Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification - anyone have it?

I have. If you work on projects at work, it shouldn't be too hard to get the experience because being a project team member counts.

The Rita book is excellent as prep material. I think I just crammed with that for 10 days and then took the test. I have since let my credentials lapse though. It doesn't make sense to have PMP unless you're job hunting or your company will pay you extra for it.

 

I am set to take the examination this October, but not sure how much it will benefit me in the O&G project world. The PMBOK seems more geared towards IT, and if you are in IT it seems like it is a must.

 

If you're a PM now the 4500 hours shouldn't be hard at all. if you average 40 hours of project management work a week you can get it done in about 2.5 years. As for the cost, that should be a talking point with your boss/organization to pony that $ up. My company is paying for the PMs to get their PMP certification.

 

I have my PMP. As has been stated in this thread, the required hours aren't too bad, because you can leverage hours worked ON projects, not necessarily leading projects.

When I took the exam, I found this book extremely helpful:

That was the only study guide I used. I found the material fairly easy to learn, but there is a LOT of it. Additionally, the test doesn't test you on how you've run projects in the past, it tests you on the PMBOK methodology.

They also intentionally make the test more difficult with the kind of questions that ask for the MOST correct answer with multiple answers that are technically correct. With that being said, I passed on my first try studying the linked book above for about 2 weeks before the test. The PMP is a good certificate to have and shows up on a lot of job reqs.

If you are in IT, it is part of the "holy triumvirate" of certifications for a well rounded leader: PMP, ITIL, and TOGAF.

Another tip: when you document all your PM hours, put it in order of most to least hours per project work stream. You only have to document the 4500 hours, extra doesn't help. So if you have two or three projects that get you 4500 vs 25 that get you that number, just document the top ones to reach the 4500 hours. There are spreadsheets out there that help prep for the application process.

 

I just got down filling out my 2017 career goals here at work and listed this as something I wanted to get done. Thanks for the recommendations on the books. I was thinking about going this weekend to pick up a book or two to start preparing.

 

How do you prove the 4500 hours?

 

It is an honor system for the most part, but you are supposed to provide contact information to you managers in case they audit your hours. You could theoretically game the system, but for the most part, 4500 hours is easy to prove if you've spent even a small part of your career on projects.

I have only heard of one person get called to audit someone's claims...and they were accurate. They had been a project resource on a major data warehousing program that ran 3 years and their manager confirmed the project and provided details to their duties.

 

Make sure to sign up and take the mock exams provided with the book and online (I think the book gives you access to some online exams). The general consensus is the mock exams are easier than the real exam, so you want to be able to get something like 85 to 90% consistently on the mock exams to guarantee you'll pass the real exam (requires a 61%).

By the way...going in to the exam, you'll think the ethics questions are the easiest as they are "fluff", but they ended up being the toughest as every question COULD be correct, but there was only one MOST correct. The best way to approach those questions is to pretend you are Jesus Christ and Captain America combined and answer those.

 

Do you think it's worth it to get the CAPM since I'm not a PM and then get the PMP after a few years being a PM?

 

No, I'd just go straight to the PMP if I were you. You don't need to be a PM to get the PMP, you only have to work on projects.

If you go to indeed.com and search CAPM you get ~600 results. If you type in PMP, you get ~15,000 results.

I have also found that a lot of companies like PMP certs for even non project roles, because at least those people will understand the processes when working when engaging with project teams.

 

The MS project program was a turnoff ,you go blind before filling tasks

 

Business Administration Project Management Bachelors here and I've done nothing with it since nearly 8 years ago of receiving it. Help me get a job with the big bucks please. Thank You

 

If you're daunted by combing through very granular data or other minutiae , project management probably isn't for you.

 

http://www.projectation.com/pmp-hours-spreadsheet/

 

@Outlier Depends on how you look at the $700 cost you're quoting vs your ROI. I took a PMP boot camp course back in 2011 from a place called Alphaware off 610 and Bellaire, if I remember correctly. At that time, the course was $1600 and the exam was another $400 = $2000 investment altogether. Course was 1-week, and then I studied their material hardcore for about a month.

Because I went and got my PMP, my company at the time promoted me and gave me $20k/year raise. Left them 6 months later, and got $15k/year more. Left that company 2 years later for another $20k/year more. So for me, investing $2k was well worth it.

Regarding the projects you work on - IMO, the length of your projects shouldn't matter as long as you can tally up 4500 hours with 3-years of experience in being involved with a project.

Regarding your app and terminology, I downloaded the PMBOK guide to familiarize myself with the terms (we did not us any PM Methodology for projects so i wasn't familiar with any terms) You could find a copy on the net some where or even on the PMI website - the test is based off of this book. I ended up filling out my application after I took their course though so that 1) I would be familiar with the terminology and 2) knew that i was ready to take the exam.

Feel free to send me a DM if you feel like you need more info.