Project Management Career Path

If you have recently selected project management as your career, well done. There is a continually growing market for project management skills, for several reasons:

1. Organisations are continually striving for lower cost and are therefore becoming more project orientated. Outside of core business there is recognition that other work should be treated as projects.
   
   
2. Organisations are recognising that formal project management tools and techniques will result in more successful projects.
   
   
3. The awareness of the professional of project management continues to expand. The APM has seen a dramatic increase in membership from around 2,000 in 1998 to over 16,000 in 2008. The APM is now looking to gain Charter status in line with other recognised institutes and industry bodies.
   
   
4. The use of off-shore resource and remote project teams has driven the need for stronger project management practices.
   

There is a role hierarchy within project management and this provides a guide to career progression:

• Project Administrator
• Project Co-ordinator
• Junior Project Manager
• Project Manager
• Programme Manager
• Programme Director

This suggests that becoming a Programme Director is the ultimate goal and of course it is an excellent jumping off point into the very highest level of business management. It must be remembered that the role of Project Manager provides many many possibilities and will be the pinnacle of many distinguished careers; running a £200m business change project is no small beer.

The progression from junior roles to becoming a Project Manager is more cloudy and it could be argued that there is a glass ceiling between the Co-ordinator to the Project Manager. The distinction is responsibility. A Co-ordinator assists someone else who holds responsibility and in many organisations the opportunities to jump up are limited.

If you do work for an organisation that recognises the development of Project Co-ordinators into Project Managers then staying put until you have that job description and several projects under your belt could be a smart move.

In any of these roles someone with a few years experience could consider moving out of permanent employment and into contracting. There is more detail about the pro’s and con’s of contracting versus permanent employment here.

There are contract opportunities at every level and one of the benefits, particularly relevant for project management is that contracting provides a mechanism to gain wider project experience. This “fast track” enables you to build up experience within different environments & organisations much quicker than usually available to permanent staff.

Whatever your goal and current situation do take time to consider your career path, set yourself goals and work to them – it’s a project so use your project management skills! Do invest in yourself with further training and engage with your industry, whether it’s attending Project Challenge or regular APM / PMI Chapter events.