Update 2019-08-24 – successful Re-Certification (now valid until 2022)

2016-08-29 – I’m proud to announce that I am a Project Management Professional (PMP)^® now. Last week, I passed the exam at the PMI Project Management Institute.

The PMI Project Management Institute, a global membership association dedicated to advancing the practice, science and profession of project management, certifies “… that Christian Sachs has been formally evaluated for demonstrated experience, knowledge and performance in achieving an organizational objective through defining and overseeing projects and resources and is hereby bestowed the global credential Project Management Professional (PMP)^®”.

I spent my summer in Southern France preparing for this certificate. Honestly, I’m glad and relieved that these endless hours spent on learning and repeating are now over and crowned with success.

To prepare for the exam, I completed an online training course which included 5 simulation exams. And I did a mass of repeating to get all this stuff in my head.

Only so much: The result is everything that counts. And well, I passed!

And my co-author will write an article on how I did with repeating the content that needed to be learned by heart. Just keep an eye out for our next articles, where we will reveal the CACTUS’ unbeatable learning method for everything!!!

Don’t know what this is all about with this PMP, PMI … stuff? Read on!

What is a PMP^®?

The Project Management Professional (PMP)^® is the most important industry-recognized certification for project managers.

Globally recognized and demanded, the PMP^® credential demonstrates to employers, clients and colleagues that a project manager possesses project management knowledge, experience and skills to bring projects to successful completion.

The PMP^® recognizes the competence of an individual to perform in the role of a project manager, specifically experience in leading and directing projects. Year after year, the PMP^® credential has garnered global recognition and commanded a higher salary for credentialed individuals over non-credentialed individuals.

Prerequisites for a PMP® certification:

Only experienced project managers can apply for a PMP^® certification. To be eligible for the PMP^® credential, a project manager must meet certain educational and professional experience requirements. All project management experience must have been accrued within the last eight consecutive years prior to his application submission. To apply, a project manager with a university diploma would need:

• Four-year degree
• 4,500 hours leading and directing projects
• 35 hours of project management education

Exam Content:

The future Project Management Professional^® has to answer 200 multiple-choice questions, the allotted time to complete the computer-based examination is four hours. All PMI examinations are administered in English.

The following domains and others are covered by the exam questions:

• Initiating
  • Analytical skills
  • Benefit analysis techniques
  • Elements of a project charter
  • Estimation tools and techniques
  • Strategic management
• Planning
  • Project budgeting tools and techniques
  • Planning of management of the fields of Communications, Human resources, Procurement, Cost, Quality, Risk, Scope, Stakeholder, Time, Change
  • Contract types and selection criteria
  • Estimation tools and techniques
  • Lean and efficiency principles
  • Requirements gathering techniques (e.g., planning sessions, brainstorming, and focus groups)
  • Regulatory and environmental impacts assessment planning
  • Scope deconstruction (e.g., WBS, Scope backlog) tools and techniques
  • Scheduling tools and techniques
  • Workflow diagramming techniques
• Executing
  • Continuous improvement processes
  • Contract management techniques
  • Elements of a statement of work
  • Tools and techniques for effective performing of Communications, Procurement, Quality, Risk, Scope, Stakeholder management, Time management
  • Interdependencies among project elements
  • Project budgeting tools and techniques
  • Quality standard tools
  • Team Management Skills
  • Personal Skills (e.g. active listening, situational awareness, leadership, time management, decision making, facilitation,…)
• Monitoring and Controlling
  • Performance measurement and tracking techniques (e.g., EV, CPM, PERT, Trend Analysis)
  • Process analysis techniques (e.g., LEAN, Kanban, Six Sigma)
  • Project control limits (e.g., thresholds, tolerance)
  • Project finance principles
  • Project monitoring tools and techniques
  • Project quality best practices and standards (e.g., ISO, BS, CMMI, IEEE)
  • Quality measurement tools (e.g., statistical sampling, control charts, flow-charting, inspection, assessment)
  • Risk identification and analysis techniques
  • Risk response techniques
  • Change management
  • Quality validation and verification techniques
• Closing
  • Archiving practices and statutes
  • Compliance (statute/organization)
  • Contract closure requirements
  • Close-out procedures
  • Performance measurement techniques (KPI and key success factors)
  • Benefits realization
  • Customer satisfaction metrics
  • Information management tools, techniques, and methods
  • Knowledge management
  • Lessons learned management techniques
  • Organizational and operational awareness
  • Peer-review processes
  • Risk assessment techniques

About Project Management Institute (PMI)

Project Management Institute (www.pmi.org) is the world’s leading not-for-profit professional membership association for the project, program and portfolio management profession. Founded in 1969, PMI delivers value for more than 2.9 million professionals working in nearly every country in the world through global advocacy, collaboration, education and research. PMI advances careers, improves organizational success and further matures the profession of project management through its globally recognized standards, certifications, resources, tools academic research, publications, professional development courses, and networking opportunities.

If ever you should want to pass that certificate too or just want to know more about it, I’m there for you to answer all your possible questions (and the impossibles too). Just post it into the comment. I will personally answer all questions.

Good luck!