To retain your PMP certification, the Project Management Institute (PMI) requires that you earn 60 Professional Development Units (PDUs) every 3 years. Per PMI requirements, you can earn PDUs in two ways: ‘Education’ and ‘Giving Back’. Here are 10 simple and rewarding ways to earn PDUs.
Education
(Minimum 35 out of 60 PDUs, Maximum 60 out of 60 PDUs)
1 hour of educational engagement translates to 1 PDU. Here are 5 easy ways you can earn your Education PDUs:
- Study books, articles and whitepapers
Organizations and professionals often create blogs and articles as part of an authoritative industry presence. We offer a wealth of free learning resources in our Downloads Centre.
- Engage in scheduled informal discussion
Suggest regularly scheduling sessions committed to sharing knowledge amongst employees and across departments. Actively combat the silo-ing of knowledge across project teams.
- Participate in self-directed e-learning
If you want a more flexible approach than a structured training course, make use of the abundance of educational materials, podcasts and webinars available online. ILX Group offers a range on-demand webinars to help you earn your PDUs.
- Attend organization meetings
Networking opportunities often have an educational component. These could be found within your organization, or hosted by PMI and recommended third parties. Click here to browse the PMI’s official Events Calendar to find events near you.
- Take a training course
You can attend a formal, instructor-led PMI online course. You can also look for training sessions that are part of in-person conferences. Many of these are free and others can be paid for by your employer. As long as the material is PMP-relevant, you can claim PDUs on them.
When earning Education PDUs, remember at least of 8 are required from each subcategory. You can find out more about them from our previous blog about PDUs. Remember that 35 is a minimum and you can earn all 60 PDUs from Education. This is easier for many PMPs.
Giving Back
(Minimum 0 out of 60 PDUs, Maximum 25 out of 60 PDUs)
While some prefer to study for 60 hours every three years, many want to earn PDUs while they work. If this sounds like you, you can save up to 25 education hours with the ‘Giving Back’ category. Here are the easiest ways to do that:
- Work as a Project Management Practitioner
Give back to the industry by showing your capabilities as a project manager, demonstrating the benefits of becoming PMP certified.
- Create Content for Learning Resources
Earning PDUs is a great incentive for those who want to write articles or co-author a book.
- Give a Presentation
Research into opportunities to speak at a PMI event or a professional conference, or offer to give a presentation in your company about the work of your team.
- Coach your Peers
Coaching is not only a brilliant way to impart your knowledge, it develops fundamental communication and leadership skills.
- Volunteer for PMI
You can serve on the PMI Board of Directors, one of the six support committees for the Board of Directors, or through the PMI Educational Foundation (PMIEF). Learn more about these specific opportunities by clicking here.
You can’t renew a PMP certification just by doing your normal job as a project manager. You can earn a maximum of 8 PDUs for ‘Working as a Professional’. It’s your choice how you divide the remaining PDUs (up to 17) between creating knowledge and volunteering.
Information in this blog post has been provided through an update from PMI dated 20th January 2017.