A personal journey to the how and why of my PMP certification!

Von Sara Rydbeck
August 28, 2024
Certification, Experience, PMP, Project Management, Training

The room is small and I’m in the cubicle closest to the window. It’s in the middle of summer but relatively cool, mercifully, since not even drinks are allowed in here. I’m using the provided ear plugs so that we can keep the window open while the construction work goes on outside. I stare at the screen and read the question again. The clock in the upper right corner is counting down, the question number next to it indicating I’ll have to speed up if I’m going to answer all of them in time. I still have no idea what I just read since in my head I’m already busy planning to retake the test after my holiday, as I’ll surely fail today. I’m forcing myself to focus, reminding myself of my study buddy at university who liked exams – he was curious to see how he’d do. Me, I struggled with the exam situation back then, to the extent that my mind would go blank once I sat there with the test before me and the clock ticking. So how come I am voluntarily putting myself through this now? I’ve had the brilliant idea to get PMP certified.

What is PMP?

PMP stands for Project Management Professional and is issued by the U.S.-based Project Management Institute (PMI). There are other alternatives, such as PRINCE2 from the UK or IPMA from Germany, but PMP was the one I received the most tips and recommendations about from friends who work actively as project managers in Europe.

The credential demonstrates both practical experience and theoretical knowledge in project management. In this article, I share my journey both towards the decision to get certified and through the certification process itself. Hopefully this will be helpful to someone considering the same investment in terms of time, money and effort.

Why I decided to get certified and why now

What is a project? Unlike operations, where work is planned and executed in repeating cycles, projects end, hopefully with the fulfillment of its unique goal. And project management is a skill, or a set of them, yet it seems not uncommon for the role of the project manager to be filled as a consequence of the halo effect; someone who is good at the core business is expected to naturally know how to manage a project.

When I left academia more than a decade ago, I figured that project management was in a way part of my skill set. Every research project sets out to solve a problem, find something out and output a result to be shared with the rest of the community. If the project is successful, the frontier of our knowledge is pushed forward if only, as in my case, ever so slightly. To achieve that, you usually need to collaborate with other researchers, get your hands on computing resources and data, and nobody else is going to take care of all that coordination and communication for you.

Like many physicists, however, I transitioned into industry and business by leveraging the transferable skills associated with data analysis, mathematical modelling and general knowledge work. I soon found myself conceptualizing database solutions and then moved into data science since I missed the analytical work. I worked in projects developing solutions for external and internal clients and observed with interest how we worked and how differently in the different workplaces. At one, projects were organized as predictive (another label for waterfall), with a conceptual phase followed by implementation and testing of the entire solution. It seemed to me that this was doomed to fail, since clients invariably changed their minds about what they wanted along the way. At the other, I learned a lot about agile methodologies, and became convinced that this was the only way to go, except how do you sell a project when you can’t even say what the customer gets for their money in the end? As the need arose and my career outside of academia progressed, I started doing the managing part of project work myself. What I knew, or thought I knew, about project management, I learned on the job, from external consultants and from my own experiences. I had a creeping feeling it was not enough.

Earning the PMP is both a chance to show off your skills and to learn from all the hard-earned wisdom already out there. It seems very well thought out to me: to get certified you need to first demonstrate experience in project management, then while studying for the exam you go through the whole framework of processes and knowledge areas in a systematic way. I think I gained much more from the theory I learned while reflecting on my own past experiences than if I had started by doing the course work first and only after that had headed out into the real world. It works as therapy too: in the myriads of real-world situations described, you can recognize the problems you encountered yourself and find out you’re not alone. And, reassuringly, that there are solutions to those problems.

Incidentally, one of the insights for me during the certification was how even in a predictive setting, changes are expected and a crucial part of the process, challenging my preconceptions about this way of working. All in all, I’m glad I decided to go through with the PMP since I now feel I have a much better foundation going forward, whatever the setting.

How to get certified: my journey and practical advice

There are three milestones:

Get the required one-week training.
Apply. You need to demonstrate project management experience.
Study for and take the exam.

Training

The first thing to check off the list is the 35-hour seminar required for the application.
In principle you can search for authorized training partners on the PMI website, but while the site is otherwise abundant with useful information, I personally didn’t find this particular feature very helpful. A Google search for “{your city} authorized pmp training” is a better bet and if you’re in Germany and/or can do a seminar in German, I can recommend plusDV Unternehmensberatung.

The seminar covers the process groups and knowledge areas in the PMBOK guide (for Project Management Body of Knowledge). My first impression about the content was that it’s all about an overwhelming amount of documentation, at least the predictive approach (which as I hinted before, I already had my doubts about), but what seemed a bit on the dry side at first was brought to life by the experienced instructor and a lot of interactive exercises. An extra benefit of the training seminar was meeting the other participants from other industries. If you’re choosing between an online and an on-site seminar, I recommend the latter.

In addition to the seminar, we received support and coaching for the registration and application steps, as well as access to training software with exam simulations. Also included was a one-year PMI membership which gave a discount on the exam fee and access to the PMI library of books and publications for download.

