technical support | article
What You Need to Know About the PMP
By Jeff Furman
▼ “How come all these job specs require the PMP?”
▼ “I’ve been managing IT Projects for 10 years. Why do I suddenly
need a certification to show I can be a Project Manager?
▼ “I heard that the PMI test is quite a pain. I don’t know where to
begin trying to study for it.”
▼ “Is it true there are qualification requirements before you can
even take the exam?”
For better or worse, it’s a fact these days that certifications can
make a huge difference in upgrading your marketability on a job
search. Any legitimate certification can help. The PMP (Project
Management Professional) Certification is granted by PMI, the
Project Management Institute, which is the world’s leading project
management organization. This makes the PMP recognized world-
wide as the premier certification for Project Managers, and the most
widely-sought management certification in the current IT project
management job market.
This article will introduce you to the PMP, will answer the above
questions, and will share some of the best resources and tips I person-
ally found that can help you attain your PMP Certification.
The article also includes an exclusive interview at the end with the
instructor who taught the PMP Prep Class I completed.
Is The PMP Worth It For You?
It depends on the individual. Can the PMP help you in your career,
and is it worth all the time and effort it takes to get it? Many people I
know who were job hunting recently told me that as soon as they got
their PMP, they immediately began getting a lot more interest. And I
can tell you that was definitely true for me.
Be advised that the PMP is a major time commitment. If your pri-
mary interest in PMP is for a job search, realize that you might not need
it for certain kinds of jobs. Or that you may be searching in a career sec-
tor or location where there are other classes you can take, other skills
you can learn, or even other certifications you can go for that might
help you just as much or more in specific cases.
Is It the Knowledge or Just the Certification That Makes
the Difference?
From my experience, I would have to say both. The certification obvi-
ously will help get you interviews for certain jobs that are closed to non-
PMPs. But the PMP can also help you once you get the interview. It’s fine
to feel confident in your abilities and experience as a Project Manager. But
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as you study for the PMP, you may be pleasantly surprised to find yourself
learning a lot of valuable new concepts and methods you never even heard
of before. For instance, do you know the difference between Critical Path
and Critical Chain? Can you talk about Pareto diagrams versus fish-bone
diagrams versus tornado diagrams? And would you feel on solid ground,
or more like George Castanza, if you were asked to explain the key dis-
tinctions between Qualitative and Quantitative Risk Analysis?
Granted, you may never have needed some of these concepts in your
work before. But as the IT industry continues rapidly changing, you
might need them in the future. And by studying the Project Manage-
ment “Body of Knowledge” (PMBOK), you will learn the terms, con-
cepts, and common language required these days by many companies.
As you begin studying, you may find that you are immediately
sharper on interviews when PMP terminology comes up in the ques-
tioning. In fact, you might experience an “ah hah!” moment when you
realize that a recruiter in a past interview had been asking you about
PMP concepts without your realizing it at the time.
Another benefit is that many hiring managers today truly are impressed
if you are able to attain the PMP, because they themselves might have just
passed the test, or be in the middle of preparing for it (or procrastinating
about it!) themselves. It’s well-known that the PMP test is difficult, and
so your certification proves to a potential employer that you are able to
stick to a rigorous training program, learn quite a lot of material, and pass
a very challenging exam. It will differentiate you from candidates who
don’t have the certification. And it can give a hiring manager familiar with
PMP requirements a yardstick he will feel comfortable using to measure
your abilities, beyond what your resume or even interview can tell him.
And one more benefit is that if you’ve been out of work for a while,
getting the certification shows an employer that you are serious about
your career, and are using your time off well to beef up your creden-
tials. Also that you are not “an old dog who can’t learn new tricks” but
rather that you are open to change, and able to assimilate a great deal of
new information. And that may be what will be required of you in the
new position, so it really is considered a good indicator.
Key Resources for Preparing for the PMP
1. Taking A Live Course
▼ The course I took was a 7-week PMP Prep Course given by
Instructor Jack Davis of Knowledge Movers, New York, New
York. Website: www.KnowledgeMovers.com.
The class met for twelve 3-hour sessions, evenings in Manhattan.
 Two other PMP education vendors I have heard are effective are:
▼ Cheetah Learning: Highly intensive program where you take
the class in 4 full days Monday to Friday, and then take the
actual PMP Exam the Friday of that same week.
Website: www.CheetahLearning.com.
▼ Villanova University: Offers a highly regarded study-at-home
course. Website: www.VillanovaU.com.
