-
When IT Is Your Company’s “Piggy Bank”
February 10, 2012
-
4 Key Things a Project Manager Must Do
February 10, 2012
-
Essential Project Management
February 10, 2012
-
8 Traits of Top Project Managers - Part 1
February 9, 2012
-
Agile Project Management - Engaging Your Customer!
February 9, 2012
-
9 Tips to Avoid Traps in Project Planning
February 9, 2012
-
Why Projects Succeed - Executive Sponsorship
February 8, 2012
-
On Customer Participation in Agile Projects
February 8, 2012
-
A Project Charter for Lazy Teams
February 8, 2012
-
The Power of Process: How Bad Project Management Kills Great Ideas
February 7, 2012
10 Steps to Becoming a PMP - Part I
January 30, 2008 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: Certification, PMP
10 Steps to Becoming a PMP - Part I (#1 in the series 10 Steps to Becoming a PMP)
By Cornelius Fichtner, PMP
Step 1: Read the PMI Credentials Handbook.
The PMI has published a Credentials Handbook, which you can find at the following URL: http://www.pmi.org/PDF/PDC_PMPHandbook.pdf. The Credentials Handbook explains everything that you want to know about the process of taking the PMP® exam and becoming PMP® certified. Reading this handbook takes about 20 minutes and it should be the FIRST 20 minutes on your journey to becoming a certified PMP®. It will answer most of your questions about the procedures of applying and taking the exam.
Step 2: Make sure that you are eligible.
It is really quite simple to find out, if you are eligible or not to take the PMP® Exam.
Do you have a High-School Diploma, an Associate’s Degree or the global equivalent of these? Then you must have a minimum of five years (60 months) of unique, non-overlapping professional project management experience of which at least 7,500 hours must have been spent leading and directing project tasks. (Non-overlapping means that if you managed two projects in the year 2006, then that only counts as 12 months and not as 24.)
Do you have a Bachelor’s Degree or its equivalent in your country? Then you must have a minimum of three years (36 months) of unique, non-overlapping professional project management experience of which at least 4,500 hours must have been spent leading and directing project tasks.
In both cases, you must also show that you have had 35 “contact hours” of project management training. The good news is that all project management related training from your whole life counts. So if you are 30 years old and you took a 2-day PM class when you were 21 years old, then you already have 16 contact hours.
Step 3: Become a PMI Member & Member of your local PMI Chapter.
Becoming a member of PMI International makes financial sense, because as a PMI member you will not only receive a free PMBOK® Guide but you will also receive a substantial discount on the PMP® exam. In fact, the discount is bigger than the membership fee. So even if you don’t want to stay a PMI member for life, becoming a member in your first year makes sense.
Becoming a member of your local PMI Chapter can also make sense, because most chapters offer PMP Prep Workshops. Again, as a member you usually receive a discount that is greater than the membership fee. Your local chapter is also a great resource for PMP information. You can attend your chapter’s dinner meeting and speak in-person with new and seasoned PMPs about the exam. They will be very happy to answer your questions and help you. And you will also meet PMP aspirants like yourself and you can form a study group. Studying together is more fun and increases your chance of passing.
Cornelius Fichtner, PMP is the host of The Project Management Podcast™ at www.thepmpodcast.com and The Project Management PrepCast™, the first true PMP® Podcast at www.pmprepcast.com. Cornelius worked as a Project Manager in his native Switzerland, in Germany and in the USA for the last 17 years. He received his PMP credential in April 2004. He has led projects for a management consulting company, a national retailer and an internet startup company. Currently, Cornelius works as a project manager for one of the oldest financial service providers in the USA. His passions are project management methodologies, PMOs and helping others pass the PMP Exam. In addition to hosting the PrepCast™, he is an instructor for the PMP Workshop and the 2007 Chair of his local PMI chapter. He currently lives in Silverado, California, USA with his wife and their two computers.
Related Articles
No comments yet.
feel free to leave a comment
Comment Guidelines: Basic XHTML is allowed (a href, strong, em, code). All line breaks and paragraphs are automatically generated. Off-topic or inappropriate comments will be edited or deleted. Email addresses will never be published. Keep it PG-13 people!
XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
All fields marked with " * " are required.
- Agile Project Management
- Ask the Hut
- Certification
- Change Management
- Communications Management
- Computer Based Information Systems
- Concepts
- Corporate Transformation
- Cost Management
- Critical Chain Project Management
- Delegation
- History
- HR Management
- Implementing Project Management
- Integration Management
- Lessons Learned
- Management
- Miscellaneous
- People Issues
- PMBOK
- PRINCE2
- Procurement Management
- Program Management
- Project Lifecycle Phases
- Project Management Advantages
- Project Management Advantages
- Project Management as a Career
- Project Management Best Practices
- Project Management Charts
- Project Management Definitions
- Project Management Ethics
- Project Management for Beginners
- Project Management Guides
- Project Management Musings
- Project Management Office
- Project Management Proposals
- Project Management Templates
- Project Portfolio Management
- Project Workforce Management
- Quality Management
- Requirements Management
- Risk Management
- Scheduling
- Scope Management
- SCRUM
- Soft Management
- Time Management
- Training
- Uncategorized