Application

In my application I had to demonstrate at least three (recent) years of project experience, in addition to the 35 hours of training. If you don’t have a university degree, you can compensate with two more years of experience.

For each project, you enter the title and methodology, categorize it according to team size and budget, and describe the project and your responsibilities on it. You also name a contact person that played a key role in each project. Your application will be reviewed by the PMI and there’s a chance that you or that contact person could be contacted for clarifications and audits.

A challenge for me during the certification was the workload I had in my job, making it difficult to find time and energy for the certification activities. I didn’t finish my application until more than two months after I did the training. Once I had submitted it, it took a few days before it was approved.

Upon application approval, you have one year to schedule and take the exam.

Prepare for the exam

This is a very nice part if you, like me, enjoy learning. However, my challenge was still my general workload and before it was possible to schedule in some study hours, well over half my year had passed by.

The estimated study time needed to prepare for the PMP exam is 100 hours. For some, it might be possible to do it in less time, but for me, a big part of the motivation was to learn and understand the material. In the end, I think I used a bit more than 100 hours (I’m a slow reader), but not much more.

After the seminar, I received a complementary exercise book, but never used it. Instead, on recommendation from a friend, I bought the book “Head First PMP” (Green Stellman, 4th edition), which uses research results on how the brain works and learns to make the material easy to digest and the knowledge to stick better. Most of my study time for the exam was spent working through that book. Some things that I had found a bit confusing or contradictory during the seminar were clarified here. As I mentioned earlier, I reflected a lot on my own experiences while reading, which I suspect also helps learning.

I have another strong recommendation in addition to “Head First”: read at least also the “Agile Practice Guide”, which you can download from PMI. I have the impression there has been a transition in the last years with more and more emphasis on agile project management. About half of the exam is now on agile or hybrid. This was emphasized in the seminar through a separate section but is more of an afterthought in “Head First”.

Once I had worked through the book and had scheduled the exam, I also practiced on exam simulations. These allow you to familiarize yourself with the test format as well as review and check your knowledge. The actual PMBOK guide is a good reference to have handy during this.

Exam experience (and how it went)

The exam consists of four hours of multiple-choice questions. The questions cover an outline defined by the domains People, Process and Business Environment and tasks associated with each domain and are apparently collected from experts all over the world.

Many of the questions describe a practical situation, and you are asked what the project manager should do. There are also some more theoretical questions, but even though both the seminar and the book contained a lot of questions where you need to perform a calculation, there is almost none of those in the exam.

Practical points for the interested:

There is a possibility to take the test online, but I did it in a test center. To secure a spot, I needed to book it only a couple of weeks in advance.
There are a few options to do the exam in another language, for example German is available. I did it in English.
You have a calculator on the screen, and the test center also lent me one. They also provide you with a pen and something to scribble notes on.
Otherwise, all you get to bring into the exam room is your ID and key to the locker where you left your things.
You get a 10-minute break for every third of the answered exam questions for which you can leave the exam room. I got to keep the drinks and snacks I brought available in the reception and locker area.

As I hinted in the introduction, to me the exam was by no means easy, and I utilized the time I was given. Tip: I used the functionality to mark questions for review that I wanted to spend more time on. That way I could first work through the ones that I was more certain about and optimize how I used the time.

You get three attempts at the exam, so my time plan included a retake before my year was over, in case I didn’t pass on the first attempt. I had read somewhere that even though you take the test on a computer, you don’t get the results immediately, so when I finally stumbled out of the exam room after the last third, I had no expectations. While I was still fumbling with my locker, the lady at the reception called out “Herzlichen Glückwunsch!” – the preliminary result was that I had passed! After less than two days, I received the official confirmation that I had indeed passed and was now finally, a year after the seminar, PMP certified.

When are you ready to take the exam? During exam simulations, I scored around 80 % on average just before the exam, 84 % on the Head First self-assessment test at the end of the book. You don’t get to see your real exam score, but you get an exam breakdown by domain.

My best advice: Trust in your preparation and prioritize getting a good night’s sleep before the exam. You’ll need a clear head and the ability to stay focused for a few hours. Use the breaks and stay hydrated.

After the exam

The certification is valid for three years from the date of passing the exam. To renew it, you collect professional development units (PDUs) that can be of different types. Among other options, you can take courses, read books, write articles or give presentations.

This part makes a lot of sense to me. Apart from using your knowledge as a practicing project manager, they want you to stay up to date and share your knowledge. I’d want to keep learning either way, but this works as a motivator to fit it into a busy schedule.

And the journey goes on

If you kept reading until here, you know I made it out of that exam situation with a PMP to show for it. You also know about the effort it took, so that you can compare it to other training options.

For me it was worth it and something I recommend, for its rigor and comprehensiveness, if like me you need these skills in your work regardless of whether “project manager” is your main job title.

Companies are different, clients are different, and the business landscape ever changing. I look forward to putting my knowledge into practice and keep learning on the winding road ahead.