In today’s world the experience and training and education you take needs to be show cased to the world or in other words needs to be justified. There are many certifications which are existing today are considered as secondary and not critical or important to add value to one’s career growth and salary hike. There is no value add from such certifications to your CV. PMP Certification worth it
Most certifications may not be worth taking so much efforts in terms of time and money. So the obvious question every aspiring project manager or team leader who wants to enter into project management stream should ask is whether PMP is really the certification worth spending both time and money. Following are some of the probable gains of doing PMP Certification to assist you to make a decision of going for it or not. Is the PMP worth it?
It Has Universal Recognition
Organizations and Companies across the world from USA to Australia and just about everywhere on the globe trust PMP Certification. The Project Management Institute (PMI), the certifying body which provides this PMP Certification, has more than 30 lakh members across the world and that show cases to a wide variety of influential and decision makers who know prima facie about PMP Certification. Is a PMP Certificate worth it?
PMP Certification is considered as one of the measures or Key Performing Area (KRA) during appraisals for most of the project managers or team leaders to be given a promotion in terms of designation and / or salary hike by many organizations. It has become one of the most important point for appraisals to be considered an individual as PMP certified or not. Is PMP worth it?
So part from the KRA’s for Technical / Managerial Experience the organization can understand whether an individual can fit the PMP Standards. As per data obtained almost 5% to 25% of candidates are audited by PMI, there is an assured surety that candidates who earned this accolade will definitely live up the expectations. Is PMP Certification worth it?
Certification Adds Value to Your Technical Experience
Normally any recruiter or hiring manager will consider both the technical and managerial experience while recruiting any project manager or team leader and the next obvious requirement the hiring manager will ask is whether you are PMP Certified or not. The more the ticks they find in project manager candidate, the more chances of getting hired over other candidates. Is Project Management Certification worth it?
For instance if a hiring manager finds a Scrum Certification alongside PMP Certification and expert in any of the CISCO or Microsoft Certifications in a particular candidate, your CV is going to be right on top of all other candidates for sure. Apart from the technical experience which is necessary for most of the upper IT Level roles, the capability to have a result oriented following of proven process proves to be successful in avoiding expensive errors in the long run of the project execution. Is a Project Management Certificate worth it?
Certification Provides Higher Flexibility
The path of career a candidate is following now may not be the same he or she is expecting to follow few years down the line. One biggest advantage of PMP Certificate is that it’s not domain or industry specific. Either all or many of the questions are associated to the 5 major project management process groups of initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, controlling and closing. Once a candidate clears the exam successfully it’s considered that he or she understands an overall process that defines a smooth running of the project. Is PMP worth it 2020 or 2021 onwards?
What it indicates that these PMP Certification Holders can move between leadership roles in domains of different streams since the process, methodologies and principles of project management remains similar across all. Though there will be additional experience required of that particular domain. So it’s not going to be easy for anyone to just shift domain just because he or she is PMP Certified. There is equal importance for certification as well as experience. Although the basic requirements of understanding of project management principles, processes and methodologies are available in a candidate. Is a PMP Certification worth it?
Return on Investment (ROI) from your PMP Certification
It’s very much clear that PMP Certification has the ability to be the most prominent goal for most of the project managers, there are surely means and ways to get the best ROI out of your newly acquired skillset. First and foremost don’t forget to publicize your certification accolade on your CV, professional media platform like LinkedIn, social media platforms like Facebook etc. which has a mass audience and reach. Project Management Certificate worth it?
Keep attending webinars and conferences, and conducting project management sessions in your organizations to keep your certification up-to-date and valid and relevant. You can also work with your hiring managers who can get you connected to the best project management opportunities available across the globe. Project Management Certification worth it?
Many feel that people who are in positon to hire many project managers either direct or on contract the PMP Certification is always going to prove valuable. To be very frank, it’s even considered to be the base to be hired for a PM role. Is the PMP Certification worth it?
The point of view of many in this regard is if someone is recruited on the basis of experience and their managerial skills that does not mean they will perform with or without the PMP Certification. However at least with the PMP Certification one will know the candidate understands the principles, processes and methodologies of project management. How valuable is PMP Certification?
