Are you looking for a project management certificate that gives you an edge over others? Want to know which credential will help you get that coveted job? Do not worry, this post will deal with the project management certificate that is globally recognized.
Why do you need a project management certificate?
Are you fresh from college looking for a project management certification? Alternatively, you could be working in the projects as a team leader and looking for a project management certificate. For both cases, we have just the project management certificate which will give you that extra mileage. Note that, project management is generally abbreviated as PM.
Who gives a PM certificate?
Though, there are many organizations offering project management certificates, Project Management Institute (PMI) is a globally recognized institute that offers certifications for project management which are recognized in any part of the world.
There are other bodies like International Project Management Association (IPMA) that offer PM certificate as well. In addition to these, the Agile framework for delivering projects is gaining popularity in many industries and Scrum Alliance offers project management certificate.
What Project Management certificate options do I have?
Let us explore the PM certificate options available from different bodies.
Project Management certificates from PMI
You want to know which PM certificate tops the list? The answer is a resounding PMP! The most coveted and demanded Project management certificate is PMP-Project Management Professional from PMI Institute.
If you are fresh from college carving out a career, you can go for the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) credential offered by PMI. CAPM gives a good impetus for your career when you are a fresher.
Other types of PM certificates
IPMA offers certifications based on levels A, B, C, D. You can also choose another PM certificate PRINCE2 which has a ‘Foundation’ and ‘Practitioner’ level certifications.
Similarly, in the Agile framework, you have Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Product Owner from Scrum Alliance and PMI-ACP from PMI.
What are the requirements for the Project Management certificate?
Do you want to know what is the eligibility for these certifications? Most types of the project management certificate would need a certain level of experience and minimum education qualifications.
PMP Certification
Are you planning for PMP certification? Then you should meet these PMP requirements:
Education Qualification: 4-year Bachelor Degree
Experience: 4500 hours leading and directing projects
When you apply for the project management certification-PMP, you also need 35 hours of formal PMP certification training.
Attend our 100% Online & Self-Paced One-Hour Free PMP Training.
Where can I get the 35 hours project management education?
You can attend classroom sessions, a PMP boot camp or an online PMP certification for these 35 hours requirement. If you are unable to spare a clear 3-4 days for the sessions, an online session is just right for you.
Normally, these sessions are conducted by PMI Chapters, Registered Education Providers (REP) and many others. They also provide a PMP Study Guide and PMP Question Bank to help you prepare for the PMP certification exam. When you are planning for a project management certificate, it pays to do a groundwork on the provider, what they offer, their experience, etc. before jumping in.
Project Management Certificate Process
Follow these steps for getting your project management certificate from PMI:
- Check if you meet the PMP requirements: Eligibility criteria
- Select a good Online PMP Certification or PMP Boot Camp provider
- Attend the 35 hours project management education program. This is the foundation for your PM certificate
- Start preparing for PMP Certification Exam
- Apply on the PMI website
- The cost of PMP certification exam: you pay $555 if you are not a PMI member. You take membership with annual fee of $139, you get to pay only $405
- Once you get your eligibility ID from PMI, schedule your exam. But, before that do enough practice on the PMP Question banks to know where you stand.
- Go to the Pearson VUE center where you scheduled your exam and take the test
- PMP Certification Exam has 200 multiple choice questions which you can answer in 4 hours
- Once you submit your test, you see the message ‘Congratulations’ and there you have your most desirable Gold standard in PM certificate-PMP
Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) Certification
If you are a beginner in project management and you want to have a project management certificate, you can go for CAPM. The eligibility requirements are:
You need to have high school diploma. On top of this, you must have completed 23 hours of project management education. Look at the CAPM courses or CAPM online training to meet this and have CAPM exam training.
Attend our 100% Online & Self-Paced One-Hour Free CAPM Training.
Use a CAPM exam guide and CAPM Sample Questions to gear up for the exam.
The exam has 150 questions which need to be answered in 3 hours. Each question has 4 answer options and only one is correct amongst them.
Apply on the PMI website and schedule your exam. Once you complete the exam, you get your CAPM project management certificate.
Agile Certified Practitioner Project Management certificate
PMI offers PMI-ACP for project managers working on agile methodology. If you have the ACP credential, it indicates your expertise on Scrum, Kanban, Lean, Extreme Programming (XP) and test-driven development (TDD) approaches in agile. ACP Requirements are:
Do you have at least 2000 hours of experience working on teams in projects along with 1500 hours of agile project experience? If yes, add 21 hours of Agile and Scrum training to this experience and you are good to go.
PMI-ACP Exam:
You can get the Agile PM certificate when you successfully complete the 120 multiple choice questions exam from PMI. You pay $435 for the exam if you are a PMI member while others pay $495
Attend our 100% Online & Self-Paced 30-min Free PMI-ACP Training.
PRINCE2 project manager courses are available at various levels such as ‘Foundation’, Foundation & Practitioner, Practitioner and Agile.
Learn more in our Free Prince2 Training.
IPMA certifications
IPMA has members from over 60 countries. Its certifications start from Level D which is ‘Certified Project Management Associate’ and moves upward to Level A which is ‘Certified Projects Director’. Level B is Certified Senior Project Manager while IPMA Level C is Certified Project Manager. You can choose which project management certificate level you want to appear for based on the experience you have.
You can show your commitment towards the project management profession and enhance your skills by adding the project management certificate to your credentials. In addition to these, a PM certificate improves your credibility and also a hike in your salary.
Author Biography:
Sunanda Gundavajhala, B.Tech, M.B.A, PMP has over 25 years of project management. She is a consultant, trainer on project management for different sectors and is the recipient of “Recognition of Excellence” award from PMI, USA and Woman Volunteer award from Hyderabad, India Chapter of PMI. Sunanda has contributed to the “Practice Standard on Scheduling, PMI” while she has also worked as the Liaison Officer for PMIEF (Education Foundation) for the Hyderabad, India Chapter of PMI.