Certifications for IT project managers

Already in the past we had dealt with the distribution of Certifications for IT project managers and its influence on the hourly rate. Now that some time has passed, let's take a look at the current status.

Distribution of certifications

Für unsere Analyse haben wir uns über 1000 gecrawlte Profile von ProjektmanagerInnen angesehen, wovon sich 36,2 % zertifizieren ließen.  Im Vergleich zu unserer Analyse im Jahr 2020 macht das ein Plus von 6,2 Prozentpunkten.

The most frequently represented certificates are still those in the PRINCE2® method, followed by the titles Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Associate in Project Management, which are awarded by the Project Management Institute PMI®. The certificates of the International Project Management Association IPMA® and the German Association for Project Management GPM® are also represented in third place.

In less than 10% of the cases there was a certification as Scrum Master (7.2%), ISTQB (6%) or HERMES (4.9%). And only 0.5% of the project manager profiles examined were Certified Project Managers of the IAPM®.

What influence do the certificates have on the hourly wage?

In the group with certificates, an hourly rate difference of 6 €/h can be observed compared to the group without a certificate. The average hourly wage for project managers with a certificate is 107 €/h and for those without a certificate it is 102 €/h on average.

This wage difference, at 111€ /h, is still most significant for freelancers holding the PMP and PMI certificates of the Project Management Institute PMI®.

In our last analysis, the wage difference was €7/hour for IT project managers with a certificate compared to an average wage of €96/hour for those who were not certified.

Which certificates are particularly in demand?

The greatest demand is for tenders that explicitly require project management certification, according to PMI, PMP or PMBOK. These were requested in 52% of the cases in the more than 1,000 tenders with this requirement that we have analysed since April 2021. Compared to our last analysis, this represents an increase of ten percentage points.

PRINCE2 and IPMA also continue to show strong demand and were requested in 40%, and 28% of cases respectively.

It can therefore be stated that certifications definitely bring an advantage. However, they are not a must-have and it therefore remains to be weighed up individually whether certification is worthwhile.

Want more analysis?

You can access further analyses with a free account at Lyncronize. There we present data on the most popular skills, current hourly rates and the general development on the project market. Here you can also find out which skills can increase the individual hourly rate.