If I had only started sooner, I would be much further along in my own project management career.
I’m sure you probably feel the same way.
Here is someone just getting started who reached out to me for guidance. If you are starting out in your project management career (most of us are probably well past high school age!) you will find the information below helpful as well.
Josh,
I am interested in becoming a project manager. What subjects are required in starting this career since I am just coming from high school?
Kerdel
Great question and I’m glad you are thinking about this already!
Narrow Your Focus
Think about what industry you’d like to manage projects in first. Project management has skills that cross-cut all industries, but in many cases it is an industry-specific skillset as well. Construction project management is very different from software engineering project management, or events management, or bio-pharma project management.
You may well find that the ‘Project Manager’ role isn’t really what you want, but you still want to work in a project environment. See this great discussion on the PM Career LinkedIn Group for some good tips there. (Join the group if you haven’t already!)
Industry/Domain Specific
Given the answer to this question, you may want to focus on getting a degree specific to your industry or function. A computer science or engineering degree is a good route for leading to a career managing projects in those domains. A degree in aerospace may be a good idea if you want to work in those types of programs, etc.
General Leadership and Management Skills
Regardless of which industry you choose, there are managerial and people-focused skills you’ll want to study and hone. General management and leadership skills are critical. The study of psychology and group dynamics are also very helpful and provide information for daily decision making and strategies you’ll put into place as a project manager. I’ve found my background in organizational change management and process improvement to be very actionable and helpful as well.
General Project Management Skills
As far as general project management skills go, there are concepts in the project manager’s toolkit that apply broadly across all industries and functions you’ll want to study as well. Learning the fundamentals of initiating, planning, executing, monitoring & controlling, and closing projects is something that is useful in any project. Even if you use Lean/Agile practices or other approaches these groupings of activities happen within all projects.
Learning By Doing
As always, I highly recommend doing your utmost to find an internship, volunteer position, or other role where you can start practicing what you are learning in school or self-study. That is the very best way to become proficient and increase your career opportunities. You can use the strategies in “Just Say Yes!” to create opportunities for yourself.
Will you leave a comment below with your own advice for Kerdel?
(photo by JSmith Photo)
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Josh et al,
To get an idea of what subjects should be included in a well rounded project management program, look at the curriculum of any highly regarded university offering undergrad or graduate degrees in project management and it doesn’t take long to parse out the “core knowledge areas” (those all programs have in common) with the skills and knowledge deemed appropriate or necessary for specialty applications.
To get started-
Purdue BS in Construction Project Management http://www.tech.purdue.edu/bcm/academics/undergraduate/bcm_pos.cfm
GWU MS in Project Management
http://business.gwu.edu/mspm/files/MSPM_Curriculum_Guide_4.20.11.pdf
Stevens Institute of Technology
http://howe.stevens.edu/academics/graduate-programs/project-management/content/pm-course-syllabi/
This is an interesting exercise as it will point out the divergent perspectives of what is necessary to produce an undergraduate or graduate level project manager.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta, Indonesia
http://www.build-project-management-competency.com
Hi Kerdel,
Since you are fresh from College and does not have any industry specific experience, my request is ..first choose you field of interest…..join the industry of your particular choice….gain some experience say 2 years in your field…and then go for some course which will upgrade your skills in Project Management. Project Management similar to any other management is a generalised management applicable to all type of industries. However, deep experience in a particular industry verticals make a difference. Josh has rightly said Software Project Management is different from Civil Project Management.
Issaq
Issaq,
You raise a very interesting point worth exploring. Like you (and Josh), I am a firm believer that project management is context/application specific. That a construction project manager does not automatically make a good software project manager and vice versa.
HOWEVER, we are not necessarily in the majority with our views. I engaged in a public debate a few years back in South Africa on this very issue because South Africa is in the process of instituting a LICENSE for project managers that is not application specific, but generic. And if you look at PMI’s PMBOK Guide, that too is application agnostic. (Which is why PMI has, to some extent, published application specific versions of the PMBOK Guide)
FWIW, I “lost” the debate, with the majority of people believing that project management is project management, regardless of the application or context.
But let’s see where it goes if/when South Africa does pass their licensing law and the lawsuits start being filed for professional negligence. That will determine for one and for all if project management skills and knowledge are generally applicable or not.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta, Indonesia
http://www.build-project-management-competency.com
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