2. Two Books
In addition to the PMBOK Guide (hard-to-read, kind of like a man-
ual) I used two books in preparing for the test: The PMP Exam: How To
Pass On Your First Try, by Andy Crowe, PMP, and PMP Exam Prep—
Rita’s Course In A Book, by Rita Mulcahey, PMP.
Which book is better for you? Both books followed a similar for-
mat of mapping their chapters against the corresponding chapter in the
PMBOK Guide. And both followed up each chapter with a sample test
on that chapter (and gave the answers, with explanations).
To pass some of the questions, you
need to acquire a PMI mindset. That
is, you need to answer the questions
not as you might answer them
naturally, but as the PMI Institute
would expect a PMP to answer them.
This is something that personally
took me a while to “get,” and I
recommend that you give it some
consideration as you study.
I found Rita Mulcahey’s book more colorful and entertaining,
whereas Andy Crowe’s was clearer and more straightforward on some
of the topics. Each book does better with certain topics than the other
does. And each contains some information not contained in the other
book (or in the PMBOK Guide either; unfortunately, there is informa-
tion in each of the 3 that is not in the other 2!). Another advantage of
the Crowe book is that he includes a full 200-question test at the back
of the book, matching the length of the actual exam.
So the answer is…
▼ Either book will help prepare you for the exam,
▼ You might prefer the writing style of one book over the other. (go
to a bookstore, try each book for 15 minutes, then pick up the
one you like better.)
▼ If you want to learn as much as you can, you might read both, as I
did. It will give you a very sound foundation, and fill in any gaps.
Note: Be sure to get the edition of the book that goes with the most
current version of the PMBOK at the time you’re scheduling your test
(the exam requirements are often updated).
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3. Online CBT Practice Tests
There are a number of excellent CBT-format sample tests available
for purchase. CBT is an excellent medium for preparing for the exam,
since the exam itself is given online as a CBT in most testing centers.
The one I used was: PM FASTrack By Rita Mulcahey (author of
the above book). Available at website: www.RMCProject.com, this
resource provides a great deal of sample questions, with the answers
explained. One of the many excellent features of this tool is it lets you
pull up groups of questions based on keyword searches, or by PMP
Knowledge Areas/Processes. It also grades and analyzes each test you
take and saves the results. It also lets you optionally “peek” at answers
instantly, question by question as you go.
Qualifying to Take the Exam
There are 4 requirements you must meet before PMI will qualify you
to take the exam:
1. You must be a member of the PMI organization.
2. You must document 35 hours of completed project management
training. PMI is flexible here. It does NOT have to be a PMP
prep class, but can be any legitimate 35 hours of management
training you have completed in the past. What you need to do is
sign on to the PMI website using your member ID and document
the dates and number of hours of each class you completed,
totaling a minimum of 35 course hours.
3. You need at least a high school diploma or equivalent. Also see
the next related requirement #4 (below).
4. The PMI website, which is www.PMI.org, lists the following
requirements for prior on-the-job leadership and management
experience (tied to education level). High school: If you have a high
school degree or equivalent, you must be able to document 7,500
hours of responsibility leading and directing specific tasks, and 60
months of project management experience. College: If you have a
bachelor’s degree, you need 4,500 hours of leading and directing
specific tasks, and 36 months of project management experience.
Tips on Taking the Exam
Both the Rita Mulcahey and the Andy Crowe book mentioned earlier
offer many tried-and-true pointers, much more than I could go into
here. But there are 2 tips I recommend highly:
1. To pass some of the questions, you need to acquire a PMI
mindset. That is, you need to answer the questions not as you
might answer them naturally, but as the PMI Institute would
expect a PMP to answer them. This is something that personally
took me a while to “get,” and I recommend that you give it some
consideration as you study.
2. Contrary to what one of the books says (maybe the requirements
changed over the years), you ARE allowed to bring food and
drinks to the exam. You are given a locker at the exam site,
where you are allowed to store snacks, and to retrieve food
from your locker on breaks throughout the test. The break times
are subtracted from your 4 hours of exam time, so you don’t
want to go overboard. But “strategic snacking” can be key to
maximizing your productivity on the test.
Technical Support | January 2007
 And now we will examine the PMP certification and the teaching
philosophy of PMP expert Jack Davis, instructor at Knowledge Movers
in New York, New York.
Interview with Project Management Instructor Jack Davis about
His Company’s Teaching Philosophy
Jeff Furman: Why do you teach PMP?
