It is important to get certified in project management because it is a common framework that facilitates and institutionalizes project management within an organization. Nowadays, small and large companies are developing their innovations and expansions through projects due to the multiple benefits this methodology provides.
Project Management
Project management is a common framework of methodologies and technique development for achieving objectives and completing projects that meet common Project Management standards.
In general, it is a training achieved through two non-exclusive paths. That is, you must go through both: experience and academic training.
To officially qualify as a full-time Project Manager, you must meet the following prerequisites:
- A 4-year bachelor’s degree or university qualification.
- 36 months leading projects.
Or alternatively:
- A high school diploma or professional technical diploma.
- 60 months leading projects.
In both cases, academic training and education in Project Management are required (Diploma, specialization, master’s degree).
And in addition to the above, it is recommended to validate all that knowledge with a certification, which is to the Project Manager what a professional license is to doctors, psychologists, or a driver’s license to drivers. Although, in the case of Project Managers, these certifications are not mandatory, they are highly recommended and increasingly demanded by the industry, especially by large companies that are also in the race to register their knowledge and best practices in project management.
Why is it important to get certified as a Project Manager?
- You will find work more easily: Having a certification will make things easier for you when applying for a position or being assigned a project. Certifications look good on resumes, summarizing the following to the recruiter: that you are a Project Management expert, that you are up-to-date, and that you specialize in an area. With a certification, you will not lose any job opportunity for having it, and your profile will stand out from the rest.
- Better salaries: Certification is a kind of ace up your sleeve when negotiating better professional positions and a better salary. In the United States, certified project managers earn annually $6,000-$10,000 more than those without a certification. At the end of the day, you will have gained returns on the investment of having one of these certificates.
- You will join a community of “certified professionals”: Certification comes with a network of contacts, the possibility of networking, recognition from your peers, and the opportunity to join an “exclusive” community of certified professionals. A kind of club where philosophies, methodologies, and common frameworks on how to work and do things in project management are shared. In some certifications, renewal also requires participating in working groups, attending meetings, and establishing relationships with other project managers. This requirement will undoubtedly contribute to your professional development.
Key things you need to know about Project Management certification:
- Practical skills: If you work in a small, family-owned, or low-complexity company, it is sufficient to have basic administrative and management knowledge, as well as appropriate planning, execution, and control methodologies and tools for the organization’s scale. In this case, Project Management training could help you do better, but we do not believe a certification is —for the moment— essential.
- Specialization: Whereas if you work in a large infrastructure, energy, banking and finance company, an international radio non-profit civil organization, governments, and in general, industries with complex and bureaucratic processes such as tenders, bids, etc., it is necessary to have a project certification, depending on the position you hold. Having a certificate will add value in some cases and, in others, will be decisive for obtaining the required funding.
- Acquire certifications: Likewise, it is convenient that you know how certifications work. They are “licenses.” That is, exams that validate what you already know about Project Management and not a study or contribution of new knowledge in Project Management. Therefore, they are carried out when you already have the necessary experience and background in a kind of “final test.”
- Validate your knowledge: Therefore, certification is not a golden ticket that invests you as the best project manager, but rather validates the basic knowledge to manage a project under the necessary parameters of Project Management. So, if you want to advance in your career, it is convenient to have a certification, just as if you work or join a project team that works within a certain methodology, you will need certification.
- Improve your professional profile: If you wish to be part of a Project Management institution and enjoy membership and networking, it is also worthwhile. But if you want to be a better project manager and gain knowledge, certification will not help you. Keeping these details in mind, let’s move on to better understand why a certification is not a degree and what its importance is.
Certification ҂ Master’s Degree
Project Management certifications are not a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree. Keep this in mind first and foremost. Degrees are granted by universities and governments and demand study, many hours of study, and training within a general framework of knowledge and a specialized one.
Project Management degrees, if you are an engineer, administrator, architect, or any other professional who seriously wishes to steer their career towards Project Management, are 100% desirable and recommended. It is a theoretical, methodical, and scientific training in Project Management that, together with professional field experience, will make you unstoppable and allow you to aim for high levels of excellence.
Meanwhile, certificates are tests. If you have a certificate, it means you passed the test, that you are endorsed and surely have the basic knowledge to work as a Project Manager, but they do not inherently indicate that you are a good project manager. Certifications are proposed by professional organizations to regulate the profession. But they are also not licenses to practice, as you can well lead a project without having one.
These types of certifications are generally carried out at the end of the professional journey. That is, when you already have the experience and training.
Certifications focus on a specific area. The most popular is PMP (Project Management Professional) and also the most recognized in the industry. But there are also others such as PRINCE2, SAFe (Scale Agile Framework), CSM/PSM, and ITIL, just to mention a few.
The list of certifications is extensive. Only on Wikipedia, 57 are mentioned. The importance and functionality of these certifications will depend on the position, background, industry, and professional responsibilities and profile.
At the end of the Master’s in Project Management program, Universidad ISEP will accompany you through the certification process. For this, an informative module has been designed to guide you through the most important aspects of each PMI certification, extensible to other certifications.
Get certified in project management!
Continue your studies and achieve your professional goals. Universidad ISEP’s project management program is an own degree program taught online by active professionals and experts in the field. The program’s objective is practical and will undoubtedly provide you with the tools to successfully lead any project model.