Was getting a PMP worth it? 3 years later - should YOU get a Project Management Professional?

hello hello emma here thanks for joining us on my channel recipe for success today we're going to be talking about my own personal journey in getting my pmp certification my impressions of getting a pmp and how i feel about it three years later so if that interests you stick around we'll get started shortly [Music] so first i just want to go through some pmp basics if you're unfamiliar with what a pmp is what it stands for how to get it and just some general information so a pmp first and foremost stands for a project management professional certification and it is a professional certification that's offered through pmi that's the project management institute it's a global certification that's offered for experienced project managers and basically acts as a certification that demonstrates that you have sort of set standards for your project management expertise so what i mean by that is basically you study the project management information the this can include things like business skills soft skills understanding how budgets work understanding how resourcing works understanding all the different phases of project management this can also include waterfall agile and hybrid methodologies around project management you study all of that and then you take this exam to basically prove competency within these core areas and then you get the certification the pmi or project management institute basically claims that this is the world's leading project management certification and that it's a way to quote supercharge your career so if you are a project manager this is one certification that you can use basically to prove competency in this particular area now i say if you're a project manager the pmp is actually a certification for existing project managers it is not an entry-level certification you're looking for an entry-level certification that's where you're actually going to be looking for the capm certification that's offered by project management institute or even something like the google project management professional certification offered via coursera i actually have a video on both of those that i compare and contrast and that's available if you want to go ahead and take a look at that but for the pmp certification itself you're required to have a four-year degree 36 months worth of project management experience so that's three years plus 35 hours of project management education so you can actually tell that this is not an entry-level course if you do not have a four-year degree you can do it with a high school diploma or a two-year degree but then they actually upped the required level of experience from 36 months to 60 months so that's just something to note so you might be wondering what does the project management professional get you or how does pmi market this certification why would you get it so they're claiming that there's an roi that's a return on investment of basically 25 increase in salary so pmi states on their website that project managers who have a pmp on average make 25 more than pms who do not so that's pretty interesting i don't know how they're actually sourcing that information or where the stats are to sort of back that up but that is the statistic and reference point that they provide and the last sort of basic information about the pmp certification that i want to just offer to anyone who's interested in learning more is it isn't necessarily the cheapest certification available i did just want to point out taking the exam itself costs 555 or 405 dollars if you're a pmi member and that's it separate from any cost that you might incur for actually preparing for the exam so those continuing education or project management education hours that are required generally you can get them for free but i will say in my own personal experience it was very challenging to be able to get the 35 hours completely for free and we did end up paying for an actual course that guaranteed you those project management hours so that's an added cost associated with actually sitting for the exam so you might be wondering what are the pros to getting a pmp why do people even consider it and i think this is a really good question to be looking for or asking yourself if you are considering getting a pmp so the first pro that i would say to getting a pmp is it's a formal and recognizable certification the one sort of leg up that i think pmi does have is it's a global institution and this is a global certification so this isn't u.s centric if you're in another country pmp is recognized and it's quite interesting because maybe if you're looking and consistently work with international clients this might be an interesting point and way for you to garner some um you know respect and understanding from them of your capabilities the second pro that i wanted to talk about is how this project management professional certification complements any sort of technical skills you might have so if you're a tpm a technical program manager or in general you might have like construction background or things like that having this sort of certification actually showcases the fact that you have a different skill set than what you might be doing in your day to day or this is showcases a different skill set for example from any sort of technical skills that you have this is more focused on the fact that you can actually manage a project manage people resources and include some of those softer skills as well and the last pro certainly to getting a project management professional is i think it's a good way for you to actually expand and showcase your additional skills so what i mean by this specifically is if you do project management on a day-to-day