Is Certification Relevant in Cottage PM?

New project managers, or project managers who’ve just discovered the possibility, sometimes wonder whether they should get certified. The answer is a matter of opinion. Here’s mine.

Why Certify?

I believe that there are 2 primary reasons to explore the question of certification: personal gain and professional gain.Your own reasons are likely a mix and balance of these two considerations. Your reasons will differ from mine, and probably from anyone else’s.

For me, certification was primarily personal endeavor. I’d been doing PM for some 7 years with only introductory training and in a typical Cottage PM environment where there was high talent and ability to get things done, little formal knowledge of PM, and practically no application of formal PM practices. I reached a point where I wanted to make my statement that “I’m a project manager” seem more valid. I needed to feel that that statement had more credibility.

Professionally, certification was neither a requirement nor a direct means to any change in compensation or position. But I do believe in lifelong learning. I think it’s personally beneficial and professionally beneficial. As a husband, father, and provider, I feel a responsibility to maintain my “continued employability.” For me, certification was also a way to increase my knowledge, demonstrate career commitment, keep the resume current, and put a chevron next to the experience that I’d been building up.

Certification or Experience?

Is it really an either/or question? I don’t think so.

Of the two, experience rules. Demonstrable results on projects that create value are important to pursue and to identify. Demonstrable results imply knowledge. Demonstrable training may not, however, imply results. So if you must choose, focus on experience.

For some fields and in some organizations, certification may open the door to getting the kind of experience you want. Only you can judge that dynamic. In other fields, as in my case, certification may simply be a good add-on to further legitimize one’s claim.

Which certification?

I’m not qualified to tell you which of the various PM certifications you should pursue. The question seems to become politically charged in the PM community. And even without that charge, the options and preferences vary by industry and geography.

Do you need to research it carefully? I’d argue “no,” especially in the Cottage PM space. Why did I certify PMP? Because after 7 years of PM practice, that’s the only PM certification that had ever entered any conversation on the topic in my circle of influence. So why would I explore beyond that? The personal gain likely would not be enhanced by a different certification, and the professional gains were soft anyway. While I have no empircal observation, my guess is that in your Cottage PM space, if certification is even a topic of conversation, only one of the various options is probably in the organization’s consciousness. Arguably, that would be the one for you to pursue. If, however, your environment places a real premium on certification, or if you’re attempting to enter a new industry via that certification, then by all means, start researching and choose more carefully.

Can certification help in a Cottage PM environment?

Hmmm. Here’s smattering of random ideas on that question:

• The Cottage PM org probably doesn’t place a premium on formal PM, let alone PM certification.
• The Cottage PM, however, may find that formalizing his/her knowledge via certification legitimize his/her efforts to introduce more PM rigor into the organization.
• Recognize that most PM training and practice documentation is not geared to Cottage PM. Instead, it’s geared to huge projects in huge organizations with lots of PM knowledge and possibly formal PM support (PMO).
• In pursuing greater knowledge, be prepared to “translate” and pick and choose tools to apply in your environment. For exams, learn it all. For implementation, focus on core principles.
• You could start with some introductory texts even before pursuing full certification. It may even help exam preparation to build broad general PM knowledge before doing the deep dive required for exam prep.

Need help?

There are lots of online resources, courses, and self-stufy packages to help you prepare. A first stop I’d recommend is PMSTudent.com. Over several years, Josh Nankivel has documented his own path building PM knowledge, pursuing a PM degree, and certifying PMP. His focus is helping you as a PM student, whether or not your goal is certification.

Keep coming back by here, too, and I’ll try to provide some implementation insight for your Cottage PM environment.

Good luck!

Related posts:

1. PM Prepcast – A Review