Earn Professional Certification

Frustrated as a Product Manager?
Frustrated by not having the impact on products you want? Need to increase your influence along with your success and the success of the products you manage?
You are already an involved product manager but for real career success you need to become a product manager with influence.
The Build Your Base online eCourse training, using the IDEA Framework, gives you the foundation to become a Product Master - someone with true influence throughout the organization. But, as your career develops, your training and learning can't stop there.
You distinguish yourself and grow your influence over product strategy by earning professional certification. Sure, it isn't the only way to standout in your organization, but it is a proven way.
Professional certification is a recognized differentiator in many fields, such as
- project management (e.g., PMI),
- information technology (e.g, MCSE, CISSP),
- marketing (e.g., PCM)
- professional services (e.g., CPA, CFP),
- and thousands more in all sorts of industries.
Just like these certifications for other jobs, Product Management also has internationally recognized professional associations that provide independent certification. These are not the type of certificate you get for completing someone's training workshop. You don't earn these by just showing up.
They are hard to earn, they take work, you actually have to study, and that is the point!
So, why bother?

Because earning an independent professional certification shows your commitment to product management excellence.
You are not satisfied with the status-quo. You want to stand out.
Certification is the way to stand out and to deepen your expertise in product management.
Two Certification Choices
These are the certifications I support and recommend. They are backed by credible professional associations with long histories. Each has international recognition.
More importantly, I chose these as I have worked with each for several years and have testimonials from product managers who earned a certification after using our eCourses.
They attribute their new influence and success to the certification.
And, earning your professional certification will do the same for you.
Also, if you choose to prepare for a professional certification with us, you can do so confidently because...
we currently enjoy the highest pass rate of ANY organization dedicated to preparing individuals for these professional certifications.
And, as if that is not enough,
we are the only training provider endorsed by both AIPMM and PDMA. An honor we appreciate!
The two certifications are...
Certified Innovation Leader
(CIL)
with the
Association of International Product Marketers and Managers (AIPMM)
The New Product Development Professional(NPDP)
with the
Product Development and Management Association
(PDMA)
Which Certification is for You?
If you don't know which certification is right for you, consider these points for why you can't make a bad choice:
- You will learn valuable knowledge with both certifications
- They are each from reputable professional associations with a presence in multiple countries
- The topics covered in each certification are similar and chosen to help you drastically increase your success.
These differences may help your decision:
- If you have a current relationship or affinity with AIPMM, pick their certification; same applies to PDMA.
- The AIPMM CIL has much more emphasis on the fuzzy front end, exploring strategic actions innovation leaders take as well as tactical steps for creating well-defined product concepts.
- The PDMA NPDP addresses the management topics of team formation and team member motivation more fully
- The AIPMM CIL certification exam is taken from your internet-connected computer - convenient wherever you are, while the PDMA NPDP certification exam is taken in Prometric test centers.
- The cost of the AIPMM CIL and PDMA NPDP eCourse is the same, but the cost to take the CIL exam is about $100 less.
If you still need more information, see our CIL vs NPDP page.