Learn about the most recognized project management certifications and how they differ in terms of difficulty, focus, and industry value. Understand how these credentials can impact your career options and which ones may align best with your experience and goals.
Key Insights
- The Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, issued by the Project Management Institute (PMI), is the most widely recognized and requires significant professional experience and education hours.
- For those new to the field, the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) offers a more accessible entry point, requiring fewer qualifications and serving as a foundational certification.
- Professionals interested in Agile methodologies might consider the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner or the Certified Scrum Master from the Scrum Alliance, which focus specifically on Agile project management frameworks.
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In project management, there are some industry known certifications. Sometimes jobs will require these, although not all jobs do require them. Some companies will value these certifications more than others.
It depends. So you can get started potentially without being certified, but getting industry certified will open up new doors and new job opportunities. So it might be something that you want to consider as next steps.
These are some certifications and let me explain the differences here. Most of these here, these first three are all given by PMI, the Project Management Institute, and you can click on these links to go out to the websites to learn more about these. The PMP or Project Management Professional is the most popular and most widely recognized certification.
It is the kind of highest level. It has the highest requirements. There can be things like work requirements, education hour requirements, and you should click these links to go out to the website to learn more about what those requirements are.
So it is going to be harder to get the PMP certification, but if you want the kind of most popular, most widely recognized, that is one that you might want to go for. If you want something that's a bit easier to get started with, then you can go to the Certified Associate in Project Management, the CAPM, and that's going to be easier to attain to get started with. There are certain requirements that you need to do, and then these are exams where you take an exam, and if you pass the exam, then you become certified.
Think of the Certified Associate like if you're going to college and you're getting an Associate's degree, which is a two-year degree that's easier to get than, let's say, a Bachelor's degree. So the Certified Associate is a bit easier to get than the PMP, which has higher level requirements. Now, if you're interested in Agile, the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner specifically focuses on Agile, whereas the other two are kind of more general, kind of wider ranging certifications.
Not made by PMI, but made by the Scrum Alliance, there is Certified Scrum Master. So if you want to be a Project Manager in Scrum, that would be a Scrum Master, then you'd want to look into that. Also, as far as industry associations to check out their websites, learn more, maybe read articles and things, there is that PMI Project Management Institute that makes those exams and those certifications.
There's also the International Project Management Association and the Association for Project Managers. Those can be associations that you might want to check into for professional development or to check out their websites and learn more about this industry. If you decide to pursue certification, I wish you all the best, and I hope you pass the exam on your first try.