I was talking to a Veteran rep who was going over my resume and he asked me if I ever considered a career in Project management . I have a Bachelors in Marketing and I previously worked as an insurance adjuster where I had to deal with like 10 people at once during the claim process (insured, attorney's, public adjusters, engineers, contractors, etc), this sounds like what I was doing before but with twice the pay. I'm looking for a career change and wondering if this is something you guys working in the field would recommend to others.
PMP Certified in project management - what next?
- Thread starter cdub123
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I definitely recommend it. I currently do a mix of IT and marketing project management. It is extremely lucrative especially if you have your certs. The amount of recruiters that hit me up daily is astronomical but it is truly due to the years of project management experience I have + the PMP cert.
As long as you are able to relate to people (very important), manage them/manage the project, crack the whip when necessary and want to see the business succeed, its a great way to dive deep in to the business world. With the right type of experience, you can apply your PM knowledge across many fields and it can truly open up a ton of opportunities.
Thank you for the information, I didnt know anything about this career field until today. There is a local technical school offering me a week long course and I can take the CAPM exam and the course will be free for me. They also have other cert classes at little to no cost for vets. I actually enjoy working with people, and believe people skills are my strongest trait.
DirtyMoney
Banned
I did PM for a few years with no certs (just experience) and pulled $650-$850 a day roughly which was great. Our scrum master pulls $3k a day so in the big scheme I was still a peon. Good times
Wait, how TF was dude pulling 3k A DAY??!? I was looking at that cert next for 2019 then getting a security cert.
Patrick Kane
Superstar
Bump for knowledge
Good thread OP
Good thread OP
Rich Spirit
#LeveledUp
What would be the best way to get into project management? Would applying for a project coordinator position be good?
Yeah, getting a project coordinator position is a good way to start. In some cases, you may be able to get directly in to a project manager position without going the coordinator route. I was able to get a project manager job without going the coordinator route. My suggestion would be to apply to any roles that you see but make your resume come off as you have already done elements of project management without literally having the title like budget keeping through excel or other record keeping software, making sure projects adhere to deadlines, managing people etc.
Hey bruh I know this is an old thread but i had to ask. Lets say you pass your PMP exam ( i take it next week) . Once you get the cert but don't have any actual project management experience when you apply to these jobs if you get hired do they immediately expect you to know everything right off the bat or alot of it is on the job training ?
Hard to answer as it really depends on what type of job you aim to get and what type of company you end up working for. On the extreme side like an Ernst & Young, you have to know EVERYTHING regarding project management but even then a company like that has their own PMO, which has a knowledge base that you have access to. In this case, you just have to adhere to their standards. In other cases, companies don't expect you to come in to a job PMP certified and do any and everything PMP. By having a solid grasp of what project management is and how it can relate to a company, I'd say 75% of the time you should be fine. If they are building their practice up from scratch, they may expect you to know more.
I've been doing project management for about 10 years now, there are some companies that get it and already have a process (like a PMO) and there are others that literally have no clue what they are doing. For someone like yourself, who is new to project management, I would suggest finding a company that is somewhere in the middle as you can start to build out who you want to be as a project manager overall. Me personally, I don't fully adhere to the standards of PMP, nor do I for CSM, but I pull from both knowledge bases to help me succeed in projects.
Appreciate you taking the time to respond. I will do as you suggested and look for companies with established PMO. Trying to get on in Dubai or overseas with any government contractor because they would already have PMO in place. FLUOR, KBR, VECTRUS, PAE, etc.
Lots if companies have out major IT projects onhold due to COVID. But even before that companies we're shedding Project Managers and forcing IT personnel to manage their own projects.
Last 3 jobs I had there was neery a project manager in site. The one job that still used a PM. Only brought her in to wrap up projects by scheduling go-live meetings. Most IT Departments are terrible at managing projects. Because their forced to do them in addition to their already heavy workload. Sure you might get paid well but who wants to bother with the headache.
Last 3 jobs I had there was neery a project manager in site. The one job that still used a PM. Only brought her in to wrap up projects by scheduling go-live meetings. Most IT Departments are terrible at managing projects. Because their forced to do them in addition to their already heavy workload. Sure you might get paid well but who wants to bother with the headache.
Interesting perspective. I could see that being a space where companies decide to make cuts in the IT world not realizing that they are inevitably screwing themselves over because as you said, IT depts without PMs are forced to do something they arent good at. I think that's the dilemma with project management, definitely a lucrative space to be in but that comes with a major caveat of companies not truly understanding the importance of PMs and maybe potentially making a cut.
Most companies are run by idiots. At my previous job once they got rid of the PM's every project fell apart. You didn't have anyone that could hold groups equally responsible anymore. And people picked and chooses whether they followed established guidelines.
I left a year later because I wasn't getting anything accomplished. Because all these projects we're at a standstill. In the IT field if you aren't constantly learning new skills it severely impacts your earning potential. So with no new technology projects getting off the ground there isn't much reason for me to stick around.
I hear you, look for the companies with PMOs but don't limit yourself just to that. A lot of times companies have some level of a process in place so you aren't expected to do things completely by the 'PMI' way.