What to Study to Become a Project Manager
Now that you know why project management is so important and you understand what a project manager actually does, you might be wondering how yous tin go a projection managing director yourself.
Being a project director is a rewarding career. Information technology'south a office that gives you an opportunity to brand a existent difference to a visitor's bottom line. And equally demand for project-based work grows, the Project Management Constitute projects (heh) that employers are going to demand to fill up 2.2 meg new project-oriented roles each year through 2027.
2.2 million.
Each.
Twelvemonth.
That is, to use the technical term, admittedly bonkers.
With that kind of opportunity on the horizon, and with all the development opportunities for managers that come with it, it'southward no wonder that more and more than people are exploring the project manager career path and looking to learn how to become a project director.
Whether yous plan to go the traditional route and want to know what degree y'all need to become a project director, or whether you're i of the thousands of people who are already managing projects every day wondering how to become a project director without experience, we've broken downwards everything you demand to know to become a project managing director in our definitive guide.
Becoming a project manager: some oft asked questions
To get started, allow'due south have a quick look at some of the about frequently asked questions almost becoming a project manager.
You lot're a busy person. You probably accept projects to manage right now! Then if y'all're simply hither for the TL;DR, nosotros've compiled some of the well-nigh oftentimes asked questions about how to go a project manager.
This is the rapid-burn breakdown for when yous have things to do and places to be.
Looking for some more comprehensive, in-depth insights? Keep reading for more on how to become a project manager.
What is a project director?
A project managing director is someone who is responsible for managing a slice of work from concept to commitment.
Who is a project manager?
Anyone who manages projects (i.e. pieces of work) from beginning to end is a project director. That includes people with "project manager" in their job title or job clarification, of course — but information technology also includes people who oversee, coordinate and deliver on piece of work regardless of their defined role.
How do I get a projection managing director?
There are 2 main roads on the career path to condign a projection manager. You can either go the "traditional" route — i.east. fix out to get a project manager, get a qualification, and take a role as a project manager. Or you tin can keep gaining project management experience and working your way up the project direction career ladder without a degree, certification, or other "classical" projection director education.
What caste practise you need to become a project managing director?
Being a project manager is most more than just degrees and qualifications. While there are lots of certifications y'all tin take if you lot want to, having a degree is non required. There are many other steps to becoming a project director that you can have.
Awesome! So how practise I go a project manager without experience?
Whoa, tiresome down there. We didn't saythat.
Do you need a degree to go a project managing director? Non necessarily. Practice you demand project managing director experience? Aye, yep you do. In fact, the career path to becoming a project director without a degree is all nearly developing your hands-on project management feel.
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But don't worry, it's non quite the craven-and-egg situation it sounds similar. Project manager experience — and the project manager skillset — is probably something you've been developing without fifty-fifty realizing.
So if you're looking to become a project manager without experience, the first matter to do is…start getting feel in project management. (And if you're wondering, we have more detailed tips on how to practise that below.)
Phew. Now that we've covered the basics, allow's focus on the specifics.
How do I become a project manager?
Equally mentioned above, nowadays there are two types of project director.
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The "traditional" project manager:
Someone who intentionally embarked on the project management career path and has a degree or qualification in project management.
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The non-project manager project manager:
Also known equally an accidental project manager. These are the people who never ready out to become projection managers but who observe themselves managing projects as part of their daily work anyway. NPMPMs tin can be anyone: marketers planning a campaign, product managers coordinating the evolution of a new product, spider web designers creating a new website. They walk among us.
For anyone wondering how to get a project manager, this is practiced news: it ways that at that place are more than ways than e'er to get on that project management career ladder.
Allow's start with the NPMPM or accidental projection manager road.
Pathway 1: How to become a projection manager without a qualification
Before in this guide, nosotros talked about how more than people are already project managers than they realize.
About work involves projects. And most projects involve lots of moving parts — like research, planning, budgeting, coordinating, managing resource, and much more than — that all need to be managed and overseen correctly to make certain that your project stays on runway.
If y'all're starting to notice that yous're loving the thrill of the project management side more than any other aspect of your job, hither's how to pause into project management without a degree.
ane. Learn where the gaps in your project management noesis are
Whatever part y'all're currently in — marketer, designer, developer, whatever — yous've probable been honing your projection management skills all along.
