Project Management Certifications
Project Management has emerged in itself through the decades. Project Management is precisely an application of skills and tools to many different project activities which results in project success. In any engineering practice, the application of project management is very important to achieve the project goal. There are many different processes used to execute projects which, in the integration of Project dependencies help project Managers to drive the projects. Effective Project Management can meet the business objectives, satisfy stakeholders and positively enhance the chances of project success. On another hand, if projects are not managed effectively, it can result in missed deadlines, cost overruns, rework, bad quality products. That’s the reason Project Management is regarded as must have competency in the organizations.
Certifications from renowned bodies, hands-on experience of tough Project situations where one can use his/her Project Management skills for learning and one can attain to gain and showcase this skill.
Below is the list of certifications available in Project Management Domain
- Project Management Professional (PMP)® Certification – Any candidate who is working as a team leader or a project manager and looking for a long career in project management can apply for PMP.
- PMI® Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® Certification – Any project manager working on agile technologies can go for this certification. It requires a combination of agile training, working experience on agile projects and examination on agile practices and methods. Agile strategic management recognizes that you need to build learning and a degree of flexibility into the decision making process. This can be achieved by the PMI® ACP Training.
- Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® Certification – This is the basic level certification in the project management domain. The only thing you need is a secondary diploma (high school diploma), or any global equivalent credential to appear in this certification exam.
- PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP)® Certification – PMI’s Risk Management Professional (PMI–RMP) Certification recognizes the need for a specialist role in project risk management.
- PMI PROFESSIONAL IN BUSINESS ANALYSIS (PMI-PBA)® – PMI Professional in Business Analyst (PMI-PBA)® Certification covers fundamental aspects of Business Analysis for effective requirements and business stakeholder management.
- PRINCE2® Foundation Certification Course – Prince 2® (Projects in Controlled Environments, version 2) is a project management methodology developed by the UK government agency – Office of Government Commerce (OGC) and is used extensively by the UK government as the project management standard for its public projects.
How to prepare for Project Management Certifications?
| Skills/Certification | Free test | Exam Simulator | Self Study Training |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® Certification | 20 Questions | 7 Tests | 424 pages eBook & 7 Tests |
| Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)® Certification | 40 Questions | 5 Tests | 487 mins Videos & 5 Tests |
| Project Management Professional (PMP)® Certification | 50 Questions | 5 Tests | 14:54:47 hh:mm:ss Videos & 5 Tests |
| PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP)® Certification | 50 Questions | 5 Tests | upto 12 hours Videos & 5 Tests |
| PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)® | 25 Questions | 5 Tests | NA |
| Prince2® Certification | NA | NA | 150 mins Videos & 1 Test |
Which Certification is most appropriate for your requirements?
Basis his current profile and experience, an individual can decide how to proceed to enhance his career and growth. For people who are team leaders and want to be promoted as managers can go for CAPM®. For project manager with less than 5 years of project management experience should look for certifications like Prince2 or PMP®. Both PRINCE2 and PMP® are accepted globally, but Prince 2 is used extensively by the UK government as the project management standard for its public projects. Whereas Prince2 defines the roles of everyone involved in a project, PMP® focuses only on the project manager’s role.
People in senior management should go for PgMP (Program Management) or PMI-RMP (Risk Management Professional). Those who have the understanding of agile methodology/concepts and are working with project teams that are specifically devised for agile practices should go for PMI-ACP®.
The Scrum Master helps the team in its use of Scrum. He is like a trainer, who will provide motivation while at the same time making sure you are honest with your work. The trainer’s authority, however, is limited. He cannot make you do your work, he can only guide you.
Depending on your qualification, experience, and interest you can opt for any certification.
Why appear in Project Management certifications?
In the current economy, certifications are an increasingly important tool for building skill levels, improved marketability, and career opportunities.
Some believe certifications prove that the candidate is knowledgeable but do not guarantee about his/her performance at work. Certifications help you to handle any situation at the workplace in well planned and professional way. Those who are working as Scrum master in agile technologies can go for certified Scrum master certificate.
To be a successful project manager, it’s important for a project manager to do the planning part most efficiently.
Top 5 reasons for a project failure are
- Incomplete or incorrect scope
- No visibility of resource workload
- Absence of strong change management control board (CCB)
- Failure to establish effective communications between internal and external stakeholders.
- Lack of clear roles and responsibilities of team members.
The solution to these five problems can easily be taken care by Scope Management, Time Management, Stakeholder Management, Communication Management, and Human Resource Management. All these are the part of Project management preparation and covered in PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge)
A large percentage of people believe that the strategy and vision of the organization are linked to the execution of successful projects. There is a great need of project management discipline and capability to meet these expectations.
Yes, there is umpteen number of educational institutes who are offering various certification courses, some guarantees success, some offering early bird discounts, some bothering you a lot by sending emails every now and then.
Also Read: Top 10 Reasons for Project Failure
Advantages of doing Project Management Certifications are
- Job security – Having an additional qualification can always improve your chance to be retained at the time of recession.
- Promotion eligibility and/or salary hike – You can contribute to the growth of your company with the additional knowledge, thereby increasing your chance of promotion.
- Career Improvement – Most professionals just do their job without taking any new or challenging assignment. After doing a certification you can take some new initiatives in your organization.
- Self-grooving – Globally recognized certifications increase your self-confidence, as a result, your team members and supervisors start trusting you more.
- Your Organisation can rely on you – Organizations are outsourcing their computer services and support to save money, but they need to be sure that the third party vendors they hire are competent. A certified project manager can be trusted more than others.
- Every day changing technology and demands of the customers can be handled in a better way –To learn the latest technology and apply industry best practices.
- Increase job opportunities – By adding new credentials in your resume, you can increase job opportunities and credibility.
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