Project Management Qualifications

[careerswitch]

Hello,

I’m looking to move into project management, can anyone with experience in this space recommend a qualification and/or courses that I could take that are online? I don’t mind how long, I’d like to be in a position where I could start applying for this type of role in the next year.

Ideally free, but I’d be happy to be pay if one was worthwhile and favoured by potential employers.

Thank you

Project management is a bit of a catch-all term isn't it? What is your field of expertise, and what sort of projects are you wanting to be managing?

@strawgoh I’m a senior leader in education, looking to move into charitable sector or ed tech, the kind of jobs that fit my interest and experience make reference to project management, I thought it might be worthwhile to do a course or qualification to learn more and so I tick this bit of the JD/person spec. A quick Google has produced lots of results so looking for recommendations.

Ah - not my field of expertise at all. I was just curious because project management is quite a big umbrella, isn't it?

Most employers/job ads will ask for either prince2 or APM, as their methodologies are widely adopted in the workplace, and they are non sector/industry specific.

I personally opted for APM, as it isn’t a qualification you have to renew- I knew renewal on a continual basis wouldn’t be realistic given how hectic both my work and life is with children in the mix now too!

I highly highly recommend APM. The exam is tough- 3 hours written, but the course content was actually really useful and I’ve found it’s really helped me in my job day to day. I also did it all remotely, with a 3 day remote course at the end- I believe the company was Bitesize Training.

I’ve done ITIL, Prince, APM, MSP, Agile and now SAFe and haven’t renewed any of them that needed to be renewed. All the show is you know how to pass an exam

is there anyway you can demonstrate how you've agreed requirements, delivered to these requirements and what the actual quantifiable benefits/outcomes are for you actions?

Following

I’ve got APM. My employer funded the course.

Have a look at the Association of Project Managers as a starting point. I agree with @Cali8comments.

I did the APM qualification too and it’s given me a really useful framework for my work, even though what I’m doing is not specifically “project management.”

I wouldn’t recommend a career change into tech right now. It’s saturated and people with tens of years experience are getting made redundant and are struggling to find jobs.

I don’t know a single workplace, including my own, in the city I live in (known for tech!) that hasn’t made redundancies this year.

I was a Business Analyst, then project manager and now work with organisations using Agile frameworks. On paper I am a Product Manager, in reality I am expected to be the Product Manager, Deliver lead and Business Analyst all at the same time.

You would be better off learning how to code, and move into software engineering if you want to work on tech, however quite a lot of those jobs are moving overseas

Our PMs do AMP too but we hire people as “assistant PMs” who train on the job and work fund their training.

I did the APM PMQ a few years ago for similar reasons and it was a slog, a lot of content to learn and a tough 3 hour exam which was a real race against the clock. I think the course specification and exam format has been changed as not many people were passing it. It was very expensive but my employer paid.
I was moving from higher Ed to industry and the APM qualification didn’t help me get a job in the end, they were much more interested in my knowledge and connections in the sector.

Thanks so much to @Cali8 and to everyone else who has replied. I will look into the APM PQ.

@OnTheBoardwalk Yes definitely, my job is taking an initiative/priority from aim/objective through to implementation and monitoring. I write the policy, implement the policy, train staff, stakeholder voice, evaluation, reporting and so on, so I think a lot of what I do and have experience in is transferable.
It’s useful to hear about your experience too @ChiaraRimini

Thank you also@Bridesmaiddress that insight is really useful at this stage.

Maybe business analysis, project office work, or change management as a way in. Project managers without expertise in their subject matter need to be extremely good at their jobs otherwise the staff working for them will have little respect for them. There is a lot of emphasis on managing 'up' i.e. to senior managers, reporting etc so those skills may be more likely to get you a job, but in practice you also need to understand the subject matter and manage and understand the actual work being done. And deliver.

This is from my experience in both the industrial but more recently the higher education IT systems.

I’d agree, you need to show experience, what have you project managed? In my experience the qualification is a bit pointless without knowing how to apply it, well having applied it , in a work situation. I’ve got Prince (well had , it expired) and an apm one.

what is it about the job that appeals?

im a head of change in financial services, if that helps.

Project manager is also a very wide job title and varies considerably in different businesses and industries.
ours are primarily commercial managers overseeing contracts and budgets and scope of work with the client.

I'm a project management trainer. I primarily deliver Agile PM, Prince (with and without Agile) PMQ and most Agile courses.There are a huge range of qualifications.
It really does depend on what industry you are looking at entering.
I would say look at the civil service rather than IT.
Agile courses are v popular and span all industries.
Happy if you want to PM me!

I’d totally agree with this. What my company terms a project manager is nothing like what DH’s does and to be quite honest our PMs could not do what DH’s do (and that’s not his company making them do everything either).

I have 15 years of experience as project manager - agree with previous posters that qualifications without experience in project management won't be very helpful. It's a role where you either need very good subject matter expertise - and then you become "accidental PM" usually, with training on the job; or a role that you enter via project management office/business analysis route and then get training on the job. PRINCE2 is usually asked in job descriptions for public sector (where I am based). If you are thinking about edtech and you have teaching background, you may want to look at "implementation consultant" or similar roles in software companies which specifically target schools and universities. Unless there is a reason why you have your eyes set on project management?

All of your comments have been really helpful thank you, I’m looking into it all further.

I’m not applying or seeking a project manager role specifically, the roles I have looked at are mainly in the charitable sector (education) and amongst say 30 odd bullet points in the JD/PS the three roles I’ve looked at all have one bullet point that mentions project management. I have lots of experience of this type of work in my leadership role, we just don’t call it ‘project management’, it’s the strategic part of the role and forms the majority of my work.

The recommendation of APM PQ looks like a good way of formalising my sector specific experience into a professional qualification. Thanks for the recommendation, I’m going to keep it in mind should this be a barrier to any applications I make.

The suggestion of an implementation role in ed tech is also really helpful, thank you.