PMP or PMI ACP: Which one should you opt for? It’s a frequent problem for professionals aiming for PMI Certification. There are two internationally recognized project management certifications: PMP® and PMI-ACP®. The decision is a sign of a significant shift in your career path and goals. While the final selection should be made by you, I’ll offer you some pointers to assist you along the way.
The PMP® certification is most often linked to the traditional project management method. If you are in a company or organization with a strict command and control structure, the PMP® certification is ideal for you.
Even though non-IT firms still use a waterfall approach, project managers are still required to complete successful projects. However, with the introduction of Agile in the PMBOK® Guide, this has changed. PMI updates the certification curriculum on a regular basis to keep pace with market developments.
The PMP® certification opens doors for professionals of all stripes throughout the world. It is a recognized credential in any project management system, whether Agile or non-agile. Before picking on PMI-ACP® VS PMP® certification, it’s crucial to first determine your own needs.
Responsibilities as a PMP®-Certified Manager
Strategy Implementation
You must first be aware of your strategic goals in order to put your plan into action. As a result, project and corporate goals become entwined. To produce a successful project, you must have a thorough understanding of the organization’s strategic needs.
Leader
You must be able to manage and lead projects while being in charge of the project. Both leadership and management skills are required for a successful project. To put it another way, one of your tasks as a project manager is to ensure that you have both leadership and management abilities.
Control
Control is critical to the project’s long-term success. To ensure that the project stays on track, within budget, and in scope, you must manage all activities and metrics. The project’s success is contingent on regular monitoring and control.
Develop and Manage Team
It’s critical to build and manage a strong team that can work together effectively. The goal is to improve project performance while staying within the budget and time frame set forth.
Apply Knowledge
To be eligible, you must have extensive knowledge and expertise in the approach that will be employed for the project.

Responsibilities as an agile practitioner
Grasp Agile
To introduce agility into your projects, you’ll need an understanding of agile methodologies and concepts. You’ll also need a commitment to the appropriate use of methods, values, and actions in order to bring agility to your initiatives.
Agile Practices
Teams should be created using agile methods, such as Scrum, Kanban, Lean, XP, and TDD.
Management
To ensure continuous progress, aim for lean management. Experiment with or eliminate stages that don’t contribute value to get there.
Have Proficiency
Agility demands an appropriate response to the shifting project demands. You must be skillful in combining the right combination of agile technologies and processes to match the project’s needs.
You’ve answered the question if you obtained all ‘yes’ responses for one certification. Despite their numerous distinctions, experts are frequently misinformed. Both badges are a firm yes. So now it’s time to show off your juggling!

Which Certification Should You Pursue: PMP Or PMI-ACP®?
To be able to add more credibility to their resume and enhance their professional progress by being in tune with contemporary trends of the business. Today’s project managers may find it tough to choose among a variety of certifications available. In addition, choosing the appropriate certification for managers working in a certain technological field is a challenging problem.
When it comes to picking a certification (PMP or PMI-ACP®), consider that the PMP is a more all-encompassing application. Whereas the PMI-ACP® focuses on Agile methods, which are becoming increasingly popular as a result of their flexibility in the face of unanticipated events.
The Project Management Institute (PMI) has popularity among organizations in the technology industry that is increasing. The PMI-ACP® certification is becoming more popular, as the Project Management Institute (PMI) gains credibility among firms in the technology sector. However, many businesses are hiring PMP certified professionals with Agile experience.
The Basic Difference
It should come as no surprise that the project management industry values PMI certifications. The PMI-ACP® is a formal credential that raises the level of knowledge and understanding of the most up-to-date project management techniques, which are found to be useful in process-driven organizations today.
On the other hand, the PMI-PMP® is a well-known and required credential that indicates that you have the skills, education, and competence to lead and direct projects. Despite its foundation in conventional software engineering techniques.
Difference In Terms Of Roles Of A PMP Manager And An Agile Practitioner
As a PMP manager, you must have the appropriate understanding and expertise regarding the chosen project-management approach. In this capacity, you’d be in charge of both initiating and leading projects, as well as overseeing and controlling every aspect to ensure their long-term sustainability. In addition, the management of project deadlines and budgets is now your responsibility.
A skilled agile project manager must be knowledgeable in agile tools and processes that emphasize quick adaptation in response to changing requirements and preferences throughout an active project.
To be an effective agile leader, you must have a solid grasp of the principles and techniques of agile development in order to provide transparency and high levels of collaboration.
With the planning, design, development, testing, and documentation processes working together in harmony, an agile practitioner is able to apply lean management.
The Difference In Transparency And Answerability
Transparency is an important Agile principle, and as a result, the project’s status should be open to the entire team. Burndown charts offer a visual representation of project progress for everyone on the team working on it.
The emphasis throughout the project’s life cycle is on improving quality and eliminating faults. PMP, on the other hand, allows the project manager to make modifications to how the project progresses.
Simply said, your project manager is the only one who knows how the project is progressing and has a panoramic view of it all. Other team members rely on information provided by the project manager.
The Difference In Status Following Certification
The PMP certification takes you to the top level of project management, allowing you to grasp project management at a macro level and then down to a granular level. The ACP, on the other hand, is a minor subset of project management that is famous for being flexible and ready to react in unexpected situations.
Conclusion
In general, PMI-ACP® focuses only on Agile, whereas PMP goes beyond project management. To put it another way, if you want to work on small development increments, Agile is a good choice for you. But if you want to learn how to link the various parts of project management, PMP can help.
With so many differences between the PMP and PMI-ACP® certifications, it’s evident that the professional’s long-term goals influence the choice to take one or the other. The career aspirations determine which certification to pursue.