A project management career is a very logical choice. You may be asking, “is project management for me?” A project manager’s daily activity is interesting and engaging. A project manager career typically will have the opportunity to manage a variety of project types. Depending on the industry focus, the project types are enormous. For example, if you become a project manager in the information technology field the options are extensive. Projects could be focused on data center systems or related to data networks. Many IT project managers focus on application development and upgrades. In every industry field, project managers are needed to lead business process improvement efforts.
Becoming a project manager as a career is rewarding. The demand for project managers is high. Project managers are needed in almost every type of industry and service sectors. Almost every initiative a company engages its resources on is a project. Some of the most well know project management jobs are related to construction and information technology. In May of 2019, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics states there are over 1.2 million people employed as a Project Management Specialists and Business Operations Specialists. An average project manager’s salary is desirable. The mean annual wage for the project management career is over $80,000. The annual mean wage for all occupations in May 2019 was $53,490.
Achieving a project management certification can significantly increase your ability to find a job. In addition, to be more in demand resource, the project management salary potential is greater. A person must have between 4,500 to 7,500 documented hours, depending on the education level, just to be accepted to take the leading project management certification exam. In addition to experience hours, you must have completed a formal project management training course such as a college class or corporate training. While this is great to make sure the certification is a recognition of competency, how does a person get this experience? You gain experience by managing small projects to start. Then through trial and error, you move onto larger projects. Find out the 10 essential project management skills.
The people project managers work with also have variety. Each project a project manager is involved with could have dozens of people with a role in the project. Project managers will work with business leaders to develop the project’s goals and scope. They will work with analysts to gather data and engineers to perform tasks. Project managers work with customers to validate deliverables.