PMI Agile Certification Pilot Starting

by David Bulkin on May 23, 2011 |

Early adopters who want to be among the first to earn the new PMI-Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) designation can apply starting May 23^rd for the PMI Agile Certification pilot. Those selected for the pilot will need to take and pass a multiple choice exam on Agile fundamentals to receive the PMI-ACP certification.

To be in the loop for the pilot send an email to AgilePilot@pmi.org. You will receive a confirmation reply and subsequent updates.

Mike Griffiths lists the key dates for the pilot:

May 23^rd - Launch of application to Public
Mid July - Pilot Participants can schedule exams at Prometric test centres
September 15^th - Pilot Program Testing begins
November 30^th - Pilot Program Testing Concludes
January 1^st - First set of individuals that passed the exam are notified

To get the certification, you will have to take, and pass, a three hour multiple choice exam that will test knowledge of Agile fundamentals and your ability to apply them to basic projects. The PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) Handbook clarifies that 100 of those questions will count in your score while 20 are un-scored pretest questions used to validate future questions.

To sit for the exam you need to meet a number of minimum requirements outlined in the PMI-ACPCertified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) Handbook.

High school or equivalent degree
2,000 hours (12 months) working on project teams, accrued in the last 5 years
1,500 additional hours (8 months) working on Agile teams, accrued in the last 2 years
21 hours of training earned in Agile project management topics

Unlike the Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification, where the PMIBOK serves as the primary reference, there is no single published body of knowledge for the Agile certification test; instead the PMI provides reference materials for exam preparation. As with the PMP you can take courses to help you prepare for the test and to meet the requirement for 21 training hours.

The exam fees as specified on the PMI site are:

Computer-based training (CBT) – PMI member - $435
Computer-based training (CBT) – nonmember - $495

Candidates selected for the pilot and who take the exam prior to the end of November 2011 will receive a 20% rebate.

For more information, the PMI has a page dedicated to the pilot, a FAQ and a handbook; Mike Griffiths provides details about the exam content.

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Community comments

Ugh... by Jim Leonardo Posted

Re: Ugh... by Richard Clayton Posted

Re: Ugh... by David Bulkin Posted

Ugh... by Jim Leonardo

Every time I've seen people with PMI certifications show up on a project, it's run over budget, over time, and usually ended up not getting delivered. It's just plain as simple as that. I don't know if its the organization, or whether people who are bothering to tout a certification do so because it's the only thing they have, but this news just causes me nausea.

Re: Ugh... by Richard Clayton

amen.

Re: Ugh... by David Bulkin

Jim and Richard,

This is a new certification. Those receiving it will likely bring a different set of approaches to projects and products.

David