A letter to an aspirant.
Not all medicines are the panacea for an illness, to treat what ailment physicians have a different set of medicines that belong to the same family or have nearness due to its constituents. And in another perspective a single medicine can cure ten-odd diseases, take for instance Pulsatilla this medicine is used for stye in your eyes, for treating sandy hairs, it is a medicine for pale face and muscle softness. Above all, it is used to treat chronic anxiety.
How you choose the best?
The article is trying to frame a holistic approach that you have to carry till its end so that you could learn more about the diversity in any given certification. There are certain constraints when we look for certification, and we do not neglect its presence at all. An aspirant has to face continuous challenges, while he determines to get a certification. The elephant in the room is financial soundness; not everyone is financially sound to pay the hefty premiums of the certifications. Obligations and priorities in life often succumb to the dream. The article does not want to intimidate, daunt, or demoralize you, but eligibility criteria like work experience also trap an aspirant.
You name any certification that is a gold standard, and most sought certifications by employers require an applicant to have a certain amount of work experience, while the industry standard being is five years for mid-level manager certifications and 2-3 years or 1800-2000 work hours.
Understand this; certifications are an extension of modern education that validates the potential of a certified professional and makes him visible in the talent pool and gives him high earning opportunities. Take the PMP certification; if you are a project manager, you already know what magic this badge would bring to your professional life. Do you know 59% of the CIO prefers to have PMP certified IT Project Managers in their teams? They claim that they give a free hand to these certified professionals even when the company is working on a large tedious project. They have reflected in their testimonies that PMP certified professionals are great with handling PM software and make use of the tools and resources like Gantt charts, tracking project progress, file sharing, maintaining timesheets, and collaboration, scheduling, and making reports and prioritizing Task lists.
Besides, they follow the industrial standard practices to finish the projects on due time. Professionals with certifications have the edge over the professionals without certifications. The other factor for making them exclusive is they are ahead of time with the Continuous training they have through PDUs.
The project management industry has touched the $7 trillion mark this year, but still, it has a skill gap that needs to be addressed earlier to maintain the standard and bring in novelty. The growth is soaring with 22 million certified professionals all across the globe, with each year rise of 7% in its fraternity.
Make comparisons always!
This certification though, is inexpensive as you compare with cybersecurity certifications like CISSP. It costs only $500 to take the certification exam, and additionally, an applicant has to invest $300-$500 in the professional training of PMP, the rate varies with the training institution you get associated with.
The experience eligibility here is of 36 months of leading the project for any professional with four years of a college degree. And it is 60 months of leading the project for any professional who has only a high school diploma or an associate degree. The PMI association seems to be lenient with its experience bar. Not like CCSP that mandates its applicants to have five years of experience in the 2 of the five domains of Information Security.
The PMP certification empowers the professional to earn a minimum of 25% more than what he used to earn as a Project manager. Salary surveys by PMI report a mid-level professional with 4-5 years of experience fetches a salary scale between $90000-$110000. At the same time, a professional with more than five years of experience and PMP certification can earn more than $130000! Now imagine how this extension of education changes lives and social stature.
Conclusion
Do keep in mind whenever you think of getting a certification, that you should closely know all its implications and aftermaths. If you are short with your budget, then work on it from today. Have a chunk saved devoted to certification? Your willingness should be high apart from seriousness while preparing for the exam. Have a clear set of agenda, and never deviate from it till you get yourself the certification badge.
