[Aliblahba]

I know their's some heavy hitters on the forum, and was wondering if anyone is a PM. I'm curious how hard it is to get in, the basic requirements, and if Project Management Institute is worth the money. I've talked to a few guys over the years that made a lot of money on short contracts, giving them the money to live and travel the rest of the year. This would be perfect for us and our mindset.

[Smitty]

I'm a PMP but haven't used the certification to obtain any short term gigs (yet). Right when I obtained certification I took a new job that has nothing to do with project management.

To apply for the PMP, you need to have either:

A four-year degree (bachelor’s or the global equivalent) and at least three years of project management experience, with 4,500 hours leading and directing projects and 35 hours of project management education.

OR
A secondary diploma (high school or the global equivalent) with at least five years of project management experience, with 7,500 hours leading and directing projects and 35 hours of project management education.

I do not recommend lying about your experience because they randomly audit (and they do audit a lot) and they will make you prove every single hour of project management that you put on your app.

Once you are approved to take the test, you will go to a registered testing center and I believe it's four hours from start to finish. Do not, repeat do not, underestimate the difficulty of the test. Many people take a 1-week boot camp leading up to the test thinking this will give them everything they need to pass it. Wrong. You have to take the time to understand the material because many of the questions are structured to draw upon that understanding.

Once you have the PMP, you have to maintain it through what they call Professional Development Units (PDUs). You need 60 PDUs every three years. You can claim 5 PDUs per year just for working (nearly) full-time as a PM. If you take a class at work that is an hour, that gives you one PDU. It's difficult to obtain PDUs without spending money on training courses, but it is possible.

The bottom line is I think it's worth grabbing if you are qualified to sit for the test, but understand that you have to always keep at it in order to maintain the certification (60 PDUs). It's not something to get simply to put a check in the box and forget about (like Six Sigma certs). It can only strengthen your resume/credentials. If you don't qualify, they have a certification geared towards people with less PM experience.

I fully intend to try and use it for short term gigs so that I can travel full-time after I finish my current job (next year).

[ManAbout]

(09-18-2011 11:09 AM)Aliblahba Wrote:  

I know their's some heavy hitters on the forum, and was wondering if anyone is a PM. I'm curious how hard it is to get in, the basic requirements, and if Project Management Institute is worth the money. I've talked to a few guys over the years that made a lot of money on short contracts, giving them the money to live and travel the rest of the year. This would be perfect for us and our mindset.

For IT projects, it is pretty much a requirement. All the big consultancies, IBM etc. expect their PMs to have a PMI certification. If you are part of the ranks, and want to move up into Project Management, it is essential.

Not sure what certified PMs are making these days, but a few years ago, a contract PM was doing about $150-$200 an hour. $100/hr is about the minimum.

[Aliblahba]

Thanks guys. I am about a year from graduating a B.A. degree. Problem is, I don't see, at 35, how much it is gonna help. I see guys retiring from the military with paper not getting work with it. I was thinking getting heavy certifications would be more efficient.

@Smitty- I don't have any leadership in PM. The recruiter from Villanova said I had enough time "in projects" that would be accepted. Was he blowing smoke? I do have a heavy background in training, mechanics, logistics, optics, lasers, and some in project start up.

[Smitty]

(09-18-2011 04:06 PM)Aliblahba Wrote:  

Thanks guys. I am about a year from graduating a B.A. degree. Problem is, I don't see, at 35, how much it is gonna help. I see guys retiring from the military with paper not getting work with it. I was thinking getting heavy certifications would be more efficient.

@Smitty- I don't have any leadership in PM. The recruiter from Villanova said I had enough time "in projects" that would be accepted. Was he blowing smoke? I do have a heavy background in training, mechanics, logistics, optics, lasers, and some in project start up.

If you don't have 4,500 hours leading and directing projects then you won't be accepted. But (very big BUT), at the end of the day it's all how you spin your experience and back it up.
What kind of work experience do you have?

[oldnemesis]

(09-18-2011 11:09 AM)Aliblahba Wrote:  

I'm curious how hard it is to get in, the basic requirements, and if Project Management Institute is worth the money.

In my opinion PMP certification is not worth it. Very few jobs actually require it, and even those who do may give you a pass on it if you have relevant industry experience. The whole PMP thing is kinda weird as they tried to make it irrelevant for the industry. This means that even if you only want to work as IT project manager, you still need to learn things which are only relevant to factories, supply chains, and so on. A newly certified PMP who hasn't managed any software projects before is essentially useless for a company, they'd rather hire someone who was a developer/QA engineer and grew up into management, even though they do not have the certification. Thing is, despite all the unification they tried to put, there is still too much difference between managing the release of a new operating system, release of a new drug and release of a new car line.

In short, it is not worth it. And yeah, I did take the PMP preparation course, and after the course I decided not to take the test, even though my company was willing to pay for it too.

[Aliblahba]

(09-18-2011 04:12 PM)Smitty Wrote:  

(09-18-2011 04:06 PM)Aliblahba Wrote:  

Thanks guys. I am about a year from graduating a B.A. degree. Problem is, I don't see, at 35, how much it is gonna help. I see guys retiring from the military with paper not getting work with it. I was thinking getting heavy certifications would be more efficient.

@Smitty- I don't have any leadership in PM. The recruiter from Villanova said I had enough time "in projects" that would be accepted. Was he blowing smoke? I do have a heavy background in training, mechanics, logistics, optics, lasers, and some in project start up.

If you don't have 4,500 hours leading and directing projects then you won't be accepted. But (very big BUT), at the end of the day it's all how you spin your experience and back it up.
What kind of work experience do you have?

@Smitty-PM sent. (Private Message)

[UrbanNerd]

I have a PMP, but I pretty much use it as a marketing ploy to get more money, then I avoid the PM opportunities because nowadays, companies are not paying extra (or very little more) to manage. My thought process is "why be responsible for 30 folks work when I can just handle the Oracle or SQL Server database (my own work) and get the same money?"

[Aliblahba]

Gents, thanks for the advice. I'll give it a second look before jumping in.