Making a Party out of Project Management: Epilogue - Getting Started in a Project Management Career

“I’m still interested in project management after reading this book. What should I do next?”

If reading this story makes you more interested in entering the world of professional project management, keep reading below for specific steps you should take next. There are specific actions to take and current costs are shown when applicable. Please note that the Project Management Institute has not endorsed this story in any way; the points below are simply recommendations based on the story writer’s own professional experience. 

While these three steps are technically optional, they’re strongly encouraged as ways to get more opportunities to land a project management job:

1.      Visit the Project Management Institute’s website, https://www.pmi.org/, and sign up to become a member of PMI. As of August 2025, the cost of membership is $164 annually, plus a smaller chapter membership fee for your local PMI chapter (usually in the range of $30-50 annually). If you’re a student, you may be eligible for a substantial discount on these fees. This membership helps you to network with those already working in project management, plus provides access to an e-copy of the current PMBoK, a regular newsletter, and discounts on certification exam fees.

2.      Prepare to take the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification exam. The requirements for this exam are to have a high school diploma and 23 hours of project management education completed by the time you sit for the exam. There are lots of online offerings that fit this requirement at various prices.

3.      Take the CAPM certification exam to earn the certification. The cost is $225 for PMI members ($300 for non-members) as of August 2025. Once you have this certification, you are ready to take a job as a project coordinator or other entry-level project management specialist if you aren’t working as one already.

So far, you’ve probably spent about $500 on a PMI membership, a training course to meet the education requirement for the CAPM exam, and the fee for the exam itself. The average project management specialist earns about $100,000 per year [20], so if this is much more than what you make now, taking the steps above would probably be a good use of your time and money.

[20] According the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics: Project Management Specialists (bls.gov)