Project #Management #Career Paths #PMP

All industries need projects for their growth, survival, and innovation. So, the project management

profession will always be in demand, and if you intend to grow your career in this profession, you have 

made the right choice.

Project management is a vast field, and you will have many career opportunities in this profession, and project manager is one of them.

This article will give you a general idea about developing your career path in project management.

So let’s get started.

A Career in Project Management

Before we discuss on career in project management, let us understand the terms project and project 

management.

As per the PMBOK Guide, a project is a temporary endeavour to create a unique product, service, or result. They are undertaken to fulfil objectives by delivering a deliverable. A deliverable is a unique and verifiable product or result; it can be tangible or intangible.

Project management is an application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques for project activities to meet the project requirements.

In project management, you will have many career opportunities; let’s start with a career as a project manager.

Career as a Project Manager : - Regardless of industries, project managers are in the highest demand, which will continue to rise.

Project managers are responsible for successful completion of the project. 

Their job responsibilities include:

·        Developing a project management plan

·        Recruiting the project team

·        Carrying out the project activities

·        Monitoring and controlling the project activities

·        Delivering the project deliverables

·        Closing out the project

Project managers have the support of their team members to complete these tasks. The team members include subject matter experts such as planning engineers, quality control engineers, construction supervisors, foreman, site engineer, and construction workers.

As a project manager, you should have many skills. The most important skills are leadership, negotiation, and communication skills.

The other essential skills are:

·        Problem solving

·        Organization

·        Analytical

·        Risk management

According to PMI surveys, the demand for project managers is rising, and the industry will have 22 million jobs in next 5 -6 years.

All industries need projects and project managers, though they are very common in construction, oil and gas, IT industries.

To become a project manager, you must have enough experience in different roles in the project. For example, if you have 6 - 8 years of experience as a project engineer, planning engineer or site engineer & has completed a mega project you can get promoted to assistant project manager and then project manager.

A project manager’s job is very challenging. All projects are unique and project managers have to start each project from scratch with limited resources.

They must be updated with the latest advancements in project management to stay ahead.

They may be required to have some globally recognized certification, such as PMI -PMP  or prince2

Other Career Opportunities in Project Management

In project management, some other key roles are:

·         The project coordinator or expeditor

·        Project planner

·        Site engineer

·        Quality manager

·        Risk manager

·        supervisor

 

The Project Coordinator or Expeditor

The project co-ordinator or Expeditor plays a vital role in project management. You can also call them the project manager in waiting. Most of time, they are known as project administrators.

These people help project managers with administrative tasks and sometimes can replace them in their absence. Their main role is to ensure that day-to-day activities are moving as planned so the project manager can take care of high-level tasks and issues.

 

Project Planner

Sometimes, they are called project schedulers. Their job is to help project managers develop project schedules.

For small organizations, advanced knowledge of excel will be sufficient. However, to work in big organizations as a project planner, you must know special planning software such as Primavera or MS-Project.

You can also go for some global certification like Scheduling Professionals

PMI-SP. This certification is from Project Management Institute (PMI), for scheduling professionals.

 

Site Engineer

You will find a site engineer with construction projects. These professionals stay on the site and monitoring & Controlling, executing construction activities.

For this position, you will require a diploma or engineering degree in a civil or mechanical discipline.

 

Quality Professionals (PQM /PQE)

Quality personnel include quality assurance and quality control.

Quality assurance professionals developed procedures as per the standards, client specifications and company policies.

Quality control engineers ensure that the manufacturing / fabrication team is following the right procedure and deliverables are produced defect-free.

For quality assurance, you can go for the ISO lead auditors course, and for quality control, you can look for ASQ certifications from https://asq.org

 

Risk Manager

This is a specialized field and suitable for professionals who have enough project management experienced and are involved with risk management.

If you are interested in risk management and want to grow your career in this field, you can go for the PMI-RMP certification.  This is a globally recognized certification for risk management professionals.

 

Supervisor

Site Supervisors works under site engineers and deals with construction workers to carry out day-to-day construction activities.

 

How Certification Helps in the Project Management Career Path

It is a simple truth that certified project managers get a higher salary than non-certified project managers. Many organizations have made it mandatory to have a globally recognized project management certification to apply for the project manager position, which you may notice on job portals.

If you live in the UK, Australia, or Europe, prince2 certifications are best choice while for the rest of the world PMI - PMP   certification is the best choice. 

 

How to Start Your Career in Project Management

There are many career opportunities in the field of Project management domain. You should identify your interests and skills and then focus into project management.

 

Let’s start with educational qualifications. Usually, you will be required to have at least an undergraduate degree to apply for the project manager position.

If you want to pursue your career in the construction field, it should preferably be an engineering degree. In the IT industry, computer engineers or any other global equivalent would be sufficient.

Now, let’s look at experience. Assume that you have no hands on experience in project management , but you want to persue your career in project management.

In this case, I will  recommend going for the CAPM certification. Requirements for CAPM certification are lenient, and it does not require project management experience.

Having a CAPM certificate shows that you have the required knowledge and dedication to move into project management.

After getting this certification, you can apply for an entry-level position in project management and get some experience.

Now, once you earn the required project management experience, you can go for the PMP certification. It will boost your career in project management domain.

 

For the IT industry, certifications such as Agile/Scrum will also be helpful.

#Projectmanagement

#PMP

#CAPM

#PRINCE2