According to the Projection Direction Institute'sGuide to the Project Direction Body of Cognition (or PMBOK Guide), there are 10 fundamental project direction "cognition areas":
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Integration direction
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Scope management
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Schedule management
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Price management
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Quality management
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Resource management
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Risk management
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Communications management
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Procurement direction
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Stakeholder management
Think about the projects you've been on lately. Which of these areas take you been involved in?
Perhaps you played an integral role in outlining the project plan, timeline, or scope.
Mayhap you lot were the one who outlined the budget and were able to stop things going off-rail when unexpected costs came up.
Maybe you helped to reallocate resources across team members to ensure that no one was over capacity.
Those are all projection direction skills that any great projection manager needs to know.
On the flipside, possibly yous haven't had much exposure to some of the other knowledge areas, like risk management or stakeholder direction. In that case, you know exactly what you need to focus on to gain the feel you need to go a more than well-rounded projection manager.
2. Get (more) project management experience
Once you've identified where you demand to grow, it'due south fourth dimension to starting time putting your plan into action. (Which is what projection managers practise every mean solar day — double win!)
That's because the #i thing you can do if you lot desire to get a project manager without experience isstart getting that experience.
Projects are all around us, so volunteer when yous tin can. Accept on extra responsibilities and develop your organizational skills, scheduling skills, people direction skills — everything you identified in stride one.
3. Acquire everything you can near project direction
Ever seek out opportunities to develop your project management skills and knowledge.
Learn past doing. Learn on the task. Learn from your mistakes. Learn from other project managers (in your company or elsewhere). Run across if you lot can find a mentor who'll teach you their projection manager tips.
If you want to pursue your projection manager education simply yous don't yet feel fix to fully commit, take one of the many online project management courses available on platforms like Udemy or Coursera.
You can too look for conferences or local networking events that volition help you to stay on top of new industry trends and run across people who tin help you to navigate the project management career path.
iv. Beginning using the right project management software
Using a pm tool can aid you to develop your project manager experience.
Information technology allows you to automate your piece of work, quickly assign tasks to groups of teams, and easily view projects in Gantt charts, as well as being able to manage all of your projection resources from one place.
Using a flexible and intuitive project management tool like Teamwork to manage your work also means that y'all can get upward and running without needing to spend a ton of time on training or onboarding.
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Pathway ii: How to become a certified project director
Whether you lot've been an accidental projection manager for a while and you're looking to add a formal qualification to your CV, or take always known that yous wanted to be a project managing director when you grew upwards, a qualification is a great way to signal your expertise and commitment to the PM career path to employers.
Even though a formal qualification is no longer a necessity to get a project manager (see: all of the above), information technology's yet worth considering if you lot're actually serious about upping your project management game.
Not merely will information technology make more than job opportunities available to y'all and requite you lot a higher earning power, merely it will besides teach you some projection management all-time practices and techniques that you lot might non otherwise take been exposed to.
Here'due south what you need to know if you want to go a certified project manager.
1. Identify which project direction certification is right for you
PMP, PRINCE2, CAPM, PMI-ACP…there'south a whole alphabet of project management degrees. It can be overwhelming. And so how exercise you know which project management certification is right for you?
The offset step is to check out your options. Which qualification is most common in your manufacture? Which one do y'all run across listed virtually in the kind of task descriptions yous're interested in? Which one is best suited to your available time and upkeep? Which 1 will better fit the kind of processes your company uses? Where in the world exercise you want to work?
There's lots to consider. Here'due south an overview of some of the most popular degrees for projection managers, to aid start your formal project manager education.
Projection Management Professional (PMP)
The Project Management Professional (PMP) is a certification offered by the Projection Management Plant (PMI), the leading global organization for project direction professionals.
t'due south i of the most popular and well-recognized qualifications in the field — and information technology tin have a major impact on your salary. According to the PMI, project managers (and other projection direction professionals such every bit PM consultants, PM specialists, and program managers) with PMP certifications report 23% higher salaries on boilerplate.
The PMP qualification is based on the PMI'due south standards and guidelines every bit outlined inA Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, orPMBOK Guide.
