I am a proposal writer and business development professional who works with defense companies, winning them new business. Lately, with all the government cuts going on, and the wars winding down, work is somewhat harder to come by. I am only working part time now, but will be picking up more hours at another company in about two weeks.
One thing I have been noticing lately when I look at Government requirements is an increased interest in having people with Project Management Professional (PMP) certificates. As near as I can tell, to get this certificate, you have to attend a one week class, then take a 200 question test. The total cost to do so is around $2,000, which is quite steep. In addition, you then have to take continuing education every year to maintain the certificate in good standing. Though it will hurt, I can definitely afford the $2,000. I can only assume this will help me in the future since, while I have run numerous projects in my life, I have had no formal training like this in best practices.
For anyone out there who already has a PMP, is there a downside to it? Is it really just a waste of money?
I work with several people (actually, they work under me) who have PMPs. I don’t know anything about the certificate, but I’ll tell you what they were unanimous in saying: if you want a resume padder really badly, then get it. Otherwise, save your money. My folks claimed everything they learned in the program is pretty common-sense and already covered by free training available from my company (obviously, YMMV greatly).
You also need to have, IIRC, 1500 hours of documented project management experience, which it sounds like you can cobble together. The test is not “easy” - its been optimized around some very formal large scale project management concepts (for instance, contracts, which you may have not had a lot of exposure to). The training for “formal project management” and “pass the test” are a little different. There is a fairly significant cost to the test as well.
Its a nice set of initials to have behind your name, though. You might just want to go buy a PMP prep book with a sample test, run the sample test, and get a feel for it.
I’ve had the PMP for about 10 years. I am a project manager, and it definitely helps in getting gigs, and sometimes can help get choice project assignments (YMMV). If you are a practicing project manager and plan to be one for some time, it is probably worth the expense and work involved in acquiring one. If you are not necessarily in the field it’s value may be limited to you.
The standard project management concepts and processes can help with a wide variety of work and it is not totally limited to “projects”, so it can be of help with proposals and business development, and as previously stated having the initials after your name may give you some street cred. There was another thread around here regardng the PMP - I stated there that I have known PMs without the PMP who were awesome, and others with the PMP who were terrible. Having the PMP will not make you good.
The application process takes some thought, as stated above. You do need to prepare as I doubt many can pass the test cold. Oh, and the recertification cycle is 60 hours of professional development over 3 years, not one. Good luck!
however, it’s best to think about it as three years, twenty hours each. If you don’t manage it, they have some sort of catch up period before it lapses, but don’t wait until the last minute. Sixty hours gets expensive and time consuming to do at the last minute, but you can string a bunch of free training together to meet the requirement if you start right away.