Being a project manager means more than just having the tag of “Project Management Professional.” Though it is a bit challenging to earn a PMP certification, it is very beneficial for working professionals to have one, as it leads to high career growth as well as salary potential.
Well, you must be thinking, what actually happens in a project manager’s life? With more national and global opportunities, there’s stress as well to give your best, to meet the deadlines, to manage risk before it takes over and spoils the project, and many more things.
In this blog, we understand what is a project manager is and explore the benefits and experiences.
How Does One Become a Project Manager?
To become a project manager, you require a PMP certification, which is provided by the Project Management Institute (PMI). This certification is universally known and validates an individual’s expertise in the project management field. To earn this certification, a professional needs to meet certain criterias, have some amount of work experience, and pass a comprehensive examination held by PMI after the required training is completed.
Here’s a comprehensive blog on how to become a project manager read this for more details.
Benefits of Being a Project Manager
There are plenty of benefits of being a project manager, for example, as per the survey conducted by PMI, that PMP certified professionals earn 33% more than any non-certified project manager. Plus, as a project manager, you are expected to showcase your PMP skills and expertise to improve the organization and close the project successfully.
Project managers are really high in demand everywhere, including at top companies like Deloitte, MicroSoft, Accenture etc.
What does a project manager do?
Project managers have various duties and responsibilitiess while leading a project. The PMBOK guide (TheProject Managementt Body of Knowledge) outlines essential project management knowledge areas.
Here’s a list of tasks or roles project managers have:
- Project Planning: Project managers have to initiate the project by clearly outlining the goals and objectives.
- Risk Management: One of the most important roles of a project manager is to identify potential risks before they become major.
- Client management/communication: Project managers have to keep the project reports and updates very transparent with the clients and stakeholders. And make adjustments wherever needed by the clients.
- Team collaboration: Another essential skill of a project manager is to collaborate and be updated with the tasks of the members from different departments and make sure the work is smooth even when teams are cross-functional.
- Budgeting: Project managers have to estimate the cost budget, track the spending, and take any financially necessary step to keep the project stable.
These are a few roles or tasks of a project manager after being PMP certified. Now that you are aware of the roles, let’s look into the essential skills needed for a project manager.
5 Essential skills of A Project Manager
A project manager has many skills that are required to run a project and close it successfully as well.
Here are some of the skills a project manager needs:
1. Collaboration
A project manager needs to have very effective project management collaboration skills. As many teams collaborate together to work on a project, having a manager who knows how to manage the different departments and teams well makes the work and project smoother.
2. Leadership
Leadership is one of the core skills project managers must have, as the right leadership motivates and guides the team to work towards the same goal it helps them to work.
3. Budgeting
The success of a project depends on budgeting. Project managers must create a thorough budget that accounts for personnel, supplies, equipment, and other resource expenditures.
4. Adaptability
Projects are prone to uncertainty and change. A project manager with a flexible attitude may help modify plans and methods in response to changing conditions, making sure the project continues on course in spite of unanticipated challenges.
5. Resource Management
Project managers have to optimize available resources for critical projects. Plus, they must be able to assign and distribute tasks appropriately while taking their qualifications and experience into consideration.
There were a few essential skills a project manager needs to have, now let’s go to the next section covering the qualifications needed for a project manager.
Project manager qualifications
Project managers are in the field of project management, and the qualifications tend to vary depending on the industry and company. In this section we will cover the main areas regarding qualifications.
The project manager qualifications are as follows:
These certifications are highly beneficial for you if you are already a project manager without a certification. Consider these in order to
1. Project Management Professional (PMP)
PMP certification is a universally known project management credential. In this, you get to learn various things like predictive, hybrid, and agile methodologies. It also helps in boosting your salary potential nearly by 33%, and you get many career opportunities across the globe.
2. Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)
The PMI-ACP Certification is an umbrella term that covers the Scrum and Kanban methodologies with a range of Agile approaches, such as Scrum, Kanban, and Crystal.
3. Project Management Office Certified Professional (PMI-PMOCP)
PMI-PMOCP certification is for experienced project professionals and PMO leaders. PMO certification is designed to show expertise in handling various unique challenges of building a PMO. The core focus for this certification is beyond basic project management.
4. Program Management Professional Certification (PgMP)
The PgMP certification credential from the Project Management Institute (PMI) is for those professionals who have experience handling many projects at a time, providing more benefits to the organization.
A universally known certification has many benefits and validates your experience, expertise, and knowledge in handling projects and teams.
Types of Methodologies used by Project Managers
There are multiple project management methodologies like waterfall, agile, Kanban, and more they all have their own ups and downs. Some of the methodologies work better in a specific industry or project.
Here are a few types of methodologies used by Project Managers:
1. Waterfall Methodology
Waterfall methodology is the most traditional and straightforward method of all the project management methods. The name “waterfall” is best suited because the process works the same. The waterfall method requires you to move from one project phase to the other only once the previous phase has been successfully closed.
2. Agile Methodology
In simple terms agile methodology in project management is the opposite of waterfall methodology, as it is more collaborative and flexible. When using this methodology, you don’t need to follow a particular process unlike the waterfall method.
3. Scrum Methodology
Scrum methodology is short for the “sprint” approach for managing projects. The scrum methodology is best suited for a maximum of 10 people and divided into two-week cycles with short daily meetings; these are called daily scrum meets, and these scrum meetings are led by a scrum master.
4. Critical Path Method (CPM)
Critical Path is a method in which you have to build a timeline of the project, which involves activities like the task duration, activities from the work breakdown structure, and any related dependencies, which can lead to project deliverables being due. With this information, you are able to easily identify the sequence of the tasks in the project, which is called the critical path method.
5. Kanban Methodology
The kanban methodology is a visual approach in project management that is derived from a Japanese word, which in literal terms means a visual board. In this methodology the teams need to update their task process in this order -“To-do,”“Doing”“Done.” This helps in minimizing disorganization in managing any project.
Conclusion
Project managers are people who are the first point of contact in case of any issues or challenges. If you want to become a project manager officially, there are some criteria you need to meet, like mentioned in the blog above. There are various roles and responsibilities that needs to be fulfilled by project managers. Also there are many benefits of becominbg a project manager, like salary advantages and higher demand in the market, including the top companies.
Frequently Asked Questions about Project Managers
Here are a few frequently asked questions regarding project managers we found on the internet and answered for you. Hopee these help you in clearing your doubts!
1. What does a project manager do?
A project manager is someone who helps the team to be aligned, while planning and executing projects that meet the expectations of the clients and stakeholders.
2. What are the 4 types of project managers?
The four types of managers are Functional project manager, agile project manager, technical project manager and construction project manager.
3. How to become a project manager after 12th?
To become a project manager after 12th grade you need to pursue a bachelor’s degree in business related courses, gain some relevant experience in managing projects. You can also opt for certifications like CAPM or CPMAI.
4. Is a project manager a high paying job?
Yes, Indeed being a project manager is definitely considered as a high paying job and in demand career, the salaries in US is around $100,750 to $135,000 with a very strong growth.