Jack Davis: The world needs great project managers more than ever
before, and PMP certification is still the best-respected sign that a man-
ager has the knowledge, skills and experience to make projects succeed
in the real world.
Today, businesses, cities and even entire countries win or lose
depending on how well they can innovate. That means inventiveness
and agility. Well, successful project management is all about agility:
flowing around obstacles, managing risks, and achieving a goal quickly
and efficiently.
I believe in preparing project managers to be truly agile. That’s why
graduates of our Project Management Certificate Program do better,
not only on the PMP exam, but in their careers as well. Our program is
not for everyone, but those project managers we select for admission
get a rigorous preparation for the exam and an unrivaled set of tools and
techniques for handling even the toughest projects. Along the way, they
learn how to master that delicate balance of scope, schedule, cost, and
quality, while at the same time keeping their customers happy. Easy to
theorize about, but our students learn to make these miracles happen in
real life. Like I said…agile.
Jeff Furman: Why do you like doing the class?
Jack Davis: There are so many reasons.
I like the type of people who tend to pursue PMP certification: They
are usually smart, energetic, life-long learners, so they make for very
stimulating class discussions. The best project managers are also genu-
inely interested in and concerned for people, so they are nice to be with.
I also enjoy variety in my work, and since PMP certification covers
such a wide array of subjects, I get to teach about statistics one day,
people skills another, and contract law the day after that.
It’s very satisfying to see the changes in my students over the course
of our program. So many project managers carry the weight of the
world on their shoulders: huge responsibilities without much formal
authority; big objectives but often limited resources. It’s gratifying to
help people find the power to lead that’s already within them, to learn
to do amazing things with little time or money, and to keep a sense of
humor through it all.
I also get a lot of positive reinforcement from my students. One of
my favorite thank-you notes read, in part, “Not only have you given me
a solid foundation of what a Project Management Professional should
be, but you also have instilled a sense of pride and responsibility in me
that I will always strive to maintain.” That kind of feedback is priceless,
and it’s one of the things that make these classes a joy to teach!
Jeff Furman: What do you think makes your training approach
unique?
Jack Davis: Many things, but if I had to sum it up, I’d say our personal
approach to training makes the difference.
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For one thing, we don’t dim the lights on you. Many training pro-
grams rely on PowerPoint-based lectures to deliver their training. Did
you ever try to stay alert during an eight-hour PowerPoint presentation
in a dark room? Now, how about two, three, or even four days of that?
You’d probably hate it, and you certainly wouldn’t learn much, but
that’s what most other PMP exam prep programs rely on.
Instead, we involve our PMP candidates in creating the learning
experience. Our students read and prepare before each class session,
so that we can spend class time together actively discussing the mate-
rial and doing activities that relate it to their real-world projects. This
means better understanding of the subject matter and thus better per-
formance on the PMP exam. Plus they really learn to manage projects
better, and frankly, that contributes even more to their career success
than any certification.
We also pace our program with our students in mind.
Our program comprises twelve classes. Each class is only three
hours, with a rest break at half-time, so students don’t get overloaded.
We run our public programs in the evening, to fit around the workday,
and not take it over. We meet twice a week on Monday and Thursday.
This leaves students a half-week between each class, during which they
can really absorb what they learn and even try it out at work. Our cor-
porate programs are similarly paced. In a corporate setting, this has an
added benefit: Project managers only miss a few hours’ work at a time
and can still be productive while the program is running. Cram courses
tie up 100% of your project managers’ time for several days in a row.
That completely kills your productivity, especially if all your project
managers are in the same class.
Jeff Furman: What special services would you say your company
can offer, for instance, do you do onsite training as well as at your
facilities?
Jack Davis: We certainly do onsite training for corporations and other
organizations. Standard services we provide to our PMP students
include:
▼ Alumni network
▼ Guarantee
▼ Individual tutoring as needed
▼ Makeup sessions
▼ Post-exam analysis and follow-up
▼ Victory dinners
And in addition to onsite PMP Prep Classes, we also offer companies
onsite training in many other current project management topics.
NaSPA member Jeff Furman, PMP, has more than 20 years’ experience in IT, in Application Support,
Change Management, Disaster Planning, QA, and as a Trainer and Course Developer. He has writ-
ten many technical articles, including several for Technical Support magazine and other industry
publications and newspapers.
Jack Davis, PMP, interviewed for this article, is a Program Director at Knowledge Movers, a well-
known Manhattan-based provider of project management training and PMP exam preparation.
He has over 18 years of experience managing projects in the manufacturing, securities, health-
care, and communications industries.