So can you tell me what certification would best fit my needs? I’ve just received my MBA and I have a couple years of project experience and some project management experience. I’m sure that demand depends on location, but from what I can surmise it seems that agile is currently more in demand right now while the PMP is more comprehensive. Could you tell me what you all think? I’m just not sure which I should be going for at the moment. Thank you for your replies. Saving Changes...
To quote Dee Snyder: "What do you want to do with YOUR life!".
Until you can answer that question for the short-mid term horizon, any certification may or may not be the right fit...
Kiron Saving Changes...
Alexandre CostaScrum Master| Integer Consulting - Pictet technologiesLoures, Portugal
Jonathan,
Looking only at stats agile keeps growing, PM reach a stagnation state, so in terms of opportunities, Agile wins, and if we talk about IT area Agile is the trend.
Alexandre Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Jonathan - There are differences. You could go for the PMP for general project management, ACP for the Agile Practioner route .....Or go toward Scrum with the CSM or PSM
Really depends on your direction and career aspirations. Good luck! Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Jonathan
I agree with my fellow colleagues. You need to evaluate your career path and decide what you want. Yes, Agile is in demand and its spreading like fire in a wild bush. Like Andrew suggested, PSM is a good start.
RK Saving Changes...
Karim SalemClient Relations Lead| Meirc Training & ConsultingDubai, United Arab Emirates
Agile! PMP have changed to involve Agile Methodologies. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
I fully agree with @Kiron here. On the other side, what I did each time I decided to invest time and effort on getting a certification is doing my own estimation about future market demands to decide. Saving Changes...
Wade HarshmanScrum Master| GDITIndianapolis, In, United States
What are your goals? You have an MBA, that's a significant achievement. If you're not sure what to do next, maybe you should spend more time working and see which way the currents lead you. I don't consider this a waste if you need some time, experience, or direction. It's no more wasteful than spending time, money, and effort on a certification you won't need.
For my part, I have to say that the lessons and experience represented by my MBA, PMP, and scrum certifications all taught me significant lessons that assisted me beyond the scope of the certification. Project Management skills, for example, have value well beyond the role of project manager. If you want to be, say, a business executive, then those PM skills might help you be a better executive, but there's no clear, direct path from project manger or scrum master to executive.
(I need to clarify this. PMs can eventually become executives. I'm just saying there's no "Chief Project Manager" in the C-Suite. You'll have to expand your career horizons.) Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
Jonathan,
a PMP requires you to learn for approx. 160-200 hours and pass a 4 hour exam, of which many say it was one of their hardest. A CSM in comparison takes you 16 hours of preparation and pass a 1 hour exam.
I do not consider CSM or other agile certificates (somebody posted a list with several hundreds on this forum) a career defining milestone or an enlightening/mindset-changing event. I know of many people with PMP who think their intensive learning for the exam indeed gave them insights they did not have before, some changed jobs, in average PMPs earn 20% more than non-PMPs (see PMI's latest salary report).
CSM is a good knowledge addition, though you will become a good scrum master by practice only, same to PMP and any other certificates. You will need to learn permanently in this profession anyhow, e.g. you could also attend a 4 day Prince2 class, a 2 day IFPUG class or a FMEA bootcamp for 4 days. All enhance your knowledge to do better projects and give you certificates.
From July 2020 the PMP exam will test agile knowledge, 50% of the 200 question will be agile, that's 100% more than the CSM test.
The PMP is targeting the full project management profession, not only the agile subset. Do not compare apples with berries.
...
1 reply by Wade Harshman
Mar 02, 2020 2:49 PM
Wade Harshman
...
By the same token, though, we should not confuse project managers with scrum masters. The two roles are not related. That's why I would recommend to anyone making a career decision to learn more about the roles before choosing a certification path.
Community Champion
