How do you earn a PMP certification?
The PMP (Project Management Professional) certification is one of the tougher career certifications to earn. Despite the effort and cost, it can open doors if you’re a project management professional or someone with project experience looking to pivot your career. Offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI), the PMP validates that you have 2-5 years of professional project management experience and have completed training on leadership principles, business acumen, and various project approaches (predictive, agile, and hybrid).
So how do you get PMP certified? What are the steps to earning a PMP certification?
Let’s break it down into 5 milestones for earning the PMP:
Gain 2 to 5 years of experience leading projects in a professional setting
Complete 35 hours of project management education
Apply for the exam
Schedule, study for, and pass the exam
Celebrate and apply your PMP credential!
Gain 2 to 5 years of experience leading projects in a professional setting
What is a project and what counts as project management experience? Projects are defined by PMI as “temporary efforts to create value through unique products, services, and processes.” You’ve likely acquired project management experience if you’ve led projects in a professional setting (not personal or volunteer projects) that had a defined beginning and end with established scope and resources. Your experience still counts even if (1) you didn’t have “project manager” in your job title, and (2) you lead a project through just one phase.
My experience: After learning about the PMP early in my career, I kept my eye on opportunities to start, join, or execute projects. I was lucky to have access to project management opportunities in my former job roles. In one role that wasn’t project-oriented, I was able to find grants that related to my department’s goals and received funding and approval to do the work.
A special thank you to my former supervisor (also a PMP) who cheered me on through the process of getting certified!
Complete 35 hours of project management education
To meet this requirement, you don’t have to use a PMI authorized training partner nor do you need to complete all the training in one class. You need to finish 35 hours of training related to the PMP and pass an assessment for each course.
My experience: I enrolled in an instructor-led course and supplemented my studies with the PM PrepCast videos and exam simulator. The instructor-led course was virtual and offered cohorts on different schedules. I completed my instruction over 5 weeks (8 hours each Saturday) and studied the prepcast videos and quizzes for several months. Both forms of training helped bridge gaps in my knowledge.
Cost: An instructor-led course from the PMI Authorized Training Partner list might cost you around ~$2,100 whereas a self-paced course like the PM PrepCast costs around $279.
Apply for the exam
Once you’ve completed your experience and training, you can fill out PMI’s online application. You’ll need to have enough detail in your application for PMI to accept it and allow you to schedule your exam. In the case that you’re audited, your detailed log will be useful to show PMI that you’ve done the work.
My experience: This step was more time consuming than I anticipated, and I wish I had maintained a project log over the years. I created a project management experience log and referred to this article several times while completing the exam application: How to Fill in Your PMP Application (With Guide & Examples). The table below shows one project description from my log.
Cost: The application costs $405 for PMI members and $555 for non-members as of the date of this writing.
| Project Title | Photo web application development project |
| Organization | U.S. Geological Survey |
| Job Title | Geologic Map Editor |
| Functional Reporting Area | Research/R&D |
| Org Primary Focus | Government |
| Project Description (high-level description summarizing your experience including project objective, outcome, your role, and your responsibilities and deliverables. 200-500 words | Develop Web Map Application for a Historical Grand Canyon Photograph Collection
Objective: A large collection of 1,211 photographs of the Grand Canyon collected during more that 43 years of geologic mapping was to be made available to the public. Initial proposals to publish the collection as a large PDF file or a Google Earth KML file would not display the collection spatially or protect the collection from changes in digital formats. The objective of this project was to digitize the collection, embed relevant metadata into each photograph (so that photo context would travel with the file across platforms or databases), and create a web map application leveraging the metadata to display photographs in an interactive spatial context. Role: Managed project to end of carrying out the work phase. IN: Developed project charter and identified stakeholders. L: Collected requirements by interviewing photo collection creator, developers, and potential users. Defined project activities and created milestone list. Estimated costs using bottom-up estimating. EX: Acquired resources by interviewing potential team members, gauging their interest, and negotiating availability for project work. Managed communications by providing status reports to project funders and stakeholders. MC: Controlled schedule and costs through regular meetings with project team. CL: Closed project by creating project report, updating project documents, and transitioning project to new project manager. Outcome: Published photograph collection on the U.S. Geological Survey ScienceBase digital repository, launched interactive web application displaying photos in a spatial context, published USGS General Information Product describing the photograph collection, and source code for photo metadata import and web map application published on Github. |
| Approach-Methodology (traditional [waterfall], agile, or hybrid) | Waterfall |
| Team Size | 5 |
| Dates | Apr 2017–March 2018 |
| Months | 12 |
| Project Budget | $23,820 |
| Role | Project Lead |
| Contact info of Project Sponsor, Client, Director, or Stakeholder |
Jason Sherba Geographer U.S. Geological Survey (650) 329-4248 Christopher Soulard Geographer U.S. Geological Survey (650) 329-4317 |
Schedule, study for, and pass the exam
Once you get the email that your application has been approved, you’ll be emailed a link to schedule your exam! You can take the exam at a testing center or complete it online with a remote exam proctor. The exam is 230 minutes long and comprises 180 questions—half predictive project management questions and half agile or hybrid questions.
A good PMP prep class will help you understand how to focus your studying efforts in addition to covering the required content. You can download an outline of the exam content here.
My experience: To study for the exam, I read the PMBOK Guide, 6th Edition (now phased out for the 7th edition) and the Agile Practice Guide as much as I could. I created flashcards to help me recall new acronyms and terms. I also watched nearly every video in the PM PrepCast and used their practice quizzes to identify weak areas for which I needed extra study.
I completed my exam online with a remote proctor. Before testing day, I was given instructions on how to check the exam proctoring software on my computer to make sure there were no programs running in the background that could disrupt the connection or disqualify my exam. On exam day, I submitted photos of my testing space and connected with the remote proctor who watched me take the exam and let me know when it was time to take breaks.
Cost: You’ve already paid for the exam and certification at this point, so there are no additional costs. If you need to retake the exam, you can do so for a fee.
Celebrate and apply your PMP credential!
You did it! You passed the exam! Now what? Celebrate your achievement and consider the following suggestions:
Apply what you’ve learned to your current project management role, or use your knowledge to help you pivot to your first formal project management role
Explore your local PMI Chapter and the PMI website for continuous learning opportunities and start earning PDUs
Aim to earn 10 PDUs every 6 months. That way, you’ll be in in great shape when it comes time to renew your credential with 60 PDUs
Post the credential on your LinkedIn profile and update your resume
Add PMP to the end of your name on LinkedIn and/or your resume
My experience: At the end of my exam, I was shown a screen alerting me that I had passed. I also received an email score report a few hours later. I celebrated that Saturday evening with dinner and a nice glass of champagne!
Today, I earn PDUs regularly by reading books, attending seminars, listening to podcasts, and writing articles like this one.