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Lack of training among PMs – PMP Candidates – Follow-up

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As promised, I’m following up on my post from Sept. 14, 2009: Lack of training among project managers.

There continues to be  widespread lack of formal project management training among PMP candidates. In my original post, I wrote:

In order to earn the PMP credential, a candidate must have a minimum of three years experience either in a PM role or performing PM tasks. That is to say, the credential is not meant to help an individual move into project management  but, rather, certifies that the individual is already in project management and has been for at least 3 years. In fact, many candidates have been in the profession for much more than 3 years.

Therefore, anyone who is going through the process of earning the PMP credential must have been practicing project management for at least 3 years, if not more.

So my big question is this: How can a person have been practicing a highly skilled and complex profession such as project management (for at least 3 years, if not more) without ever receiving any training in his/her chosen profession?

From my visits to message boards and blogs, I’m seeing a common misunderstanding among many PMP candidates; a misunderstanding is related to the trend of PMP candidates using their exam preparation classes to satisfy their 35 contact hour requirement. Many candidates seem to believe that taking a 35 hour prep class is actually a requirement to sit for the exam.


Here is one of my responses on one of the popular PM related blogs, http://www.askaboutprojects.com.

There is no requirement to attend any kind of PMP exam preparation classes. This is up to the individual. However, PMI does require 35 contact hours of project management training as part of the eligibility requirements for the PMP credential.

A lot of PMP candidates have never taken any classes or training in their profession. This is surprising since one of the requirements for earning the PMP credential is having at least 36 calendar months and 4,500 hours of PM experience or experience performing PM activities. One would think that a person would actually have some training or education in a profession that they claim to be have been practicing for 3 years or more.

Nevertheless, quite a lot of PMP candidates do not, indeed, have the requisite PM training to apply for the PMP credential and sit for the exam portion of the certification. In these cases, PMI allows the individual to use PMP exam preparation classes to satisfy the 35 contact hour requirement. For many individuals, this is the first time in their lives they have ever received any kind of PM training. Of course, once they earn their PMP credential, they will be obligated to continue their PM education throughout the rest of their careers or else lose their credential. This is one of the positive sides of the certification process and gives meaning and respect to the credential.

Some of the better (though more expensive) exam prep vendors (e.g., Cheetah), require their students to have their PMI/PMP eligibility letter in hand before starting one of their PMP exam prep classes. This means that the students in the class have already completed some PM training in the past and are not using the “prep” class to satisfy the 35 contact hour requirement.  This may account for their high exam success rates.

As before, this is a question I’d like to think about and discuss more on this board. What is your take on this? Your comments are welcomed.

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