There will be few exceptions though where an organization has very sound internal training program, so the candidate not having a PMP Certification will still perform better and give expected results. When hiring a project manager or team leader and depending on the type of projects running in the company if a candidate has additional skill set of scrum / agile certification along with PMP, he or she will definitely be considered for the position more than others.
When it comes to MNC or fortune 500 companies the relevance of doing PMP Certification becomes all the more significant as these companies generally have a compliance that a candidate should be PMP Certified if he or she is to be employed in their organization for a particular Project Manager or Team Leader position. These companies normally focus on having certification as the primary requirement and then comes the relevant experience. So this makes the PMP certification kind of mandatory for professionals to achieve it.
Nowadays the selection criteria for a particular opening for project management position, lists PMP certification at the top of their list, companies feel that being a PMP Certified professional, induces a sense of discipline, responsibility, maturity in a candidate which are very important qualities required for successful handling of a project.
Companies 3 main aspects to be achieved are, the projects should be started and completed within the given time frame, they should be completed with the required quality and productivity and last but not the least is they should be completed within the allotted budget for a project. These 3 are the most important success criteria for any organization to grow and for that there is a huge trust on the PMP Certified professionals to handle these projects efficiently rather than handing it over to a non-certified person.
Also the organizations deploy PMP certified professionals on very important and critical projects to ensure the successful completion of the projects, as these certified people apply the best practices and principles and processes learnt during the training and while giving the exam in cohesion with their work experience to make this project successful. This also ensure job security and safety for the certified professionals as they are not very easily removed or moved from these critical projects.
For many the PMP certification is definitely of value because it exposes candidate to a very rich and useful tool-kit, which otherwise they would not have learnt in normal practice. Knowledge is available everywhere however the confusion is too much information is available, the big question is which information is of value and which is not needs to be sorted and taken into consideration accordingly. PMI has put in front the total knowledge-base which is available with a very meticulous review process, leaving only the valuable pieces together, for anyone and everyone who are ready to accommodate it. Candidates are happy to study on the guidelines set by PMI and follow them rigorously and thoroughly to be able to reap benefits out of it.
Just by having a certificate in hand (nothing but a piece of paper) means nothing, and every aspiring candidate knows this very well. Some candidates seem to instinctively understand and know how to lead projects and make them successful, with amazing outcome and results even without an official certification in hand, but the number of people in such category are very few and generally the major portion of the people get benefited only after professional training and certification in PMP.
PMI never says or mentions how to run a project, they always provide a framework within which a candidate should be able to fit their projects as per the requirement, domain and process / principles involved. PMI very well know that every project, process is unique and different as per requirement and can’t be directed to run in a particular way which is standard across all projects.
There is no doubt that PMP Certification is considered as the gold standard in the field of Project Management. It tests a candidate’s capacity of managing projects by taking exhaustive tests in various domains. This certification facilitates knowledge of an individual of the various project management processes and principles which leads them for the ideal application of the processes and principles in real world situations and scenarios.
The institute which provides the training plays a very active and prominent role in shaping the skills of an individual, so selecting the right institute is of utmost importance, one should be very aware of the merits and credentials and reputation of the institute before selecting it. The google rating is one of the factors which will help in choosing the right institute. The 2nd important factor will be the google reviews giving by people who have already attended the training about the institute. The 3rd important factor would be the trainer’s profile should be excellent and he should have sufficient experience in the field of project management before he or she can reach to a level of trainer, where he or she can teach others.
All in all doing PMP Certification in today’s scenario is definitely worth it for the career growth and the associated salary hike which comes along with it, as it’s the industry demand and requirement from the organization point of view to have certified PMP professionals rather than non-certified ones. Doing PMP Certification adds value to one’s career and the demand in the job market, since it has a global popularity, the chances of getting job abroad increases multi-fold, as more and more professionals are attracted to work outside India for its lucrative job profiles and the salary structure in these MNCs. Many corporates across the world are also coming forward to take the training and get their project managers and team leaders certified as they see the benefits that come with it for the organization in terms of profitability and increased revenue.
TESTIMONIALS
- SHADAB ALAM – PMP
Currently working as a Deputy Manager in BHEL.
- AKSHAY MALEKAR – PMP
Currently working as a Assistant Manager – Projects & Commercial in Ecomak Systems
