How to renew PMP and get PDUs in 2023

If it has been 3 years since you got the PMP certificate from the Project Management Initute , it’s time to renew it!

Yes, you heard correctly, the certification has a duration of 3 years, after which, you have up to one more year to renew it or you lose it completely.

Why should the certification be renewed?

It is not common to have to keep recertifying, and many may see this as business for PMI; and in fact, it may be so. But how does PMI justify this expiration in its project management certifications?

The reason is to be able to guarantee that the PMP holders are kept up to date professionally, which translates into requiring that during the 3 years of validity they have completed a minimum of training, and have exercised in some way as a project manager.

What happens if I don’t renew the PMP certificate?

Once the PMP certificate has expired, which occurs four years after obtaining or renewing it (the PMI gives one year to renew it), you will no longer be able to use the PMP acronym in any document that identifies you.

This implies that you could no longer put that you are a PMP on your resume, email signature or Linkedin profile . Besides, if a company or headhunter wants to validate the veracity of your PMP certification with the PMI, it will no longer show you in its list of certificates.

This becomes a bigger problem now because the PMI decided to don’t provide physical diplomas anymore. The diploma is available online, and when the certification expires, the diploma is deleted.

Requirements to renew the certification?

There are two requirements for being able to renew the PMP certificate:

• That it has not expired more than a year ago. If this is your case, you must reapply and take the exam again.
• Have accumulated a total of 60 PMI PDUs, with a minimum of 35 PDUs in training.

What are PDUs?

Professional Development Units (PMP PDUs) are one hour blocks of time. Which may have been earned by devoting this time to training, teaching, working or volunteering.

These PDUs, in the case of certificate in project management PMP, should be distributed as follows:

• Minimum 35 to training, distributed in technical skills, leadership and business, with a minimum of 8 in each topic.
• 25 professionals. This is understood as having worked in project management, training, creating knowledge, or working as a volunteer. For the first concept you can request up to 8 PDUs and up to 17 for the other three together.

How to get PMI PDU?

If you’re on the job, the 8 PDUs for working are easy to come by.

For the rest there are two methods, one the safest if the PMI audits your renewal application, and the other two, a priori also valid for perhaps more debatable in front of an audit.

Buy the PDUs you need

Yes, you heard right, you can buy the PDUs you need and easily renew the certificate.

In fact, what you are buying are some online courses, from a provider certified by the PMI, which grant you the PDUs you need to complete the renewal process. As a recognized PMI provider, the process is simple and it will only take you a few hours to complete the courses.

In addition, you can choose between different options depending on the number of PDUs you need. Consider that if you are already working as a project manager, a large part of the PDUs can be achieved through experience.

Participate in an online recertification course

These are online courses organized by centers approved by the PMI, which allow you to achieve 60 PDUs. These courses earn you a certificate upon completion, which, having been issued by a recognized center, is fully trusted by PMI. This would be the safest and fastest method of obtaining the PDUs, but with the inconvenience of having a cost.

A good course to easily get 60 PDUs is: Renew Your PMP® Certification The Easy Way – Get The 60 PMP® PDUs

Read books or articles on project management

The PMI also contemplates the reading of books or articles as time dedicated to training. And it certainly is. So if you spend time reading the articles on this page or a book, you should be able to claim the equivalent PDUs (1 hour = 1 PDU).

This system has the advantage of being free, or very cheap if you buy the books. The problem is that it’s debatable how many PDUs you can claim per book or article, and how to justify that you’ve actually read them. You can make a table indicating the readings and time spent, but there will always be the question of whether it is acceptable or not.

If you go for this option, try not to go for the typical PMBOK books or Rita Mulcahy’s PMP preparation . They are excellent books to prepare for the PMP, but it is understood that they are almost required reading to get the certification, so I don’t think they are worth renewing it.

Instead I recommend that you delve into readings about Critical Chain, Earned Value or AGILE, which are also very good topics to progress professionally.

Train yourself by watching postcast .

It is a third way in between the previous ones, with the advantage that the postcasts are recorded and have a determined duration. Therefore, it is easy to set its value in PDU; What is already more debatable is that you have spent this time in front of the screen looking at them, so it is a less reliable system in front of an audit than a certificate from an official course.

A good page for this is: https://www.peopleandprojectspodcast.com/index.php/podcast-episodes.html