PM1 - Career in Project Management

Project Management – An exciting career

Project manager sounds like a really exciting career. We all have worked in some type of project management. Whether we were part of a team and were directed or were given a task to complete where we had to direct people. For example at my previous job as a Financial Advisor at a Financial Institution; I was part of a team where we were told to increase investment sale for the month of May. Now that I think back, that was a project that was being managed by the branch manager. We were given the time frame, we had one specific result in mind – to increase our sale in comparison to last year’s May, there were few people involved that specialized in different fields – Mutual funds, RRSP, GICs or other short-term products.

I think Project manager would be an exciting career. This role is constantly changing; new project starts when the first one is complete. This would be a good field for someone like me. Since I tend to get bored doing the repetitive task over and over again. Before our first class I never thought that a career / job exists that is constantly changing. Although, I am sure it is not an easy task, and that is probably one of many reasons why not everyone does it.

Upon further research in Project management careers, I found out that there is a professional certificate offered by many schools like Athabasca University, University of Lethbridge, Royal Roads University, and UBC. There is also a professional designation of Project Management Professional (PMP) offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI). The process of obtaining PMP requires extensive study, examination and real life on-the-job experience. There is a rigorous 200 multiple choice examination once accepted in the program. PMI requires that its members abide by their PMI code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.

There were some jobs in project management on Monster.ca that would have interested me, had I met all the qualifications. The first job titled: Project Manager in a software developing firm, required a University degree in an engineering discipline or in Project management, and should have 7 to 10 years of project management experience. Ability to manage multiple projects at the same time and strong verbal and written communication skills are required for this job. Salary was in $90,000 + range, depending on experience. For this job PMP designation would have helped along with other hands-on training. This job was for someone in IT field and it gave me an impression that this job was always on the go. There was some international travel required as well.

Project Coordinator was another job that stood out for me. This job required a degree or experience in financial services industry along with a minimum 5 years of direct experience in a project management team. This was posted by a recruitment agency and it sounded like the company was a multi-national company. This was a 6 month contract position that offered $35 per hour. Given that Project Coordinator is generally an entry level position; this position definitely needed someone who was an expert as a Project coordinator. This role was also in the IT industry.

Project Scheduler was an IT position in the construction company. Qualification included a degree in Operations management or Construction management with 5 + years experience as a Project Scheduler.

Senior Project Manager position required extensive knowledge of computing languages like C++, Java, SQL, etc along with a PMP designation. Position was posted by a recruitment agency and it did not have lot of details about the position. This position required project manager to also be an advocate of this project for the duration of the project. Other duties included meeting with the Gov’t officials, along with shareholders, and any other that was required in order to complete the project. I think this position required an expert not only the IT but also in the project management.

Program Manager position required a Diploma only along with 5 years experience in a project manager role. Job description said that they are developing a software and therefore needed someone with a knowledge of computers. It did require dealing with various levels within the organization.

After searching for Project manager jobs and skills required for this job, I realized that this job requires lot of skills and expertise in the area a person wants to specialize in. This is a broad field and not everyone can master it.

Project Manager

Project Coordinator

Project Scheduler

Senior Project Manager

Program Manager

1) http://www.royalroads.ca/programs/faculties-schools-centres/centre-applied-leadership-management/prjmgmt-cert/

2) http://www.tech.ubc.ca/project/

3) http://www.pmi.org/CareerDevelopment/Pages/Obtaining-Credential.aspx

4) http://jobsearch.monster.ca/