Contracting under programmer but actually doing PMP work?

I have been a contractor for many years. I would like to take the PMP but I have never had the title only the work?

How does that work out as far as getting that type of certification where you need the title to prove you have done the work. I believe having the Certification will bring me more dollars but I am in a catch 22 any ideas?

You don't have to have the title of project manager in order to count your work as experience to qualify for the PMP Certification Exam. However, you are asked on the application to list the company, manager, address and phone number of the person who will verify that you did the project management on the projects you claim.

So, that's good news for you, right?

B. Davis

You need to have a certain number of hours of project management experience (it's a different number depending on whether or not you have an undergraduate degree) before you are eligible to take the PMP exam. But you don't need to have the title of "Project Manager" in order to gain that experience.

Many programmers -- especially ones who have spent time running Agile projects -- have done many of the prerequisite things that are required for PMP certification. For example, if you spend 15 hours a week holding SCRUM meetings, meeting with customers, planning out iterations, calculating your burn rate and project velocity, and working with your customers to figure out which changes should be included in which iterations, then you can almost certainly use those hours as part of your PMP eligibility.

Or you can also try the Associate (CAPM) exam which has simpler requirements.

Eligibility
Applicants must have:

* � Minimum of a high school diploma or the global equivalent
* � 1,500 hours of work on a project team or 23 contact hours of project management education

Good point. Both the CAPM and PMP exams are based on much of the same material, so if you don't qualify for the PMP, the CAPM is definitely an option.