10 Best Project Management Certifications to Advance Your Career Development in 2023

It was such a ride to be in an assigned group a year or two ago.

Then, I met project management tools that divide large projects into smaller tasks that you can assign to your teammates — life-saving, right?

For college students, yes.

HOWEVER, it isn’t that easy in real life IF you wish to pursue a career as a project management professional.

Because tools are not enough to manage and lead a project team, especially on a complex project.

I’ve got you covered, though.

In this article, I’ll list the top 10 online project management courses with a professional certification that you can earn after spending hours of training.

Let’s see what options you have to accelerate your project management career.

#1 Google Project Management: Professional Certificate by Google on Coursera 

Google Project Management course

There are several good-quality courses on Coursera.

This is definitely one of them.

AND good news: It’s an introductory level course that doesn’t require any prior experience in project management.

Provided by Google, this certificate program includes 6 courses that are on a wide range of subjects from core skills to hands-on approaches:

  • Foundations of Project Management
  • Project Initiation: Starting a Successful Project
  • Project Planning: Putting It All Together
  • Project Execution: Running the Project
  • Agile Project Management
  • Capstone: Applying Project Management in the Real World

Taught by the current project managers of Google, this course reimburses your professional development on another level by touching upon how to define project goals, choose tools that might accelerate the whole project management process, practice risk management, draft a communication plan, and adopt agile methods.

I’d say that this course serves as a great starting point in project management education for newbies who want to get a comprehensive overview of digital project management while earning an entry-level certification.

Price: Unknown (free enrollment).

✅ Duration: Self-paced; estimatedly 6 months.

Certificate? Yes.

Tap here for more details.

#2 Project Management: The Basics for Success by the University of California Irvine on Coursera

Project Management Course on Coursera

This online course serves as a quick introduction to project management since it offers the necessary elements to advance in the project management field.

From leading each stage in the project cycle to developing victorious outcomes, this course is here to enhance the overall performance of agile teams and improve team dynamics by providing project management training that leaves a good impact on both employee engagement and team effectiveness.

 If you don’t have a secondary degree, such as an associate degree, I suggest you take courses (just like this one!) that have the power to build a solid foundation so that you can start directing projects without any worry afterward.

Price: Unknown (free enrollment).

✅ Duration: 8 hours.

Certificate? Yes.

Tap here for more details.

#3 Project Management Principles and Practices Specialization by the University of Colorado Irvine on Coursera

Coursera Project Management Course

To swiftly execute project management processes, you’ll have to have prior knowledge in the project management field.

This course helps you out with that.

By providing you with assignments and materials that will help you identify key characteristics of projects, pinpoint project constraints, create a unique project structure, construct a communication management plan, AND form a responsibility assignment matrix.

Moreover, this online degree focuses on the elements below so that you can pursue a career in project management with the right skillset:

  • resource management,
  • project planning,
  • risk management,
  • budget management,
  • and change management.

IF you want a self-paced course that involves several learning materials on an online learning platform WITH a project management certificate, this might BE THE ONE FOR YOU.

Price: Unknown (free enrollment).

✅ Duration: Approximately 5 months.

Certificate? Yes.

Tap here for more details. 

#4 Project Management Specialization by the University of Colorado Boulder on Coursera

Project Management Specialization Course

For this course, you don’t need any experience with several hours of project management; you can go dive in.

As this online course is for beginners, you’ll start by learning how to define the project scope, create a fitting project schedule, and apply agile techniques to your project charter.

Later on, you’ll understand what you’ll need to execute a project properly, such as budget management, resource management, and strategic management — all in the name of kickstarting your presence in the field of project management. 

Let me warn you beforehand: This course is based on an engineering project; thus, you’ll not only get a thorough overview of project management but also experience how engineering projects are managed firsthand.

If you’re a project engineer, don’t miss out on this one!

Price: Unknown (free enrollment).

✅ Duration: Approximately 3 months.

Certificate? Yes.

Tap here for more details.

#5 PMI® Authorized On-demand PMP® Exam Prep by Project Management Institute

Project Management Exam Prep Course by PMI

What makes this course unique is that it’s specifically prepared for experienced project managers who wish to take Project Management Institute’s Project Management Professional exam to get certified.

A wide range of project management certification programs with practice exams are available on this site, from PMP certification for program managers to PMI for business analysts, but this section entirely focuses on its agile project management certification training. 

In this certification training, participants go through 5 modules that are developed by PMP certification holders – taking up 35 hours of project management education for them to pass the official certification exam (Project Management Professional) with ease.

The modules mentioned above involve the following:

  • Creating a High-Performing Team
  • Keeping Your Team on Track
  • Getting Started With Your Project
  • Doing the Work
  • Keeping the Business in Mind

P.S. This certificate program prepared by Project Management Institute costs $559 for PMI members, but non-PMI members pay $639.

Price: $639

✅ Duration: 35 hours.

Certificate? Yes.

Tap here for more details.

#6 PMP Exam Prep Seminar by Joseph Philips on Udemy

PMP Exam Prep Course on Udemy

This is another course you could invest your hours in to study for the Project Management Professional certification exam.