basis it's quite possible that the way that your company does project management isn't necessarily 100 aligned to the true project management methodology so sitting and studying for an exam like this actually gives you an opportunity to expand your skill set and make sure that you actually understand true project management methodology from beginning to end and this can include things that you might not actually be doing day to day now let's talk a little bit about the cons because while you know it's there are definitely some pros and it's a great certification there are going to be some considerations as well when going into a certification like this so the first thing is the expense and you want to think about the fact that like i mentioned earlier it's 555 dollars to sit for the exam plus any additional cost that you might spend in preparation preparing for the exam so generally a prep course if that's the way you go is going to cost around a thousand dollars so we're already up to almost sixteen hundred dollars just to sit for the exam and you also have to bake into that opportunity cost so you're going to be spending probably anywhere from maybe 10 hours a week studying for this exam probably i'd say for three months and so at that point you know 12 weeks 10 hours 120 hours if you think about what you else you could be doing with that time if you could be working there's an opportunity cost associated with the time as well that you're spending so you're looking at sixteen hundred dollars cash out of your pocket plus the opportunity cost of actually preparing for the exam the second con that i wanted to discuss is the lack of guarantee so while pmi is really and explicit about the fact that they expect pmp certified pms to make 25 more there is no direct guarantee that you're actually going to make that money out of the gate so i think that's something to be very clear about that you know when we assess roi they're certainly suggesting that there is a 25 roi on this certification but it's not a guarantee that your employer is going to offer you 25 more once you're certified or even honestly that you're going to be able to find a job as a pm that offers you 25 more and the last consideration that i just wanted to point out with the pmp as well is the pass rate so it's really hard to find good data on what the actual pass rate is of the exam pmp does not publish this but they have shared or what i've been able to find on the interweb suggests that roughly about 60 percent of first-time pms who sit for the exam actually pass so i just wanted to point this out that's a 40 fail rate to me that's actually kind of high for the amount of time and energy and effort that you're putting into preparing and sitting for this exam so i just wanted to make sure to call that out as a consideration as well that there are forty percent of people who presumably don't pass on the first time and your costs and certainly the time that you're spending preparing for this exam actually just increase from there because you'd have to pay an additional fee for the next time that you sit for the exam so now i want to share a little bit about my story how i decided to sit for the pmp and whether or not i think it was worth it three years later so one thing for me i had actually been a pm for about five years before i decided to sit for the pmp and this actually coincided with a job change so i had changed roles and changed jobs specifically still being a pm and what i found when i moved from my old company to the new company is that in my new company everyone was pmp certified or most of the pmo was pmp certified my boss certainly was and it was clear that the vernacular and the language that they used was really pmi focused as a younger woman coming into that field and coming into that pmo that's project management organization you know this was a way for me to help establish myself and prove the fact that while everyone could tell i had the skills i could speak the same language as they were i could speak to the same inflection points i could speak to the same methodology and i could take that information and use it in a day to day to build confidence and trust with my peers and with my customers so i will say that's what encouraged me to go do it and actually my director was very supportive of that so they actually offered to reimburse all of my education costs and the cost of sitting for the exam so pro tip i would definitely talk to your manager before sitting for this exam to see if they'll help cover some or all of the costs because it is an ongoing certification for experienced pms in general what i found was there was a very positive response to me getting my pmp and for me personally do i think it was worth it yes i do and i think it was worth it for all the reasons i just sort of talked about i was a less tenured employee who wanted to show and demonstrate that i had these skills and that they weren't just skills based on the interpretation or bias of the individual who i was working with but rather that an independent established respected institution said i had the skills and i knew what i was talking about and that gave me again an ability to garner a lot more additional trust with my customers and of course even with my peers and the interesting thing about the 25 roi is i'll say so for me i did not get a 25 pay bump immediately upon passing the pmp however several months later i did get promoted and that came with roughly a 20 increase in pay so if you think about the fact that this pmp certification while not the only reason i got promoted probably helped me get that promotion it goes to show that i did get a pay bump in less than six months from after sitting and passing the pmp exam so now let's talk a little bit about who else