Why bother to certify?

There are many benefits to getting certified as a project manager. The most important one is pay. As a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM), or similar, you will make considerably more than someone of equal experience who lacks the same.

This is for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is risk management. For companies that provide project management as a service, having certified practitioners can lower Errors & Omissions insurance premiums and help win sales. For IT organizations, it helps give a common language for guiding expensive, mission-critical projects through to completion. For construction, adoption of formal project management methodology can mean preventing costly errors by transferring risk when appropriate, mitigating issues, and limited liability in the long run.

Here is a brief rundown of the different types of certification that are available:

Project Management Institute

• PMP — Project Management Professional
• CAPM — Certified Associate in Project Management
• PgMP — Program Management Professional
• PMI-SP — PMI Scheduling Professional
• PMI-RMP — PMI Risk Management Professional

CompTIA

• Project+ (formerly IT Project+)

APMG

• PRINCE2 — PRojects IN Controlled Environments