TOPIC: Can I skip CAPM and go straight to PMP?

I’m a mid-career humanities professor looking to shift into project management. I’ve got 15+ years of experience leading research projects, committees, and seminars, but no formal corporate background.

A PMI rep said CAPM wouldn’t help much beyond contact hours, so I’m wondering if it’s reasonable to go straight for the PMP. Has anyone from academia made this jump? Curious how you framed your experience to meet the eligibility.

Hi Steven,

You answered your question more or less yourself already.

As long as you can frame your experience in a way that PMI accepts, the rep is correct; you should go straight for PMP; doing CAPM first would be a waste of time in your case.

To frame your experience correctly, you should use the PMP Exam Content Outline and the vocabulary from the ECO; this ensures alignment with the PMI requirements and their way of thinking.

I am pretty sure that would be easy in your case, given the vast amount of experience you already have in leading teams and managing tasks.

Feel free to reach out (on LinkedIn, for instance) for any further guidance or support with your application. I would be more than happy to help.

BR,

Markus