Professional Development Units


Earn Your Professional Development Units (PDUs) for Free

On this page you’re going to find resources that will help you to earn all of the 60 PDUs needed to maintain your PMP credentials for free or at an affordable cost.

Recently PMI has made some changes to its CCR cycle by adding a Talent Triangle concept from December 1st 2015, which has made the process little confusing. These changes are live from December 1st 2015, therefore when subscribing for any webinar or course, make sure of two things: its category and the side of the triangle it is complying with.

I’ll try to keep this list of resources as short as possible and do my best to provide you with only the best resources.

Also, before subscribing for any webinars, podcasts or joining any programs, please make sure that it belongs to the correct category as mentioned on this page. If you find any discrepancies, please let me know so that I may correct it.

Free 60 PDUs

Here I will provide resources from where you can earn all your 60 PDUs for free of charge.

In this group you must earn at least 35 PDUS.

Out of these 35 PDUS, 8 PDUs should be in Technical Project Management Skills, 8 PDUs in Leadership Skills, and 8 PDUs in Strategic Business Management Skills.

Please note that you cannot earn more than 30 PDUs in category C alone which is for self-directed learning.

From this site, you can earn 12 PDUs. I contacted IAG Consulting to find out the correct category for these webinars. They said it is category 2 (old classification); however, I believe that in the current format they belong to category B.

Here you can find 18 PDUs.

PMI provides you with various opportunities to earn category A PDUs. The easiest way to earn the PDU is to participate in the webinars organized by various PMI Communities of Practice.

These PDUs are auto reported, which means that once you compete watching the webinar, it will be automatically reported to the PMI and you will get the credit.

I recommend you join these communities and start earning PDUs.

Here you can earn 30 PDUs very easily. Buy or rent any project management related book and read it. Write down the date and time of starting and completion, and keep the notes and records.

After reading the book, you can claim the PDU. One hour of activity is equal to one PDU. However, if you’re not a good reader then there is another option for you. You can watch free webinars and claim the PDU for the time spent on it.

You can watch many free webinars from projectmanagement.com, which is a PMI affiliate site.

If you’re working as a professional in project management, you can claim 8 PDUs per CCR cycle.

The above links are more than enough for you to earn 60 PDU free of charge. On the Internet you may find many more PDU opportunities, but the purpose of this page is to give you sixty professional development units. Remember, you are only required to report 60 PDUs per CCR cycle to PMI.

Paid courses offer many benefits over the free programs; for example you can get a lot of PDUs in one shot and can learn additional skills such as Six Sigma, MS-Project, etc. You also don’t have to worry about the PMI Talent Triangle because these courses are already PMI approved and tell you in advance how many PDUs you can earn in each side of the triangle.

Therefore, if you are ready to pay for it, earning the 60 PDUs will be a piece of cake for you. Please note that all of these courses are PMI Category A PDUs and fulfill the latest Talent Triangle requirements of PMI implemented from December 1st 2015.

PM Simplify offers many courses to help you earn Category A PDUs, and these PDUs also satisfy the PMI Talent Triangle requirements.

These courses with discount coupon codes are given below.

For 200 USD you will get 25 PDUs.

This course teaches you the fundamentals of Business Analysis. The course content is aligned with the BABOK Guide third edition.

Course access will be for 365 days.

***(Use coupon code PMSC to get a discount of 20 USD.)

For 100 USD you will get 15 PDUs.

This course introduces you to Six Sigma, its elements, and the barriers in implementing Six Sigma, etc.

***(Use coupon code PMSC to get a discount of 20 USD.)


PRINCIPLES OF LEADERSHIP

For 75 USD you’ll get 10 PDUs.

This course will brief you about the traits of leadership, leadership models, team building activities, communication, mentoring, etc.

***(Use coupon code PMSC to get a discount of 7.5 USD.)

For 75 USD you’ll get 10 PDUs.

Here you will learn about communication models, types, methods, and the significance of nonverbal communication, etc.

Course access is for 365 days.

***(Use coupon code PMSC to get a discount of 7.5 USD.)

For 150 USD you will get 35 PDUs. If you are a PMI-RMP, you can also claim 20 PDUs to fulfill the PMI-RMP CCR requirements.

In this course you will learn the basic fundamentals of project management. The course content is aligned with the 5th edition of the PMBOK Guide, and it revises your knowledge of all project management processes.

Course access will be for 365 days.

You should take this course if you have passed the PMP exam based on the old Edition of the PMBOK Guide and want to upgrade yourself on the 6th Edition.

***(Use coupon code PMSC to get a discount of 15 USD.)

PM Simplify also offers bundle courses where two or more courses are combined as a single package and given at a discounted price.

The following are the few bundle courses from the PMSimplify.

60 PDU BUNDLE

The price of this bundle is 300 USD and it consists of two courses: PM Fundamentals and Business Analysis Fundamentals.

***(Use coupon code PMSC to get a discount of 30 USD.)

This course is available for 210 USD and it includes two courses: PM Fundamentals and Non Verbal Communication.

***(Use coupon code PMSC to get a discount of 21 USD.)

The price of this bundle course is 180 USD, and it consists of two courses: Business Analysis Fundamentals and Six Sigma Overview.

***(Use coupon code PMSC to get a discount of 18 USD.)

Cornelius Fichtner, the creator of PM PrepCast, also provides you the opportunity to earn PDUs with his course.

AGILE PREPCAST

Available for 179.99 USD, this program will give you 37 Cat A PDUs. Moreover, in the future if you decide to apply for the PMI-ACP certification exam, you don’t have to join any other training program because this program also qualifies for the PMI-ACP 30 contact hours requirement.

Some of the links above are affiliate links and I will earn a commission if you make a purchase after clicking. Please understand that I recommend these resources because they are useful, not because of the commissions I make. Please do not make a purchase unless you feel that the materials will help you achieve your goals. Thank you for your support.  Read the disclaimer.