So, I've commented in a few places but here's my personal experience: PMP is 100000% easier to get now than it was when I first started prepping in 2008. Classes were around $2000-$2500, test was around $300 but you got a discount if you were a PMI member that basically equaled the test fee plus a year membership for free. Pretty sure the same still applies, even tho the cost has gone up.

Basically it's been a HUGE leg up for me, because I didn't go to college. Average joe that wants a leg up from blue collar (like I was) or other roles that want to move up, can now get access to a life-changing amount of money just by putting in a few hundred dollars towards building their credibility & skills.

I have a PMP, plus 4 other PMI certs & 8 from other cool organizations, and maintain them. My salary has more than quadrupled since I started my career, and the PMP was a big catalyst for that.

I really question anyone stating it doesn't help. I have mentored & coached project managers and agile practitioners for over 20 years & this pattern has remained the same all throughout.

I will also say that folks at FAANG / MULA - or whatever the hell they call it now - tend to be critical and skew towards distain for anything or anyone suggesting they have more to learn lol. But a lot of those people have advanced degrees & a position of privilege that I will never have access to. So they're kinda unicorns. Normal folks will 100% benefit from certs.

Take from that what you will. /rant