"My experience of the PMP" by Priscilla Deegan
PMI Certification Programs
It is becoming increasingly popular for project managers to attain certification in an effort to increase awareness of good project management practice and to demonstrate commitment to their profession. In fact, in this economic climate many employers see certification as a prerequisite for prospective candidates.
There are a number of certifications available from the Project Management Institute:
- PMP: Project Management Professional
- CAPM: Certified Associate in Project Management
- PgMP: Program Management Professional
- PMI-SP: PMI Scheduling Professional
- PMI-RMP: PMI Risk Management Professional
In this article I will talk about the PMP examination, which is the most popular one and which I am most familiar with.
The PMP is based on the PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge – a book available from the PMI) but candidates also must draw on their own experience. You need about 3-5 years (4500-7500 hours) project management experience, depending on your educational background – less if you have a Bachelor’s degree. If you don’t have enough experience, don’t fret! The CAPM credential is also available and you only need 1500 hours of experience to qualify.
You also need 35 hours of project management education. Most people do a PMP preparation course to fulfill this requirement.
In my experience you’ll need 40-80 hours of home study. Swallow the PMBOK, basically! But you will need to draw on your project management experience to help you through the tough questions so that’s why having this experience is so important.
You can apply to sit the examination on the PMI.org website and you must supply evidence of the required education and experience. Some applications will be audited. When they approve your application you can apply to sit the examination through the Prometric centre website. There is one Prometric centre in Ireland, on Barrow Street, Dublin 4, beside the Grand Canal Dart station. The examination is 4 hours long and there are 200 multiple choice questions.
For more information on PMI credentials visit the PMI.org website:
http://www.pmi.org/CareerDevelopment/Pages/AboutPMIsCredentials.aspx
Here are some PMP preparation tutorials that I found useful, but nothing substitutes for learning the PMBOK:
http://www.tutorialspoint.com/pmp-exams/index.htm