How To Start A Career In Project Management- Comprehensive Guide

Project management is right now one of the most in-demand jobs in the industry! Reasons being the highly competitive markets, global challenges, and call for increased efficiency. In today’s competitive business world, project management finds its application almost everywhere.

To survive in this fierce competition, organizations need a structured approach for their plans. They need to plan, organize, control, and manage their resources in the most efficient way possible to deliver desired results. This need for efficiency gave rise to a new position in the market, which was project management. Project managers are trained to plan and execute different initiatives in the form of projects and complete them within the given time frame while meeting all the requirements.

With their sound skills and knowledge, project managers solve all the threats and complexities in the project and make sure that the desired goals are met at the end of the day.

If you are someone who is planning to start a career in Project management, then this article will give you a broad picture of-

• What is project management, and why is it important?
• What does a project manager do?
• How to become a Project manager?
• Future prospects of project management and much more!

What is project management, and why is it important?

Project management refers to how a person or a team plans, organizes, and manages the necessary resources to meet a goal or a project. While a project, in simple terms, is a piece of work with specific goals, it can be the development of a new product, implementation of new software, machinery, or building a spacecraft.

In the past few decades, we have seen rapid growth in businesses, like ditching old methods and adopting new technologies, going global, and the rise of startups, etc. These sudden changes in the internal and external business environment have given rise to new requirements, and expectations and businesses don’t respond to these changes; they would not survive in today’s competition. That is why organizations need talented project managers who can combat these changes and potential risks and help them achieve their goals.

What does a Project Manager do?

Now let us have a look at the roles and responsibilities of a project manager and understand their work in brief.

1. Planning & scheduling: Before the commencement of any project, it is the job of a project manager to make a plan and a schedule to set the direction. He decides how to execute and move forward according to the timelines.planning template.

• Managing resources: They have to efficiently manage all the resources, such as people, finance, etc., to bring the best out of the project.

• Controlling cost overrun: Project managers are responsible for completing the projects within the given budget. In case of any deviation, they need to tweak the plans accordingly and notify relevant stakeholders. Hence reducing the chances of last moment surprises.

• Ensuring quality as expected: They make sure that the project outcomes meet or exceed the goals set by stakeholders and maintain the quality of the project.

• Boosting team morale: People are the essential assets for project managers. The outcomes of any project depend on the whole team. Project managers encourage their teams and that their efforts don’t go unrewarded in the end.

• Managing & ensuring integration: They manage and integrate different functions while applying ethical project management methodologies and knowledge to get desired outcomes.

How to become a Project manager?

The easiest way to become a project manager is to seek formal education and training. However, there are no ground rules for becoming a project manager and no dedicated educational qualification. You can take any introductory project management course and become an entry-level project manager. Eventually, after gaining enough experience, you can go for a project management certification and become a senior project manager. The most common project management certification is PMP. Check out this comprehensive guide on how to crack PMP certification.

But before you start looking for an entry-level project management job, you should find a company that gives you the space to grow and learn more from your coworkers and seniors.

Eventually, you can transition to a program manager role and handle multiple related projects or become a portfolio manager. Subsequently, you become a project management office manager whose job is to ensure the entire company’s project organization. 

Future prospects of project management-Fact & Figures

Project management is indeed the most sought–after career today. As per the Project Management Institute(PMI) report, there will be around 87.7 million project management roles worldwide by the end of 2027.

Thanks to increased demand changing the business environment, there will be huge job opportunities in project management in various industries, including manufacturing, IT, finance, construction, etc.

Currently, there is a widening gap between the need and availability of skilled PMPs. Therefore, organizations are constantly looking for skilled project management professionals.

Apart from job opportunities and market demand project management jobs are financially rewarding. As per research conducted in 2017, the salaries in project management roles were almost 82% higher than the salaries of other roles. As per the report by PMI, the average salary of a project management professional is as high as $120K in developed countries, while in developing nations, it is somewhere around $25K to $30K per annum.

Besides that, project managers also enjoy tons of other benefits such as work flexibility, good work-life balance, chances to travel abroad for multiple projects, and tons of different learning opportunities.

Oftentimes, project managers also end up being CEOs. The exposure and learning they get by managing people, processes, and finances take them on a totally different level. In a nutshell, we can say that the PMP roles are kind of training to become a CEO.   

Conclusion

In summation, project management roles have a very bright future with massive demand in times to come. It is a role that will never come to cease even after artificial intelligence takes over.

If you want to earn a handsome salary, travel globally, and maintain a good work-life balance, then project management is just the right choice for you. So go ahead, get an entry-level job, earn experience, then a certificate, and shape your career.

Author Bio

Mr. Ram Tavva is a Senior Data Scientist and Alumnus of IIM- C (Indian Institute of Management – Kolkata) with over 25 years of professional experience specialized in Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning.

He is also a PMP Certified, ITIL Expert certified PMG, PEOPLECERT, and EXIN Accredited Trainer for all modules of ITIL till ExpertTrained over 3000+ professionals across the globe currently authoring a book on ITIL “ITIL MADE EASY”.

He has Conducted myriad Project management and ITIL Process consulting engagements in various organizations, Performed maturity assessment, gap analysis, and Project management process definition and end to end implementation of Project management best practices

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