Project Management

[ButYouGottaHaveASkillJeff]

There are quite a few Project Manager roles it seems at the moment. How does one move into this? Are courses like Prince2 still worth pursuing?

I come from an administrative background and whilst I'm well paid for what I do, I want to branch out into something else. I haven't got the last three positions I've went for (despite receiving excellent feedback) and I'm starting to pull my hair out.

I've been a project manager for over 10 years, last 5 in IT. Unless you can demonstrate some project experience in your admin role, it would quite unlikely that you'd be hired into a project management role straight away, it is one of those jobs that does require experience. In terms how to get that experience, I have seen people do really well to get a project coordinator role, often through agency on a temp assignment and then move up internally. PRINCE2 is mostly a tickbox exercise and will come up on job specs but the real world of projects very often has got little to do with what is in the texbooks.

I agree experience is key. Prince2 just shows you've completed a training course.
Are there any opportunities at your current workplace to start expanding your skills into those related to project management - perhaps working with a project manager doing their "grunt" work, which might start out as mostly admin but hopefully progress into something more. Plus you'd get to understand what the project lifecycle looks like.
Or you might want to consider something like a PMO role.

Yes I was ideally going to start looking into more 'coordinator' positions and work up that way. Can't do that in my current role unfortunately.

I'll look into PMO roles. Thanks!

I’ve been a PM on and off for years. I was a PRINCE2 practitioner but I haven’t updated it for years as it hasn’t been necessary. The foundation isn’t time limited so that might be a good place to start and it’s a lot cheaper than the full course iirc.

PM here, a role I fell into in the company I've worked for pretty much all my adult life. I don't have any PM qualifications, Prince seems as suggested above a tick box. Lots of companies also seem to be moving to agile frameworks. I'd look at getting some experience in the company you are in if possible.

I am a qualified Scrum Master, although it's not my main role.

I agree that most PMs tend to be subject matter experts first - developers, engineers, accountants etc - and then move into PM.

However, you may wish to consider the 'development' track, which would be to start out as a project admin / coordinator, look at acquiring some formal qualifications (I will always recommend Agile or PMP over PRINCE2, but I'm a bit biased), then look at more specialist roles?

Procurement is HUGE at the moment, for example.