Ty Kiisel of @task wrote a commentary titled Is Certification Losing Value over at CIOZone.  The ongoing (recent) discussion has been about there being too many unqualified but “certified” people in the workforce, while there are also seasoned professionals who will not get certifications because they believe they no longer hold value.  Geoff Grane over at PapercutPM and I have been going back and forth on this for days now.  Ty said he didn’t think we was ready to say the PMI’s certification was irrelevant quite yet.  He added that he believed the burden of demonstrating the value of any certification rests within the certification body, in this case the PMI.

I agree with him.

Unfortunately, I believe PMI is becoming a victim of its own marketing success.  Though there is an audit process in place, to verify if PMs really have the necessary education and experience to sit for the PMP exam, I don’t believe there are enough auditors to do the job. They are overwhelmed by sheer numbers of applicants.  Let’s not forget the PMI is a for-profit organization. They want more members.

This paradox speaks to potential quality, not value. I think the PMI marketing department has won the war with hiring managers, convincing them the credential has value. What the PMI needs to do now is sell the (global) project management community on the quality of its credential. Until that happens, you’ll have some people racing to the nearest boot camp to get a certification, not to learn best practices.

Read the 47+ comments over at Geoff’s blog

Read Ty’s entire commentary over at CIOZone

Graphic source: Nature.com

People are getting their PMP® (Project Management Professional) certifications at a breakneck pace.  This year alone, new PMPs are averaging  just under 4,300 a month.  You would think this would be great for the industry, having more qualified project managers engaged on projects.  Instead, the question is being raised if people who should not be PMPs are in fact being certified.  Are hiring managers creating an environment for those with no project management experience to game the system?

Geoff Crane sees a pattern.

• A new credential is created
• The credential is marketed, making success promises to hiring managers
• Hiring managers make the credential a requirement
• Shortage of credential-holders increases perceived value of the credential

Get the complete list and what comes next at Papercut Edge.

Every month I get a copy of PMI Today and I annotate 3 data points: New PMP® for the month, new PMPs year-to-date (YTD), and total number of active PMPs.

This month was a little interesting because PMI stopped reporting the New PMP monthly numbers and the YTD total, opting to report just the overall number of active credential holders. This is not a problem since I have been tracking the PMP data for over a year.

The trend continues, with the new number of PMPs in May totaling 3,985. Year-To-Date total is 23,581. There are a total of 385,096 active PMPs.

The current trend predicts PMI will hit 400,000 active PMP credential holders this year.

Though I’m still worried we’re rapidly reaching a tipping point, I want to congratulate those 3,985 out there who passed the exam. It’s no cakewalk and I recognize your efforts and achievement.

Of those 3,985, I’ve been in contact with several who passed the exam with the aid of my new product PMPrepFlashcards.com. Yes, I know, gratuitous plug.

The new data PMI did include in this months PMI Today was very enlightening.  It’s about the other credentials.  As of May 2010, there were 385,096 active PMP credential holders.  In comparison, there were only 11,458 Certified Associates in Project Management (CAPMs)®, 421 Program Management Professionals (PgMPs)®, 357 PMI Risk Management Professionals (PMI-RMPs)®, and 320 PMI Scheduling Professionals (PMI-SPs)®.

With the industry dominance of the PMP® credential, it makes me question if these other certifications have the staying power.  Is there a demand for them or are they just a possible revenue stream for PMI?  Will there other certifications for the other knowledge areas?  Is Certified Scope Professional and Certified Communications Professional not far behind?  If I would PMI, I would go for it.  You don’t know what the market will find valuable unless you try it.

Every month I get a copy of PMI Today and I annotate 3 data points: New PMP® for the month, new PMPs year-to-date (YTD), and total number of active PMPs. The trend continues, with the new number of PMPs in April totaling 4,718. Year-To-Date total is 19,596. There are a total of 381,111 active PMPs.

The current trend predicts PMI will hit 400,000 active PMP credential holders this year.

Though I’m still worried we’re rapidly reaching a tipping point, I want to congratulate those 4,718 out there who passed the exam.  It’s no cakewalk and I recognize your efforts and achievement.

Of those 4,718, I’ve been in contact with several who passed the exam with the aid of my new product PMPrepFlashcards.com.  Yes, I know, gratuitous plug.

Every month I get a copy of PMI Today and I annotate 3 data points: New PMP® for the month, new PMPs year-to-date (YTD), and total number of active PMPs. The trend continues, with the new number of PMPs in March totaling 5,344. Year-To-Date total is 12,779. There are a total of 375,959 active PMPs.

The current trend predicts PMI will hit 400,000 active PMP credential holders this year.

Though I congratulate those who just got their certifications, I’m still worried we’re rapidly reaching a tipping point.  I have two hopes.  [1] These new PMPs continue to look for new ways to provide value to their customers.  [2] That I am wrong about the prediction that so many PMPs in the mix will create a devaluation of the certification.

Personally, I would like to know how many of the PMPs certified in March prepared for the exam via boot camps and how many organically prepared.  Does it matter if someone went to a PMP bootcamp?

What do you think? Let me know.