Visualizing Project Management Professional

What is PMP?

PMP is an abbreviation for Project Management Professional. This designation is based on the international recognized Project Management Institute. PMP certification is considered as the standard certification to carry out any project management process across the globe. PMP helps you to enhance your skills and knowledge to gain business and strategic requirements. According to a survey taken in 2018, the average salary of a PMP certified professionals is about 115,000$. So having a PMP certificate can help you to earn more and be more recognized in any organization. There were 833,025 PMP professionals till March 2018, and the count is rapidly increasing day by day.

Agenda

The main purpose of PMP is many governments, commercial and other organizations employ PMP certified project managers so that they achieve a higher success rate of projects in all areas of knowledge, by applying a standardized and evolving set of project management principles. PMP certification is very essential for various project managers such as IT project managers, Project Leaders, Product Managers, Program Managers, Team Leaders, Senior Project Managers, Project Coordinators, Project Analysts, etc.

PMP Examination

PMP examination consists of 200 multiple choice questions written against the PMBOK specification and the PMP Code of Ethics. The exam is basically done with the book closed, no reference materials are allowed. Twenty-five of the 200 questions on the exam are “sample” questions used to fine-tune the degree of difficulty and precision of the exam and as such are not counted for or against a test taker. These questions are placed randomly throughout the exam. The test taker is only graded on their proficiency in 175 questions.

The PMP examination is based on the PMP Examination Specification which describes tasks out of five performance domains and they are –  Initiating the project (13%), Planning the project (24%), Executing the project (31%), Monitoring and controlling the project (25%), and Closing the project (7%). The percentages given indicates the percentage of questions in each domain.

The book A Guide to the Project Management Body of knowledge popularly known as PMBOK Guide currently has its sixth edition. The project management framework embodies a project life cycle and five major project management process groups like initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. Along with it encompassing a total of 49 processes.

There are ten project management knowledge areas mapped to these five process groups, and they are – Project Integration Management, Project Scope Management, Project Schedule Management, Project Cost Management, Project Quality Management, Project Resource Management, Project Communications Management, Project Risk Management, Project Procurement Management, and Project Stakeholder Management.

The PMP exam is a computer-based test and it is conducted by the global network of Prometric testing centers. They also provide paper-based testing is there are no nearby Prometric testing centers. The exam consists of 200 questions and 25 are pre-release items, which are not included in exam scoring. Prometric calculates the score based on the other 175 items. Each multiple-choice item has one correct answer and three incorrect answers.

The result of the examination is immediately received by the candidates. PMI also evaluates proficiency levels in each project management process group at 4 levels such as Above Target, Target, Below Target, and Needs Improvement. Examiners provide these results to the candidate on a score report after the examination. Candidates who take paper-based tests receive their test results and score reports typically within 4 weeks. Various surveys and research shows that the most difficult Knowledge areas of the PMP exam are Quality Management, Integration Management, and Time Management.

Competitors of PMP

The most dominant competitor of PMP is considered to be as PRINCE2. But there are certain countries that prefer PMP such as the USA and the UK, Australia and Europe prefer PRINCE2. Although, Asia Africa and the Middle East have no such preference. PRINCE2 and PMP acknowledge each other’s existence in their advertising material and attempt to position themselves as complementary products – PRINCE2 as a “methodology” and PMP as a “standard” – which can be used alongside each other. In practice, companies and practitioners choose one system or both due to the project environment, their geographical location and costs involved and also for better efficiency.

Benefits of PMP

As discussed earlier PMP certification is very essential for any professional who is looking forward to building a career in project management and especially to be recognized as a project management expert.

A certified PMP professional makes $110,000 per year in the United States while a non-certified PMP makes $91.000 per year. It has been observed that a certified PMPs can earn 20% more than those who are not certified. This shows that most companies are ready to pay a higher salary for project managers who are certified with PMP. In any organization, certification turns out to be an important factor that contributes to improvise the salary structure of any professional. However, it totally depends on your level of experience, problem-solving skills, location, education, and industry. For instance, PMPs in Australia, Switzerland and the United States earn more than those in China, Germany, and UAE.

PMP certification is very helpful in upgrading your job profile to the field of project management.

If you meet the PMP requirements for the certification regarding the minimum hours of experience and education, many organizations will be ready to hire you. The most important aspect is getting qualified to attend the exam and successfully passing it so that you get to enjoy all the benefits the PMPcertification offers. Program Management Office (PMO) job profile has certain responsibilities such as  PMO supervises the project management lifecycle right from the implementation to monitoring in order to ensure successful execution. PMO also leads programs and projects and overlooks both verbal and written communications regarding project status, risks, and issues. A PMP Certificate is awarded to professionals who have passed the PMI’s Project Management Professional certification exam. Since attending the training and clearing the exam is not an easy task at all, this credential is a symbol of the capabilities and skillset of the holder. Project managers with this certificate are considered to be a class apart from their peers. They are often given the responsibility to lead and direct team members in the successful execution of a project with the best effective result.