It's aimed at people who already have projection management feel (at least 4,500-7,500 hours of information technology, to be specific), besides as either 35 hours of project management education or a CAPM certification.
And so while it'southward not for accented beginners, it'due south definitely one to consider as yous build out your project management portfolio.
For more on the requirements and procedure, bank check out the official PMP site here.
Projects In Controlled Environments (PRINCE2)
PRINCE2 stands forPRojectsINControlledEnvironments, which also emphasizes how information technology differs from a PMP certification.
While the PMP certification is knowledge-based — i.e. it focuses on general project management knowledge and best practices for each stage of the project — the PRINCE2 is project- and process-based method in and of itself.
Unlike the PMP, it doesn't have the same prerequisites, then it might be more suited to someone looking for a PM grounding at the first of their project management career. Information technology as well comes in both Foundation and Practitioner flavors for every stage of your project management journeying.
If y'all're trying to decide between a PMP and a PRINCE2 certification, there are a few other factors that should influence your decision, such as industry and geographical location (both of which can touch which qualification is preferred).
Ultimately, it's not an either-or state of affairs. Both certifications have benefits, and the two certifications tin can actually complement each other.
Learn more about getting a PRINCE2 certification hither.
Certified Associate In Project Direction (CAPM)
The Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) is an entry-level project management qualification offered past the PMI. It can be a standalone certification, or you can use information technology as one of the "prerequisites" needed to progress to getting a PMP.
The CAPM provides you lot with a foundational knowledge of projection management based on the standards and guidelines outlined thePMBOK Guide.
Learn more virtually the CAPM certification here.
Active certifications
If you lot work in an manufacture where agile practices are the norm, y'all might decide to go an agile certification instead (or as well!).
The PMI offers a qualification specifically designed for agile practitioners, the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP).
There's too an agile-specific PRINCE2 certification, PRINCE2 Agile, which is available at both Foundation and Practitioner levels.
Depending on which agile methodologies y'all (and your arrangement) prefer, y'all could also choose to specialize even more. For example, if you're a Scrum aficionado, you might decide to become a Certified ScrumMaster with the Scrum Alliance.
It all depends on what processes and frameworks your manufacture (and company) prefers to utilize — then exercise your enquiry, talk to others in the field, and decide what the best active certification for you is.
ii. Get (and maintain) your qualification in project management
Y'all probably thought there was going to be more than steps to becoming a certified projection manager than just:
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Make up one's mind which projection direction certification yous want.
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Get the certification.
Merely once you've decided which project direction certification is correct for you, it'southward all about knuckling down, putting in the hours, and preparing for the certification test. You might also demand to log more practical hours as well equally making time for all the book-learning.
There are lots of prep courses bachelor online that can assist you to study and set for the exam, but ultimately, it's all about putting in the fourth dimension and endeavour. (You tin can do it! We believe in you!)
And so once y'all've got your certification, y'all demand to maintain it.
Most projection direction certifications — such as the PMP — expire later on a few years. This means that y'all'll need to retake the exam every few years to evidence that you're withal upwardly-to-appointment with PM best practices and standards.
3. Master the tools of the trade
As a projection manager, yous're ever looking for ways to increase efficiency and improve processes.
Finding the correct project management tool will help you lot to put everything you've learned in your projection managing director education into practice. It allows you to oversee your projects with more clarity, forecast more accurately, manage your resource more efficiently, and report more precisely.
A practiced project management tool amplifies the piece of work of the project director: it helps you to take care of the everyday details so you tin can focus your skills where they'll accept the most bear upon. It works with you to elevate your best practices and scale your project successes — so learning how to use your PM tool to your advantage is essential, and will relieve you lot tons of time and money in the long run.
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TL;DR: The steps to condign a project manager
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Start managing projects.
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Keep managing projects.
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Learn the skills and theory behind managing projects.
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Utilize Teamwork to manage your projects.
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Get better at managing projects.
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Make up one's mind if yous desire to become a project management certification.
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Continue to manage projects.
That's it, I'm becoming a projection manager!: If you lot're ready to outset developing your projection manager experience, expect out for these projection management methodologies you need to know.
Source: https://www.teamwork.com/project-management-guide/how-to-become-a-project-manager/