What is the career path of a project manager?

The career path of a project manager includes jobs as a junior project manager, assistant project manager, and project manager (or project coordinator).

Project managers are professionals who manage, plan, give instruction, and coordinate specific company projects. They are accountable for ensuring that projects are run efficiently, completed on time, and ultimately successful.

They work within the means of a company's budget and try to match or exceed company objectives. A project manager supervises all teams involved with a project, and schedules meetings accordingly.

The education required to become a project manager is usually at least a bachelor's degree in business management. Some schools also have specialized majors specifically for project management.

While this is the minimum educational requirement, some choose to also get more advanced degrees, such as a master's in business management or project management.

Advanced degrees give you more initial job options for this career path, and also help to advance your career more quickly.

To clarify, proper degrees for project management also depend on what industry you want to practice project management in. Software development project managers, for instance, should obtain degrees in software development, engineering, or computer science to excel in their field, while a prospective construction project manager should seek out degrees related to construction management.

Internships are another strongly recommended component of the project manager career path. These programs can give you professional experience and act as resume-building opportunities to open you up to more entry-level full time positions in the field.

Most project managers start their careers in non-managerial positions and work their way up the ladder to becoming a project manager. Some can start off assisting project leads or managers, and slowly gain more responsibilities until they are given a small project to manage on their own. This also depends on the industry, specific company, and its practices.

Professional certifications are also essential to advancing along the career path as a project manager, these might also vary depending on the industry, but here we will look at several helpful certifications to obtain to be a project manager in a business capacity.

Here are some certifications to consider:

• PMI Project Management Ready. This certification is designed for students and is a great initial certification to obtain in the field of project management. This unique credential introduces students to basic project management concepts, practices, and strategies. It enhances your skills concerning project management and exposes you to foundational knowledge in the field.

• Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM). This certifies you have foundational knowledge in the area of project management. This is good for those just starting off on the project manager career path. It also helps to grow your knowledge and expertise in this field. You do not need professional experience to attempt to gain this certification.

• Project Management Professional (PMP). This certification is provided by the Project Management Institute and proves you have the knowledge, skills, and expertise needed to be successful in project management. This is the most popular and recognized certification for a project manager. You need to have some experience in the field to attempt to gain this certification. It is the perfect certification to help you advance along the project management career path. Thirty-five training hours and 36 months of project management experience are required; 60 months of experience if you do not have a bachelor's degree.

• PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP). This certifies your competency with Agile-style project management, which emphasizes short sprints and adaptation qualities. This is good for those with some Agile experience and those who intend to keep using Agile within their teams or companies. You need at least 21 hours of Agile training to apply, and one full year of general project management experience.

• Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA). This certification is helpful for those in project management who want to display a good understanding of how to manage business objectives. If you want to specialize your project management career path in business analysis, this is a great certification to obtain. You must have at least 60 hours of business experience and 35 contact hours of coursework in business analysis.

• Program Management Professional (PgMP). This certification is designed for project management professionals that are advanced in their career path and have the ability and authority to oversee multiple projects for the success of a specific program. Being a PgMP holder exhibits expertise in the ability to coordinate responsibilities across different organizations, specific locations, and cultures. To gain this certification you must pass a panel review and take a certification test. This is good for project managers who have years of experience under their belts, and have participated in managing complex projects.

• PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP). This certification is for project management professionals who have verifiable and advanced skills in risk management associated with projects. This proves you are ready to evaluate and reduce risks for large or complicated projects. You need to have several years of experience in project management, specifically risk management, to apply for this certification.

• PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP). This certification is for professionals who want to specialize in the scheduling aspects of project management. Obtaining one exhibits your ability to create optimal schedules for teams and projects. This includes schedules on a virtual or global scale, and also ones that are inherently complex. You should have some experience in scheduling project management before applying for this certification.

There are several different positions you will encounter on this career path. Here is a list of roles for project management from entry-level rank to higher ranking positions:

• Junior project manager. The entry-level position of project management. Tasks may include a wide variety of things and can apply to anything that is needed to keep a project moving forward smoothly.

• Associate project manager. Works amongst the team of a specific project and backs up tasks, orders, and initiatives given by higher level project managers

• Assistant project manager. This title can vary depending on the company and specific project. Though often they act as a personal assistant to the project manager and project coordinator, making sure all directions from them are clearly communicated to the team or teams. They also may be in charge of making sure projects are aligning with time goals.

• Project coordinator. Works directly under the project manager and assists them with large-scale tasks. They are also in charge of organizing a team or teams for a project and developing efficient and cost-effective strategies to complete the project.

Project management is a great career path to be on, considering that the demand for these roles is high. The Project Management Institute (PMI) has stated that the global economy is going to need 25 million new project management professionals by 2030 to keep up with industry demands.