might benefit from getting a pmp and how to assess if getting a pmp is the right move for you and your career so i think there is no clear-cut answer to this and i think anyone who says so or says otherwise is probably uh bias with pmp so i would just take all this with a grain of salt i'm not i'm not working for pmi i don't have an affiliation with them directly other than being a pmp certified pm but what i will say is i think you need to reflect and ask yourself the following questions so the first question you want to ask yourself if you want to grow in your pm role or within your pmo so this is really important if your sort of career objectives don't align with trying to grow as a project manager you know to senior pm or program manager or program director i don't know if this is the right certification for you because it's not going to be recognized outside of those sort of job roles the second tip to assess whether or not the pmp is the right certification for you i would say look at job titles and job roles that you're interested in so go online go on linkedin go on indeed type in project management role look at companies that you like that you want to work for and look at the qualifications is it just pm experienced in this type of project management for x years or under the qualifications do they say pmp preferred do they see pmp a plus lots of jobs that i was applying for and looking at certainly did indicate that they had a preference for pmp-certified pms and that it was a good way to differentiate yourself and because of that for me in my case i thought it was definitely a net benefit and worth it in growing my career so i would say the same thing for you you want to look at those jobs that you're aspiring to get and aspiring to fit in to understand whether or not this is an asset for those companies and those roles that you're going to be applying to the next assessment or question that i would ask yourself is look at not your peers but the people one or two levels above you and look at their qualifications what do they have and did it help them get to where they were so i mentioned the fact that at my first company i worked there for five years and did not have a pmp neither did most of my peers or most of the higher ups but when i changed companies i noticed a trend at my second company that the director of the pmo and a lot of my peers and higher ups all were pmp certified and that was a trend that they as an organization really saw a lot of value in the pmp you want to look at the same thing for the company that you work for other companies that you might want to work for you want to see if people who work within that company in those higher roles are pmp certified because that's going to be a good indicator for whether or not they're looking for that same education or certification for people in order to promote them or get them to that level the last question i would ask myself if i were considering a pmp is are you looking for a way to differentiate yourself or your resume as you apply for jobs and specifically again pm jobs so i think again the value probably in the pmp is as a differentiator on your resume to get your foot in the door i mean ultimately it is going to be up to you to deliver on your projects on time on budget showcase that you have that skill set during your interview but the pmp acts as a good i think resume differentiator for getting you to that point of interview so if that's something you're looking for if you aren't getting a lot of callbacks you're finding generally on your resumes this might be a good option to differentiate yourself so ultimately out of those four questions i would say if you answered two of those questions in the affirmative that yes you're looking for a differentiator yes you're looking to grow your pm career or yes people in your organization have pmps that two or more i would say is probably a good indicator to me personally that i should go ahead and sit and study and make the investment for this exam and this certification if you only have one out of those four i might reconsider and try to strategize a little bit more about where it is you're trying to grow with your career to understand if this is actually going to be a value add if you answered no to all the above it doesn't sound like maybe this is the right certification for you or you're going to get the roi that is actually going to help you or be meaningful now again if you just want it because you want the education certainly you can go for it but i will say if we're thinking critically about roi here you do want to use these questions to create a framework for yourself to understand if you're going to get the net benefit that you want out of this certification all right guys well i hope you enjoyed the video that's all the time we have for today if you did like this video enjoyed the content or got something meaningful out of it please like and subscribe below definitely looking forward to growing this community here and also i have planned a continuing line of videos just focused around project management tips and growing project management careers so if you're an aspiring pm or current pm looking for that citative advice go ahead subscribe and we'll be talking to you soon

Channel: Recipe for Success

Views: 174,103

Keywords: pmp, projectmanagement, pmpcert, pmpcertification, pmproi, pmpworth, faang, pmi, is the pop worth it, how much does the pmp cost, should I get my pmp, should I take the pmp exam, how to sign up for the pmp, can I make more money with the pmp, project manager certifications, which pm certification is worth it, which pm certification should I take, google pm versus pmp

Id: MpMwqeSrmZg

Length: 17min 10sec (1030 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 05 2021