I just passed my PMP (yay!) but now I'm looking at the 60 PDUs required for renewal every three years. I'm worried about the cost of maintaining this. Are there free ways to earn these credits that are officially recognized by PMI, or do I have to keep paying for expensive seminars?
3 answers
Congrats on passing! You definitely don't need to spend a fortune. PMI offers plenty of free webinars through ProjectManagement.com that automatically sync to your dashboard. You can also earn PDUs by reading books related to the Talent Triangle (Ways of Working, Power Skills, Business Acumen) and self-reporting them. Another great way is "Giving Back" – if you create content, mentor others, or even just work as a practitioner, you can claim a certain number of hours toward your 60-unit goal.
Martha, is there a limit to how many "Giving Back" PDUs you can claim? I do a lot of mentoring at my office and I'd love to use that for most of my credits.
Volunteering for your local PMI chapter is another free way. It's great for networking and you earn PDUs for the hours you spend helping organize events.
Volunteering is definitely the way to go. I managed a local chapter event last year and knocked out 10 PDUs in a single weekend. Plus, the networking was amazing!
Jerry, yes, there is a cap! For the PMP, you can only claim a maximum of 25 PDUs in the "Giving Back" category. The remaining 35 must come from the "Education" category. This ensures that you are continuing to learn new things while also contributing to the profession. Mentoring is a great way to hit that 25-unit cap, but make sure you keep a log of your hours in case you ever get audited by PMI.