PMP Certification

Does PMP Certification Add Value to the IT Career?

Project Management / By

If you have this question in your mind and are browsing for some information, you already have a lot of information and statistical data about project management professional certification. Also, you know about the project management certified candidate’s salary structure, the high and globally increasing demand for certified candidates and so on.

PMP Certification
(Source: Project Management Salary Survey, Ninth Edition)

Here, I will put all the logical and practical reasons why you should consider having that PMP certification on your resume.

So, the question is “Does Project Management Professional certification add value to the IT career?” In other words, will have a certificate attached to my resume gives me that extra bit of a chance against the candidate without it? The answer is Yes!

Also Read:How to Build a Career in Project Management If You Are an IT Professional?

How does Project Management Professional Certification add Value to the IT Career?

It has been mentioned above that Project Management Professional Certification adds a lot of value to IT career. So, it’s time to know how it does so; how it has become so valuable. Following are the reasons how PMP certification adds value and thus helps you boost your career in IT field.

Pre-accessed Proof of Skills

Let’s consider from the hiring organization’s point of view where and how a certification adds value? While considering a candidate for a post, what is seen? It’s competency, knowledge, skill, attitude. Right? How as an HR manager or a selection committee member am I going to assess all these parameters in a written test or a personalized interview of few hours? The candidate that is going to remain with the organization for years to come cannot be assessed in few hours of questioning. Also, these questions have limitations and probably do not cover the entire array of competencies required to be mapped to the post.

In such situation, if a candidate has been pre-assessed and carried the proof if it, things become easier; especially in case of certifications like PMP. The project management professional certification carries a strong evidence of validated competencies of the certified person. Why? Because the examination is an assessment of the ability to deal with the real-time problem-based situations that mimic the project environment problems in real professional life. It requires thinking and applying acquired Project Management knowledge and skills to come up with a solution or combination of solutions to tackle the issue. If I show that I am a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) by PMI, I need not say any more about my project management knowledge and skills.

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A Booster for Knowledge

Will the certification provide an additional benefit if I need to move the organization ladder vertically or horizontally? Again, the answer is definitely YES. Consider a situation here. A candidate with 2-3 years of total experience, wishes to enter the project management. However, he does not want to wait till he gets the required project management experience only through the number of professional years completed. Here the project management professional certification acts as a booster for knowledge where a dummy PM issues can work as a smooth learning experience.

In another story, for a candidate who has required many years to join the project management team but has limited knowledge of PM or it lacks few PM skills. For such a candidate, it is best shot in the arm to get the certification (which is only after the completion of physical PM training).

Practical Case-based Experience

Everyone needs a bit of change from the routine job after some years of experience. Project Manager is an excellent position viewed and fought for. A Development Manager may want to have that position after ten years of experience. So, is the case with QA or a delivery manager. Here, to move horizontally in a different field of action with the traditional experience and expertise, a person needs to prove his or her competencies. Why? It’s because project management requires different knowledge and skill set that the traditional. It’s challenging to always get the practical experience of project management in your day-to-day job, and it may need many years to do so.

Getting the professional PM training is quicker and beneficial approach as it not only provides the theoretical training but also gives practical case-based assessment results.

PMP Certification is Domain Neutral

Of course, only if you are not already convinced with the first three reasons. Everyone understands that a strictly vertical career bar is a past now. We see a lot of infiltration from IT to non-IT and vice-a-versa. So, you may be a candidate belonging to a non-IT sector and wish to make a move to IT for the remaining professional career. Or you may have a rich experience of 20 years in IT and now want to do something different before your retirement. PMP certification works best for both these situations. How? First, project management professional certification is domain-neutral.

PM principles and knowledge can be applied to any domain or field; IT or non-IT. You can be a project manager in a software organization, construction site, industrial sector, or even for an aviation expedition. Project management principles and practices do not change with the change in profession. So, project management professional certification is probably unique because it makes you have project experience and not necessarily the technical expertise. So it is the certification which aids in moving from domain to domain or even from one professional sector to another.

In addition to the above reasons, a certification saves a lot of efforts of the hiring manager or the organization. I may not ask questions like what a project charter is or whether you know about the required documentation if the resume says the candidate is certified Project Management Professional. The resumes shrieks, I am PMP, so I know project manager’s role, actions, required skills. I know about project management documents, why they are required, what and who can help me solve issues and so on. Therefore, the assessment becomes more clear and efficient. Also, candidate’s professional and training experience is already validated by the certifying body- PMI. In a mess of scrutinizing hundreds of resumes, project management professional certification acts as a good filter. So if you have that master card, your application is directly filtered to the next level.

So, in the nutshell, or if you are a person who directly scrolls down for the concluding part.

If for any reason you are considering to approach project management field or want to move, shift or rise in your career ladder by pursuing project management, then getting the project management professional certification is worth. It will definitely act as an advantage with your peers and competitors in the race. A few days of efforts and a lifetime knowledge and competency developed with a potential to take you up. Well…. not much and worth a try!

Preparing for PMP Certification? Pass in first attempt with Whizlabs PMP Certification Online Training Course and Practice Tests.

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About Pavan Gumaste

Pavan Rao is a programmer / Developer by Profession and Cloud Computing Professional by choice with in-depth knowledge in AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform. He helps the organisation figure out what to build, ensure successful delivery, and incorporate user learning to improve the strategy and product further.

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