People evolve into roles, they move into them. Its called progression.
Project managers?
- Thread starter hargi
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People evolve into roles, they move into them. Its called progression.
People who advance in another (closely related) field and at a certain point decide to make the jump. Anyone who thinks 'I want to be a project manager' is inevitably only saying it because they think of the potential money, and more often than not should NOT have been given the job.
Note to TS: Paper qualifications a good project manger do not make. I suggest you look into business analysis if you are so intent on heading down this route.
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As I said earlier, most PMs I know (incl myself) have become so by natural
career progression.
I disagree unfortunately and especially in IT it is classed as a promotion. Whilst it's good to have an idea about the field you are managing it is more important to have good project management skills than IT skills. Sadly most IT departments (especially in civil service) don't see it that way and it's usually a complete nightmare to deal with them on a contract level.
Thanks Scorza i dunno if im trying to make to much of a jump from where i am to PM. Just trying to find out my career path
I think Team leader would be the next step but knowing how to get there is the thing.
I think both arguments are valid here. It depends on where and what you are project managing.
In certain arenas, experienced tehnical people with the correct skills CAN make good PMS.
In Civil/Governement etc PM is very process driven and a different skill alltogether.
I've always maintained there are two breeds of PM. First is the "Dirty Hands" PM and the second is the "Process" PM. The places, organisations you will find these vary wildly but can be widely categorised as
Dirty Hands = Private Sector
Process = Public Sector.
I got into project management as a natural evolution of my job. Started off as a system admin, moved into what we called 'complex support', then from there started delivering new applications to our business from a support persepective. Got involved in some of the project management aspects and when our department re-structured I moved onto Project Management full time.
I dont think anyone actually aspires to be a PM, it just happens!
Prince2 is a good qualification to have on paper but in practice how much use it is depends on the organisations you are working for, and their willingness to accept the methodology.
I dont think anyone actually aspires to be a PM, it just happens!
Prince2 is a good qualification to have on paper but in practice how much use it is depends on the organisations you are working for, and their willingness to accept the methodology.
I would say no to that Project Managment is a completely different skill to being a team leader which is man/line managment. I've seen many an excellenttechie totally ruined by a transition into project managment.
A good project manager does not need to have any significant technical knowledge and should be able to manage a project as a project not as a technical challenge.
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Prince2 is just a stupid thing for the CV, it's far too unwieldy to be used in most projects and programmes. There are so many people who have been trained in it but have no applicable experience and therefore are more interested with having endless meetings and not actually caring about the output from the meetings.
Ok then, what would you sort of be looking at as your next step?
I’m currently a VLE (virtual learning environment) admin at college and make educational resources; I have a foundation degree in ICT. In the next year I am implementing a change of System from our VLE to Moodle VLE obviously this will look good on my CV.
But then where should I be looking at going with my career.
I’m currently a VLE (virtual learning environment) admin at college and make educational resources; I have a foundation degree in ICT. In the next year I am implementing a change of System from our VLE to Moodle VLE obviously this will look good on my CV.
But then where should I be looking at going with my career.
Man/line management is an important part of project management. I didn't say they were the same thing however, just that it's a natural progression to move from a team leader role into a project management type role. And yes, the Peter Principle has to be a consideration when promoting people within a hierarchy, however imo it's a lot better than the alternative - no promotion.
so true tbh...
a decent project manager would be someone who has been there/done that etc.. and has been asked to fill the position. He will have the courses because someone has sent him on them not because he had ambitions to do them in order to become a PM.
People who aspire to be one when they don't have experience or have done some course via a distance learning provider are likely to be crap IMO.
"I'd like to be more involved in the business side" basically means I don't understand the techy stuff because I'm too stupid but please can I do a course and then e-mail developers all day asking them to meet deadlines - not going to happen in a decent firm unless you've proved yourself first.
the fact is Prince2 etc.. just provide basic frameworks for management - a decent project manager also needs a fair bit of actual domain knowledge and for that you need experience.
Soldato
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my brother is a project manager.
he got into it after being an engineer for years then the position opened which he went for
he got into it after being an engineer for years then the position opened which he went for
some interesting views in here
Could I ask your involvement with PM's? Are you a consultant?
FYI, I'm MCSE, CCNA, HP ASE, IBM Storage and Tivoli Certfied but I dont think that automatically makes me a good PM.
I don't think he's saying that having technical experience automatically makes you a good PM... I think his point is that to be a good PM you need to have a good grounding in the work your team is trying to deliver, as well as the other skills needed to be a good PM (organisational, communication, limitless delegation (okay maybe not that one
)). Without one of these, you are unlikely to make a good PM, without both you will not live long at all!!! 
I don't think he's saying that having technical experience automatically makes you a good PM... I think his point is that to be a good PM you need to have a good grounding in the work your team is trying to deliver, as well as the other skills needed to be a good PM (organisational, communication, limitless delegation (okay maybe not that one
Well I've been doing it succesfully for 7 years so I'd say Im doing OK thanks
Well I've been doing it succesfully for 7 years so I'd say Im doing OK thanks
Why so defensive? No-one was saying you're not good at your job.
Neither do I tbh...
I'm a 'Business Analyst' apparently - basically I spec stuff/liaise with developers, project managers clients etc..
Experience working on projects and a decent level of domain knowledge in addition to leadership/management skills are far more important than bits of paper IMO.