10 Benefits of PMI Membership

People often question the value of Project Management Institute (PMI) membership and ask whether it's really worth the money. PMI membership costs $119 per year. I think that most people aren't aware of the benefits that PMI membership offers. Therefore, I decided to address this matter based on my experience. Here's an independent take on the benefits of PMI membership.

Disclosure: I have been a PMI member since Oct 2007, but hold no other affiliation with PMI.

You can join PMI Specific Interest Groups (SIGs) depending upon your area of expertise and interest. There's a $15 or $20 fee for each SIG membership. Many of these SIGs conduct free webinars for their members that can be used to earn PDUs for PMP Re-certification.

Once you are a PMI member, you can further sign-up for your local PMI chapter. Local PMI chapters provide a good platform for learning from experts, information exchange with peers, and professional networking.

For PMP aspirants, local chapters conduct PMP Exam Prep workshops. Chapter members get discounts on these workshops. Usually, the discounts are more than the chapter fee itself.

For PMPs, the local chapters are even more useful. Under PMI's Continuing Certification Requirements, every PMP needs 60 PDUs every 3 years in order to renew his/her PMP certification. These local chapters conduct Professional Development Events (seminars) and Focus Group Meetings. Each of these events fetch 2 PDUs on average. You can also take up roles in the local Chapter committees to further enhance your leadership and communication skills (and also gain additional PDUs in the process).

I'm based in Singapore and I joined the Singapore PMI Chapter "after" I achieved my PMP certification. Here in Singapore, we have more than 20 professional events a year. The catch is that you cannot join a local chapter unless you are PMI member. The events of the local PMI Chapter were my main reason to renew PMI membership after the first year.

If you want to get more detailed information on getting the 60 PDUs, see the following box.

As a PMI member, you are entitled to a free copy of all the 11 standards that PMI publishes. Members can download the PDF version from the Library of PMI Global Standards. The standards include:

• Projects
  
  
  
  • A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge PMBOK® Guide-Fourth Edition
  
  
  • A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge PMBOK® Guide-Fourth Edition translations (PMI offers the PMBOK® Guide-Fourth Edition in ten different languages.)
  
  
  • A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge PMBOK® Guide-Third Edition
  
  
  • Construction Extension to the PMBOK® Guide Third Edition
  
  
  • Government Extension to the PMBOK® Guide Third Edition
  
  
  • Practice Standard for Earned Value Management
  
  
  • Practice Standard for Project Configuration Management
  
  
  • Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures- Second Edition
  
  
  • Practice Standard for Scheduling



• Programs
  
  
  • The Standard for Program Management- Second Edition



• People
  
  
  • Project Manager Competency Development Framework- Second Edition Organizations
  
  
  • Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3®)- Second Edition
  
  
  • The Standard for Portfolio Management- Second Edition

Members also get free subscription to :

• PMBOK Guide CD-ROM


• PM Network - Monthly (hard copy): Magazine with the latest news and trends. It's quite useful and informative.


• PMI Today - Monthly (hard copy): PMI's monthly newsletter


• Project Management Journal - Quarterly (hard copy): PMI's Research Journal


• Leadership in Project Management, an annual publication devoted to enriching leadership skills


• PMI Community POST: A bimonthly electronic newsletter. I find this pretty cool.


• and a few more ...

Serving as a volunteer is not only an opportunity to earn Professional Development Units (PDUs) but also to gain valuable leadership experience. I have not participated in this so far but have all the intentions to do so in near future.

To find out more, check out PMI's Volunteer Opportunities page.

As a PMI member, you get access to numerous research studies. One such study published recently is Researching the Value of Project Management.

PMI also offers a host of career development programs, including:

• Job Database: Find new jobs online.


• PathPro: PMI's Career Development Framework, which provides tools and resources for identifying your skills, competencies, strengths and weaknesses and helps you carve a career development path.

Discount on all PMI published books, softwares, articles, research papers, and other merchandise. You also get discounts on PMI's:

• Global Congresses


• Research conferences


• eSeminarWorld (virtual seminars), which can also help you earn PDUs

Apart from these "hard" benefits, there is another reason to support PMI that I learned from an article published in Mar 2009 issue of PMI Today. PMI is a leading advocate for the Project Management professional across the globe. It undertakes various initiatives to generate awareness about the value of Project Management and its practitioners. The membership and support of PMPs facilitates many of these initiatives, which indirectly benefit the members.

Here's a nice presentation on PMI Membership. Hear what Gregory Balestrero, CEO PMI, has to say about PMI Membership and its benefits.

In conclusion, I believe that PMI membership is a good value for money. There's a massive value that all members can gain from it. How much you can extract from it depends upon you.