OK, the Cranky Product Manager little survey on the value of certification for product managers is CLOSED.
Brief highlights:
- 188 responses
- 98% of you are currently, or were once, product management or product marketing professionals
- 58% of you have no certification of any kind. (110 people)
- 34% of you are Pragmatic Marketing Certified. (64 people)
- Very few of you are certified as AIPMM CPMs (14 / 7.45%) , AIPMM CPMM (5 / 2.6%), or PDMA NPDP (6 / 3.2%)
- For the PDMA and 2 AIPMM certifications, nearly 2/3 of the respondents were unfamiliar with the certification.
- In contrast, only 25% were unfamiliar with Pragmatic Marketing’s PMC certification.
- 62% thought the Pragmatic Marketing certification was somewhat or very valuable. The numbers were far less for AIPMM or PDMA, mainly because people were unfamiliar with these certifications.
- The most frequently cited reasons for getting certified was “my company paid for it” and “my company requires all PMs get it.”
- The more junior you are, the more certification helps you.
- A huge number of you passionately believe that certification is a “huge waste of time.”
Here’s the complete report via HTML, courtesy of Survey Gizmo: Product Management Certification Survey. It includes all the answers to the “essay” questions. Very interesting comments. Check it out.
Here are the results in PDF, for if/when Survey Gizmo deletes the above web page (also contains the complete answers):
PM Certification Survey Results Report (PDF).
Here’s all the raw survey results in Excel (with IP addresses stripped out), so you can cross-tabulate answers:
PM Certification Survey Raw Data (Excel).
And a few lovely charts and graphs:
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for sharing this study with the product management world. I’m pleased to see that Pragmatic Marketing’s certification is so well-known. As some of the comments suggest, certification doesn’t replace proven skills but it can be an indication of an investment in one’s career.
We’ll be publishing our 2008 Salary Survey in a few weeks. Watch for it at http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/survey .
“Survey Results: Product Management Certification by The Cranky Product Manager” http://bit.ly/Fs2q
@pras26 – dont' know if NPDP from PDMA is fluff, but it is definitely not well known. See my survey: http://tinyurl.com/8y2ug7
I want to know…Do you have any product manager certification? @crankypm: Survey Results: http://bit.ly/a5sgAd
I would add the more junior your product management organization, the more certification (i.e. product management training) helps your organization. It’s the training that is invaluable. While training can’t replace experience, what it can do for a new product manager or product management group is:
- Teach you what you should be focusing on
- Supply you with the tools to start with
- Help you define what product management means in your organization (think Pragmatic Marketing Framework)
I look at the certification as proof that you were paying attention and that you have no excuses for not knowing what to do.
RT @crankypm: Survey Results: Product Management Certification ##prodmgmt http://t.co/bf3bnFm
Some answers…Survey: Do you need a project management certificate? The Cranky Product Manager http://t.co/W0jHLLEr #link
Cranky,
Have you re-run this survey recently?
Ditto on Jamaal’s comment! Also, if you do, could you expand the questions to include something that may look at vallue-added from cerifications, if not a certification what type of training programs are recommended (Univ cert programs, association participation, and private company-sold training for example.)
Thanks! I’m addin your blog to feeds, as I’ve noticed I’ve referred to it a few times now, so it’s a keeper, at least while I’m a PM.
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Survey Results: Product Management Certification — The Cranky … http://t.co/jxkzJgEv
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