With the increasing competition, it is getting important to have a Project Management Professional Certification to stand out from others. Certified professionals get preference when companies hire new employees. Certification courses help to show one’s competency, commitment towards the profession.
Motivation for considering certifications:
- Credibility
- Employer preference
- Increase marketability
- Chances of easy promotion and advancement
- Professional development
- Personal satisfaction
- Gain skills
There are many types of courses which include entry-level project management certificates to specific techniques. Some are advanced in their project management careers and looking at how to manage many projects at a time.
Here are top best project management certifications available to you
Prince2 Foundation and Practitioner Certification
Cost incurred: $900
Duration of the course: 3-5 years
In the UK, many government organizations and agencies are well aware of the projects. ILX group-administered PRINCE2 certificates. The main focus of these certificates is to handle projects from the start to finish. It helps you to improve your skills quickly and deliver business performance.
There are two levels:
- PRINCE2 Foundation is an entry-level certificate
- PRINCE2 Practitioner requires PRINCE2 Foundation certificate or Project Management Professional.
CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management)
Cost incurred: $200 – $300
Duration of the course: not applicable
This is the most important project management certification and is the gold standard. It is globally recognized. so, you can work virtually in any industry from any location and with the method. It includes tough tests that cover everything. This will make you good at managing “triple constraints”: time, budget and scope.
Requirements:
- four years of bachelor’s degree or a high school diploma
- 3 years of experience or education in project management
- 35 hours of training in CAPM certification
- 4,500 hours of leading and managing projects.
CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management)
Cost incurred: $200 – $300
Duration of the course: not applicable
The project management institute administers the CAPM. This is for someone who wants to manage and put in place projects orderly. This gives theoretical knowledge of project management. This doesn’t need any college degree. This is for someone who wants to achieve PMP (Project management professional) certification step by step.
Requirements:
- High school diploma
- 1500 hours of experience as project management
- Project management education of 24 hours.
BVOP Certified Project Manager
Cost incurred: $130
Duration of the course: not applicable
BVOP means Business value-oriented principles. It is an agile-based framework gaining popularity in the UK, recently. This certification helps in dealing with both project management and people management. The BVOP is for any senior practitioner who doesn’t have experience in project management. The test has questions from the project management, program management, and product management sections of the related material.
Requirement:
- No experience in professional project management
- Study materials and guidelines are provided online.
APM (Associate in Project Management)
Cost incurred: $128
Duration of the course: not applicable
It is an entry-level certification in project management. It is a global certification body that gives credentials in the field of project management. APM demonstrates that the candidate has acquired entry-level knowledge and can start their career.
Requirement:
- No formal education
- No experience in professional project management
- E-course and online study material
CPM (Certified Project Manager)
Cost incurred: $630 – $800
Duration of the course: not applicable
GAQM (Global Association for Quality Management) body conducts CPM and is globally recognised. This is one of the most prestigious levels of project management. This is specially designed for experienced and senior people who want to go become project management experts.
Requirements:
- E-course completion.
- The International Association of Project Managers literature study.
MPM (Master Project Manager)
Cost incurred: $300
Duration of the course: 2 years
(AAPM) The American Academy of Project Management has modelled to issue the master project manager license. Anyone can appear for this certification like project managers, business individuals and technical management responsibilities.
Requirements:
- Three years of experience In project management and training.
- Experience in the military or project management instructing.
- Any other qualified training and experience
- Additional project management certificates
- Project Management in IT Security.
- Professional in Project Management
- CompTIA Project+
- Certified Project Management Practitioner
- Certified Project Director
There are other IT vendor-specific project management programs, like Microsoft Project Certification which can help you gain a head start in your career. You can check the requirements and prices for these courses on their official websites.
Conclusion
To upgrade your skills you must know that you should keep on learning. These are some of the top few certificates which will help to make you knowledgeable at every possible level.
All the best!