Which Certification Is Right PMP® Or PMI-ACP® ?

PMP® Or PMI-ACP®? Needless to know whether you have come up with this dilemma or not! It’s a way too common these days. Almost 50% of people looking for professional certification are wondering which one to opt for in between PMP® and PMI-ACP®.

First and foremost it would be better if you list out your specific requirements prior deciding on the professional certification course.

As a PMP® manager your roles would entitle you to:

◈ Leader: Capability to Lead and direct projects.

◈ Control: Control and regulate all the aspects of the project for its sustenance.

◈ Manage Teams: Manage teams and cross functional teams for the completion of the project within the constraints of budget and time schedule allotted.

◈ Apply Knowledge: Have sufficient knowledge and experience of the specific methodology required for the project in hand.

As an agile practitioner your roles would entitle you to:

◈ Understanding Agile: Understanding of agile methodology and concepts

◈ Agile Practices : Work with project teams that are specifically devised for agile practices

◈ Management: Strive to achieve lean management

◈ Have Proficiency: Proficiency in utilizing agile tools and techniques

Now, if you have all ‘yes’ for one certification then you have your answer. However, it often happens professionals get confused even after underling the roles of both the certifications. They have ‘yes’ for both the certifications. This is where the juggling takes place.

What to do when there is a tie between both PMP® and PMI-ACP®. I have devised a little questionnaire for you. Score ‘1’ if you are affirmative in either PMP® or PMI-ACP®. This table is devised keeping in view the roles you wish to adhere to and aspire to play.

PMP	PMI-ACP
You monitor projects but you do not interact with complete team, you only interact with few set of people and manage project in organized environment.	You are leading team and interact with each team member on regular basis.
You only look at results which team produces, someone else is responsible to ensure that team produce the result.	You are responsible for your teams productivity, you are the one who sees the gaps and find solutions if team fails to produce desired results.
You do not get into details of how the software develops, you never bother about the build integration and coding issues.	You are responsible to ensure that your team usage right development practices so the productivity gets enhanced.
You are working on system integration projects where you have multiple team associated with you and your main role is to identify and solve dependencies.	You are working as Project Manager of development team of 10-15 size and your main role is to ensure delivery, and you do use agile values in making day to day decisions.
You need to prepare complex project planning and monitoring reports which goes to management at frequency for review- the documentations.	You do prepare status reports but they are not that complex, they goes to management but management also connected with you and they do discuss status with you when they need details.
You need to interact with many stakeholders; these stakeholders have been managing project traditionally for a while.	Your management is moving towards agile, they want to be lean as soon as possible.

Whichever side scores more would be your option. If you score same on both the sides then my recommendation would be to opt for PMI-ACP® first since its new and highly advanced methodology. Once done with PMI-ACP® certification you can do PMP® which would be an add-on to your expertise and bring in more credits.