Anyone a project manager?

[Unsure42]

I'm considering a career change into project management. Been a youth worker for a number of years and run my own youth centre but need opportunity for career and salary progression.

Could anyone give me some insight into how they got started/ the good and bad bits of the role and if they think there would be enough overlap for transferable skills to be considered at interview stage. I'm masters degree educated and have two degrees but I'm happy to do some further professional development courses if needed provided they aren't overly expensive.

Hello! I've been a PM for over 15 years. I got my start through getting a bit of experience running a project in my previous career and then went off and did a formal qualification then successfully applied for a PM role. The standard qualifications employers look for are PRINCE2 or and APM certification. If (like me) you work in tech, qualifications is agile methodologies such as scrum will be useful. As a hiring manager, for a new PM i would be looking for a certification, but more importantly some relevant experience, even if not gained working formally as a PM.

Things I like about the job is the variety. Projects always end (hopefully!) and there is always something new coming along. Also get the opportunity to work with people from all sorts of different parts of an organization. Its also a highly transferrable skill and you will never struggle to find work.

The not so good? You can end up being a convenient punchbag for lazy project sponsors when it doesn't go well, but that has been very rare in my experience. The good definitely outweighs the bad.

Hope that helps- happy to help if you have any further questions.

Thanks so much for replying! That's really helpful info!

Did you work in tech prior to being a pm? If not how did you go about deciding which specialisation to project manage within? I'm very conscious that my work within youth work is very niche and I wouldn't have experience within the more corporate settings. Do you think that would work against me or perhaps would it not really matter?

@Unsure42 I'm in a similar sector to you and was thinking about going into PM recently too. I've pretty much decided against, partly because changing sector is too much hassle and PM in my own sector isn't all that appealing! (Often underfunded, and many underqualified/ underpaid/ unmotivated people, etc.)

If you want to get a job in a more corporate environment, you would probably struggle to go straight in as a project manager really. Project management is normally something you do once you have experience of your sector, and most people would do a qualification like PRINCE2 or Agile once they are e.g. working as a project co-ordinator in their sector. So you could look for project co-ordinator type jobs, but that will probably be a pay reduction.

If you wanted to stay in your current sector, you could look at doing a PRINCE2 qualifcation self-funded, although a lot of workplaces would hire you first and then fund you to do that if they want it.

You already have experience managing a youth centre, so you could see if there are any project management jobs going at your local authority or at a youth charity. You might well be able to get a job as a project manager in your sector because of your experience. Good luck.

I have been a PM for 11 years. Started as a project coordinator then moved to PM. Started in a more creative industry then moved to corporate industry because there's more money in it.

I think the sort of industry you want to work in will really determine what sort of experience and qualifications you need. Do you have any idea of the sort of projects you want to manage?

Also the project management sub Reddit is worth looking at.

I was working in airline operations and then found myself delivering a project and decided to build on those skills as my previous role was very niche. I spent about 9 years in airline ops then moved into Financial services, which wasn't as exciting but was better paid and a much bigger choice of jobs.

If you can find an opportunity to do some project work in your current role, that is a great starting point. Agree with @hippopotamuz that getting straight into a corporate environment as a PM without previous experience would be tough.

My dd is a project manager. She started straight from university. It plays to a lot of her skills-she's always been good at keeping plates spinning-and she was head hunted to her current job. She's looking to move into another field soon, though-she's fed up of being the easy person to blame if anything goes wrong and very rarely getting the credit when things go right! And she also sometimes has issues with the companies that employ her firm- it's a cut throat market and not much space for ethics.

This is such a big part of the role in my experience. You have to be able to take being shouted at and blamed for things beyond your control. Then just brush it off and move onto the next thing.

Not everyone would be happy being a PM, and I've seen lots of people start the role and quickly move on to something else. It really depends on the industry as well of course (I work in pharmatech, clients are big pharma and can get pushy).

I’ve just started a youth programme manager role which is heavily project/programme based in the charity sector. My background is in youth justice/social care and criminal justice. I’m seeing this role as a stepping stone to gain as much project experience to pivot into something that pays better (most likely tech!), hoping I’ve done the right thing!

There are so many different types of project manager! I work in the NHS and we sometimes struggle with getting buy-in from the departments we work with, due to decisions being made at high level which the people involved see as being imposed on them. And then decisions need to be made by senior managers, who are too busy to attend meetings etc. to discuss, and then the projects get delayed and it's all our fault (not). But it is really rewarding when something good comes together.

So it's not a case of considering going into project management, you need to consider what kind of project management you go into.

I recently transitioned into project management and found it quite rewarding. Your experience as a youth worker should translate well—leadership, organization, and communication are key skills. For me, taking professional development courses made a huge difference. When I was studying, I found https://essays.edubirdie.com/project-management-assignment-help with project management assignment help. They helped me understand key concepts and complete assignments on time.

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