This article was originally authored by me for the Project Management Tips website and published there on 2/23/10.  Go here to view the original article.

First, I want to thank all of our readers who took the February PMP certification survey.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was very pleased with the number of responses and found the results interesting.

Certified or not?

Since this was basically a survey on PMP certification, I thought it might draw more certified PMPs to the site to take the survey.  I fully expected a majority of the responders to be PMP certified project managers.  I was somewhat surprised to see that a solid majority of the responses were from non-certified project managers.  60% of the survey responses were from non-certified PMs.

Passed on the first try?

45% of responders indicated that they have taken the exam by virtue of their 'yes' or 'no' answer to this question.  In all, 88% of our survey takers passed the PMP exam on their first try.  PMI statistics have shown that 72% of PMP test takers pass it on their first try.  Therefore, we definitely have an above average group of PMP readers on this site.

Length of certification

Because I placed ranges rather than specifically asking how long individuals had been certified, the next figure is not exact, but was actually more ‘derived.’  By using range midpoints as values, I was able to determine with less than exact accuracy that the average length of certification for our 40% of responders who are certified is 3.3 years.  I don’t have anything specific to base this on, but I know at one time last year I saw a study stating that the average PMP had been certified for just over 3 years, so we’re right on average with that figure.

Reason for certification

The next question on the survey asked what your primary reason for becoming certified was, or what your primary reason would be if you were to become certified.  Interestingly enough – and maybe predictably enough – for PMP certified project managers the primary reason they became certified was to meet a personal goal.  42% gave that response – nearly double that of any other response option.  For non-certified PMs, their primary reason for potentially become certified would for job-seeking purposes – 41%.  Again, nearly double that of any other response. 

Here’s the breakdown for this category:

PMP Certified responders

Personal goal – 42%
Job-seeking purposes – 24%
Company requirement – 18% (I thought this would be higher)
Future resume builder – 13%
Other – 3%

Non-certified responders

Job-seeking purposes – 41%
Personal goal – 24%
Future resume builder – 21%
Company requirement – 9% (again, thought this would be much higher)
Other – 5%

Combined

Job-seeking purposes – 34%

Personal goal – 31%
Future resume builder – 18%
Company requirement – 13%
Other – 4%

Career booster?
And finally, the subjective question – has the PMP been beneficial to your career, or for non-certified, do you feel it would be beneficial?  Here we had the highest percentage answer of any category as the PMP certified PMs overwhelmingly stated that earning the PMP certification has been beneficial to their careers.  A full 71% responded this way.  18% were not yet certain, while 11% stated that they had not experienced any career benefits yet for having the PMP certification.

For non-certified PMs, 47% thought it would bring benefit to their careers to have the certification, 40% were not certain, and 14% felt that their careers would not benefit from having the PMP designation.

When we combine the PMP responses with the non-certified responses, we have a total of 56% who thought their careers have benefited or would benefit from the certification, 31% were not certain, and 13% felt that their careers have not or would not benefit from having the PMP certification.
 


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