How to Get Into Project Management
5In this video I'll walk through five tips for how to get into project management.
Check out more great project management tutorials!
1) How to Handle Underperforming Team Members as a Project Manager: https://maxdalton.how/project-management/how-to-handle-underperforming-team-members-as-a-project-manager/
2) What are the Five Levels of Project Management Maturity?: https://maxdalton.how/project-management/what-are-the-five-levels-of-project-management-maturity/
3) What’s the Career Path for a Project Manager?: https://maxdalton.how/project-management/whats-the-career-path-for-a-project-manager/
4) How to Deal with Difficult Stakeholders as a Project Manager: https://maxdalton.how/project-management/how-to-deal-with-difficult-stakeholders-as-a-project-manager/
5) How to Be an Emotionally Intelligent Project Manager: https://maxdalton.how/project-management/how-to-be-an-emotionally-intelligent-project-manager/
6) 10 Leadership Skills Every Project Manager Should Master: https://maxdalton.how/project-management/10-leadership-skills-every-project-manager-should-master/
Timestamps:
Understand required project manager skills and identify your gaps: 0:32
Earn a project management certification that doesn't require any education or experience: 1:20
Find opportunities to run projects in your current position: 2:52
Find an experienced project manager who's willing to be your mentor: 3:47
Apply for entry-level project management positions: 4:46
Video Transcript:
First, understand what the required skills are for a project manager and identify your gaps.
Core skills that all project managers should have (regardless of industry) are organization, communication, leadership, negotiation, and the ability to manage people. Rank yourself in each of these areas to get an initial understanding of where your biggest knowledge gaps are. After you understand your knowledge gaps, a great way to shore those gaps up is through books that focus on the specific subject areas, and also online learning platforms, such as LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com) and Pluralsight. There are also a wealth of project management experts on YouTube who go above and beyond in sharing their knowledge and expertise to help people on their journey to get into project management.
Next, work toward earning project management certifications that don't require any industry experience.
Becoming a project manager without experience or a degree where you focused on project management makes the road a little longer, but it's definitely not impossible. The Project Management Institute, which sponsors the highly-respected Project Management Professional (or PMP) certification, offers an entry-level project management certification that's perfect for people with no experience and no formal project management training who want to get into project management. While the PMP certification does require a minimum of 4,500 hours associated with managing or directing projects, the Certified Associate in Project Management (or CAPM) certification does not. The only requirement to sit for the CAPM certification is 23 hours of project management education. That's it. To make it better, the test only covers project management terminology, and doesn't get into the complex scenarios, math, or tricky questions you'll find on the PMP exam. The biggest barrier is the cost. As of late 2019, the cost to sit for the CAPM was $300; however, the cost of getting the 23 project management education hours can range anywhere from $500 to $1,500. Alternatively, the Prince2 Foundation certification sponsored by Axelos has no barriers to entry, but it will cost you somewhere in the ballpark of $1000 to sit for the exam.
Something else you can to do help you get into project management is to find opportunities to run projects in your current position.
You don't have to have a project manager title to run projects. Most organizations don't staff project management teams appropriately, and as a result many projects aren't run by people with a project manager title. Take a look within your own department and around your organization for new project efforts that are coming down the pipeline and talk to your manager about getting involved. Try to avoid large and complex projects, and try to find to find a smaller, low-visibility effort that you can cut your teeth on. Alternatively, if your organization does have a healthy project management office and you can't find a small project to manage, ask to get involved as either a project coordinator or project scheduler supporting an experienced project manager so you can both learn from that individual and get experience.
Next, work to get plugged in with an experienced project manager who's willing to share their knowledge and mentor you.
Check out the video for more!