Wednesday, January 16, 2013

How did I earn 60 PDUs?

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As you may know, it is a requirement to earn 60 PDUs (Professional Development Units) over a period of 3 years to maintain your PMP credential. While it may seem a huge task at the beginning, its not so difficult after all. I could easily accumulate 60 PDUs without spending too much money on it.

I managed to complete the required 60 PDUs; in fact, I have earned 7 excess PDUs which I can carry forward to my next 3-year cycle. So, how did I earn these PDUs?

The following is the breakdown of how I earned my PDUs:
  • 10 PDUs Free from IIL (International Institute for Learning) for attending the Virtual Conference held as part of the International Project Management Day 2012. In fact, I could have earned 15 PDUs; but, I could not find time to watch 30 videos required for the 15 PDUs.
  • 17 PDUs from PMI Chennai Chapter, by attending the regular monthly knowledge sharing sessions and the Annual General Meeting (AGM). I became a member of the PMI Chennai Chapter in February 2012; their knowledge sharing sessions are very useful to earn PDUs. I would recommend you to become a member of your local chapter. Considering one knowledge sharing session per month, you could easily earn 24 PDUs per year. So, you need not think any other source beyond this for your 60 PDUs.
  • 18 PDUs for attending India's 4th annual Project Management National Conference held in Chennai. I got my company to sponsor me for this event; so, I did not spend any money for earning these 18 PDUs. But, on hindsight, I would not have regretted if I had registered for the Conference from my own pocket. You rarely get a chance to attend such huge conference right at your door steps.
  • 6 PDUs Free for attending the online seminars conducted by PMI Pune-Deccan Chapter
  • 16 PDUs for attending a two days course on project management. This course was sponsored by my former organization in Singapore.

How about you?
So, that's how I earned/ accumulated my required PDUs. Most of them falls under Category A: Registered Education Provider/ PMI Component. I only spent for the PMI membership and the $10 fee for the PMI Chennai Chapter membership. How about you? How do you go about accumulating your PDUs?

5 comments:

  1. Thiruvalluvan April 7, 2013 at 9:28 PM

    wonderful! Thanks a lot Manick for your vaulable sharing and tips!

    Cheers!

    Thiru.

    Reply
    Replies
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  2. I would say that a PMP is highly respected within both IT & non-IT communities where strong project management skills are required. If you plan on a long term career as a project manager, then yes, even with your level of experience, I would suggest getting your PMP. You can prepare yourself for the exam in one of the leading training providers like http://www.pmstudy.com . You can do minimal prep-work to get 40 PMI® Contact Hours and apply to PMI for PMP Exam before the class begins.

    Reply
  3. The SBOK guide of scrumstudy.com will give you a clear understanding of how to run effective daily standup meetings. It also provides you detailed information on Agile Project Management methodologies suchas planning/review/retrospective meeting, and how to take advantages of related tools and so on.

    Reply