Taken by 288,000+ people til now, this course provides you with all the essentials so that you could both gain hands-on experience with agile practices and earn 35 contact hours upon completion as an effective project manager.

From learning materials, such as practice questions, articles, and assignments, to video lectures that will advance your overall business experience aside from project management, you’ll be provided with various elements that will help you get your project management certificate while adding up to your never-ending professional development process.

One big plus is that you’ll have lifetime access to this course once you purchase it, which leaves no room for a strict time commitment promise at all.

Price: $109.99

✅ Duration: 35 hours.

Certificate? Yes.

Tap here for more details.

#7 The Project Management Course: Beginner to PROject Manager by 365 Careers on Udemy

Project Management Course on Udemy

One of the bestsellers of Udemy, The Project Management Course: Beginner to PROject Management starts as an introduction to project management but does all in its power to help you become a project management professional.

Including a wide range of project management methods, this certificate program proves to be home to several practical techniques in leadership and management that agile teams and team leaders constantly make use of when delivering agile projects.

Requiring no prior project management experience, this online project management class takes it all from the start, explaining scrum, agile, and waterfall methods and how and when to approach each.

Thus, it expects you to complete a case study on your own — putting forward what you’ve learned in theory throughout the course to practice.

Thanks to the full-time access this online learning platform enables, you don’t need to fit your studies into a certain time frame. 

Price: $89.99

✅ Duration: 8 hours.

Certificate? Yes.

Tap here for more details.

#8 Beginning Project Management: Project Management Level One by Joseph Philips on Udemy

Beginning Project Management Course on Udemy

Beginning Project Management: Project Management Level One is from the very same instructor as our #6.

So you know where to go once you finish this beginner-friendly course 😌 But before that, let me fill you in on the details.

Providing you with interactive exercises and exam questions to end each section, this course shows beginners how to initiate, plan, execute, monitor, control, and close a project.

Thanks to the theoretical aspects required to finalize each step, you’ll get a complete overview of project management and enhance your project management skills in one go.

Agile teams should definitely try out this course as they’ll get the chance to create a project charter, learn about project risks, discover agile techniques, and earn a formal certification along the way.

AND the English-language videos you’ll get access to will have 12 different languages available as subtitles; maybe one of them could be your native language?

Price: $74.99

✅ Duration: 3 hours.

Certificate? Yes.

Tap here for more details.

#9 Become a Project Manager on LinkedIn Learning

Become a Project Manager on LinkedIn Learning

This online project management course is an excellent start for people who want a kick-start in the field of project management without any prior experience.

Consisting of 10 modules, this course builds the foundation for you to lead a project afterward successfully; thus, it involves the crucial subjects that make a project: basics, ethics, requirements, schedules, budget, teams, communication, risks, stakeholders, and tips to help you throughout your professional development process.

Moreover, the course itself focuses on a wide range of elements to manage agile projects effortlessly — which enables you to develop leadership skills, define project charters, pinpoint project risks, benefit from agile techniques, and enhance team dynamics as well.

Another plus is that you don’t have a specific time frame to finish this course as long as you have a subscription.

Price: Unknown

✅ Duration: 11 hours.

Certificate? Yes.

Tap here for more details.

#10 The Top Skills Project Management Professionals Have Right Now on LinkedIn Learning

Project Management Skills Course on LinkedIn Learning

In some cases, having months of experience and knowing the subject thoroughly might not be enough, especially when you’re putting it into practice.

That’s why I suggest this course which shows that having the right skill set and tips might enhance your career choice and professional development significantly.

To do so, it includes a wide range of practices, from the ones that will help you gain a realistic point of view regarding matters, such as median salary, degree programs, and job prospects to the ones that might not work in your favor during a practice exam but help you out during a real-life circumstance.

So, if you’ve attended one or two courses about project management, make sure to make this one your third!

Price: Unknown

✅ Duration: 13 hours.

Certificate? Yes.

Tap here for more details.

Conclusion

Now that you know which online courses and certifications would help you advance your career in project management…

Let me introduce you to a project management tool that will take your project management game to another level: monday.com

As monday.com is a simple and robust work management platform, you’ll adjust to it in seconds and see how easy it is to perform your new skills on agile projects.

If it isn’t your cup of tea, feel free to check our article with the best project management tools for project managers.


Frequently Asked Questions


Which is the best project management certification?

The best project management certification is the official certification provided by the Project Management Institute, which requires you to have a four-year degree and at least 35 hours of project management education, along with taking a final exam.


Can you self-study for PMP?

You can self-study for PMP; however, you need to find the right channels you can benefit from the most as some courses don’t align with the exam curriculum topics.


Is PMP worth it 2023?

Yes, PMP is still worth the money as it’s given by a highly-acknowledged institute and has several prerequisites that carry credibility.

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Renk Mert

Renk Mert

Sugar, spice, and everything nice... These were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect creative content writer. But UserGuiding accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction: *sass*. Thus, the daydreamer Renk with an undying love for cats was born. Feel free to contact me via LinkedIn to talk about user onboarding, inbound marketing, and even the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.