A Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification is the most sought-after credential in every industry, be it IT or Finance and Accounting. You probably put in a lot of work if you’ve successfully crossed the PMP certification milestone. Your PMP certification endorses your skillset and hands-on experience in resolving challenges in a project. This opens doors to a multitude of opportunities for you – like a salary increment or a whole new, better job role!
So, to keep this adrenaline rush going and to further your growth, the question arises: Which is your next peak to conquer?
Understanding the future scope that suits you is imperative to give your career a specific direction. With so many challenges to explore, learning about all the other open opportunities that await after your PMP training gives your goals clarity. Let’s look at the pathways that open for PMP Certified personnel.
Pathways after PMP Certification:
After gaining a PMP Certification, you can either go on a job hunt and get selected as a top candidate because of your certification or opt to study further and fetch more credentials. But to follow any of these paths, you would still have to earn PDUs.
What are PDUs?
PDUs are Professional Development Units that show the hours you’ve dedicated to learning, mentoring, or getting involved in discussions. Each unit equals an hour of time spent by you.
Earn PDUs To Maintain Your PMP Certification
After passing the PMP Test, you will have a certification that lasts three years from then. You’ll have to earn 60 Professional Development Units (PDUs) to keep this certification validated.
Here’s how you can earn the PDUs:
- By enrolling in online or offline instructor-led courses offered by Project Management Institute (PMI) or PMI-authorized training partners, like ProThoughts Solutions. ProThoughts offers three different plans wherein you earn all 60 PDUs for PMP through advanced courses of your choice, like MS project 2016 certification and Program Management (PgMP) certification and gain vital skills.
- By attending global and local events held by the PMI or any PMI-authorized training partners. You can attend webinars, meetings, keynote sessions, and more to earn PDU. You can also use this opportunity to network with fellow certified individuals to further your growth.
- Through self-paced learning using the resources provided by PMI and through structured professional discussions with PDUs assigned to each hour, for example, mentoring sessions.
Study Further
As mentioned earlier, one of the ways to earn PDUs is through professional courses. So, if you’re willing to get involved further with other professionally recognized certifications, here is a curated list of options for you:
Program Management Professional (PGMP) Certification
The PgMP Certification enables you to stand out from thousands of PMPs. PgMP is a very prestigious certification and is quite exclusive when it comes to training and assessments. To give an overview, the PgMP certification holder or a Program manager keeps the organizational goals in mind while considering the projects and teams under it as a sub-component. Essentially, the Program Manager has an eye for the bigger picture than just a single aspect of it, as it would in the case of a project manager. A project manager and program manager are both vital aspects of an organization, so you can thus take up this challenge to get involved in the decision-making procedures of an organization.
Disciplined Agile (DA)
Getting into Disciplined Agile can help you flourish in your career by equipping you with tools and techniques for leading more complex initiatives for your organization. Courses like the Disciplined Agile Scrum Master (DASM) Certification and Disciplined Agile Senior Scrum Master (DASSM) Certification can help you gain prowess in the agile mindset. It enables utilizing methodologies like Scrum and Lean approaches using the DA toolkit to choose your WoW(Way of Working) for better outcomes.
Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) Certification
CAPM Certification Training provides a 23 Contact Hours Certificate by Project Management Institute. As PMI states, it tests your aptitude in the:
- Fundamentals of project management
- The role of project managers
- The project management environment
- Project scope, schedule, cost, quality, and integration management.
- Project procurement, communication, stakeholder, resource and risk management
Negotiate Job Offers
The PMP certification shows that you possess the project management skills that employers seek. It also demonstrates that you are capable of winning new projects while managing them effectively, thereby building customer satisfaction. Globally, project managers with PMP certification earn salaries that are 16% higher than those without it on average.
Studies from PMI show that a certified PMP employee is entitled to a pay increase of 20%. You can negotiate with current employers or seek opportunities elsewhere for better job satisfaction. So, the next challenge for you could be to seek better employment opportunities where this certification gives you a better paycheck as well as a boost in your existing position.
The Bottom Line
The question still stands: which challenge is meant for you to undertake? You can either pick one of these or even go after each challenge head-on one by one. The only condition that binds you is your future goals and if it aligns with the challenge you end up taking.
