Hi Charles. Around 2007 we started to notice that more project management jobs were requiring PMP certification (and the like). Were there no experienced and qualified PMs before then?? Of course not. The PMP certification simply allowed newbies with minimum project experience (as little as 4,500 hours) to get jobs in project management. But you cannot assign leadership of a complex project to a 'green bean' with a PMP, so instead of hiring an experienced PM, hiring organizations have somewhat dumbed down the job requirement. The duties of a PM have switched from someone who identifies and solves your problems, and lead solutions, to someone who can maintain the project schedule, arrange meetings, and track actions on spreadsheets. The "Project Manager" is now a low level functionary in many instances. The PMP is based on the latest version of the PMBOK. I have an electronic copy of the PMBOK 6th Edition, which I will be happy to share with you through email. Then if you have 4,500 hours working as a project manager, and 35 hours of documented project management training (which PMI will charge you US$550 for), then you can take the 200 multiple choice question PMP exam and get a nice framed certificate. With the global challenges with data protection, if you are in the IT industry, you might want to consider going for the PECB ISO/IEC 27005 Lead Risk Manager certification. That might open up more lucrative opportunities for you in the future then the PMP.

Thank you very much for your advice, Jeff. I think I will go for the PMP then :-)