Can you get the PMP without experience or a degree?

Without a degree, yes. Without project experience, no. PMI accepts candidates at every education level, but every route asks for months spent leading and managing projects. Your education only changes how many months.

Without a degree: yes

PMI's first route is a secondary school diploma or equivalent, and it asks for 60 months of project experience. An associate degree brings that to 48 months, a bachelor's degree to 36, and a bachelor's or higher from a PMI GAC-accredited program to 24. Every route also needs 35 hours of project management training, or an active CAPM in their place.

Without experience: not yet

No course replaces the experience requirement. The months must be earned in a professional setting within the last 10 years before you apply, and they cannot overlap. Two projects running at the same time count once: PMI tracks months, not projects.

What counts as project experience

Your job title does not have to say project manager. PMI assesses the work you document, so an engineer, analyst or coordinator who led part of a project may already have qualifying months. Describe what you led and delivered, with dates, and name a manager who would recognise the work. If your application is audited, PMI asks for that person's signature.

What does not count

PMI excludes school projects, academic research for a degree, personal events, home improvement, and routine, operational or administrative tasks. Supporting a project is not the same as leading part of it.

If you are not eligible yet

Count your months before you pay for anything. If you are short, CAPM is the same ladder one rung down, for building the foundation first, and an active CAPM later covers the PMP's 35 training hours. Our eligibility guide walks through each route, and you can compare PMI certifications side by side.

Not sure where you stand? Tell us what you have worked on and we will go through it with you before you book anything. PMI makes the final decision.