP PDU courses on your own pace and in any place.
PMP PDU distribution of each course in our 60 PDUs bundle is (for the PMI Talent Triangle categories, Ways of Working, Business Acumen, and Power Skills) as below respectively.
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Training – 12, 9, 9 = 30 PDUs
Agile Scrum Certification Training – 4, 4, 4 = 12 PDUs
IT Service Management Certification Training – 5, 5, 4 = 14 PDUs
Microsoft Project Training – 1, 2, 1 = 4 PDUs
Once you completed the courses, you can claim your earned PDUs as instructed in this link.
2- ) Organization Meetings
Organization meeting is another way of earning PDUs under education category. Meetings, activities and local events related to project management fall under this category. Generally, these meetings do not bring more than 1-2 PDUs. PMI chapters and other project management associations may organize these kinds of meetings locally throughout the year.
Your employer or organization might organize meetings related to project management as well. These activities are good for networking and meeting new people related to project management. The disadvantage of this method is, you must attend several activities and you must fit your schedule to the meetings’ schedule.
3- ) Online or Digital Media
We are in an online and digital world. Of course, online or digital media will be one of the way of getting PDUs. Webinars, videos, podcasts and other similar online or digital resources can be used for earning PDU hours.
For instance, you can watch videos in our YouTube channel to earn PDUs.
You can see our free PMP PDU webinars and free PMP PDU podcasts as well.
4- ) Read
Read is another way for earning PDUs from Education category. Self-directed reading can bring you PDUs. Reading project management related magazines, articles, blogs and similar resources will help you to earn PDUs.
For instance, you can earn PDUs by reading blog posts in Master of Project Academy Blog.
5- ) Informal Learning
Informal learning is the last subcategory of Education category for having PDUs. You can earn PDUs by interacting with other project management professionals. For instance, you can attend to a discussion meeting with project management professionals or you can attend in a lunch, which will be guided by a project management mentor. These are examples of earning PDUs hours through informal learning category.
Master of Project Academy offers Free PDU Online Course bundle and earns you 4 PDUs for FREE. Enroll now!
Now, we will see the five subcategories of Giving Back PDU category.
6- ) Work as a Practitioner for Getting PMP PDU
Work as a practitioner is the first way of earning PMP PDU under Giving Back category. As a PMP certification holder, you should be working in project management related work or activity. Since you are practicing project management profession each day, this will bring PDUs to you as well.
However, there is a maximum number of PDUs you can submit under work as a practitioner category. You can submit maximum 8 PDUs for this category.
7- ) Create Content for Getting PMP PDU
Creating project management related content is a contribution to the project management profession and this is a way of obtaining PDUs as well. You can author a book, write as a guest author in a project management blog, you can write an article for a project management magazine, give presentations in webinars or conferences. These are all examples of create content subcategory of Giving Back PMP PDU category.
8- ) Give a Presentation for Getting PMP PDU
You can give a presentation on a conference, seminar or meeting about project management. You will share your knowledge and experience with other project management professionals during your presentation. Therefore, this is a valid way of getting PDUs as well.
9- ) Share Knowledge
Sharing knowledge is the most interactive way of enhancing project management boundaries around the world. PMI gives an emphasis on this and considers sharing knowledge as a way of getting PDUs as well. You can mentor junior project management professionals in your organization, you can teach other people about project management, you can be a subject matter expert in a project management related topic. These are all examples of earning PDUs through sharing knowledge category.
10- ) Volunteer
The last way of having PDUs is volunteering to non-employer or non-client organizations. PMI has a very active community, chapters and groups around the world and they support the growth of project management profession around the world. By volunteering in these organizations, you can earn PMP PDUs. You can volunteer in a PMI chapter or in a non-profit organization about project management and this will bring PMP PDUs to you.
Conclusion: Getting PMP PDU
We have listed the 10 ways of earning PDU hours to complete your 60 PDU need and renew your certification. Since Giving Back category requires more effort to be spent, it is tough to earn PMP PDUs through this category. However, it is better for networking. Getting PDUs through education category is easier. While there is a minimum 35 PDU requirements from this category to renew your certification, there is not a maximum limit. Therefore, you can earn all 60 PDUs from Education category.
The easiest, most affordable and convenient way of getting PDUs is attending in an online PDU course. Because, you will be able to enroll in PDU courses at your own place as long as you have internet connection and you will not have any schedule conflicts since you will be able to watch these courses at your own pace. If you are a working professional and trying to earn 60 PDUs, we definitely recommend enrolling in an online PMP PDU course like our 60 PMP PDU Bundle.