The Project Managers thread

[hadenough!]

Tonberry said:

As of this week, I'm jumping from one large construction consultancy to another.

Happy fking days.

same st different place? I recently went from client side pm to small construction consultancy. So far so good.

[marctwo]

murphster said:

Prince 2

Thank you.

[marctwo]

murphster said:

Prince 2

Can anyone recommend a PRINCE 2 course in the City of London?

So far I have details for Learning Tree and QA.

[a311]

Bit of a thread bump as I'm sitting the AMP level D exam this week after doing the intensive course.

Any advice for the exam? There seems to be a high failure rate. Coming from an engineering background where there are usaully set answers I'm finding it difficult at times to identify what exactly the question is looking for for max points.

[anonymous-user]

marctwo said:

murphster said:

Prince 2

Can anyone recommend a PRINCE 2 course in the City of London?

So far I have details for Learning Tree and QA.

Me and my Boss both did it with Knowledge Academy. Was fine.

[HannsG]

I have a heavy finance background. Qualified CIMA etc and have worked on a few projects.

What I really want is to be heavily involved entirely in projects or system implementation.

If I do both then I will most likely go contracting. Having seen the rates offered to PM's I think I chose the wrong vocation!

[Celt]

I am applying for a Trainee Project Management role with a large energy company. Any tips for my application?

I have a BA in Law and, hopefully, about to graduate with an LLB from a fairly decent university. Really fancy project management and I do believe its something I would be good at. It's not advertised as a graduate role, though I am slightly hesitant they will look less favourably on me because I'm not from an engineering background. But I believe there are transferable skills. It's not putting me off applying, but want to prove to them that I will be good at this role. I would be relocating for this job so it is a role I value.

[theangrydog]

I've worked in IT for 18 years. I'm feeling like a change of career of sorts. I'm 34 years old. Would a move into Project Management be a good place to go? I know I wouldn't start as a PM, I saw Project Coordinator mentioned in one of the posts?

I can take a pay cut to get into it, so starting lower down isn't a problem. It's not a pride thing, I just want to do something new, something different, something I'd hope I'd enjoy.

[a311]

Celt said:

I am applying for a Trainee Project Management role with a large energy company. Any tips for my application?

I have a BA in Law and, hopefully, about to graduate with an LLB from a fairly decent university. Really fancy project management and I do believe its something I would be good at. It's not advertised as a graduate role, though I am slightly hesitant they will look less favourably on me because I'm not from an engineering background. But I believe there are transferable skills. It's not putting me off applying, but want to prove to them that I will be good at this role. I would be relocating for this job so it is a role I value.

One thing I can say is the way Project Management is ran from organisation to organisation.

What is the role title you're applying for? I ask as I know guys who back in the day worked for British Energy in PM roles and there are differences between a Project Engineer and a Project Manager. Strictly speaking Project Management IMO shouldn't have any technical element to it as there's always the risk you'll get too involved or do it yourself rather than project manage. A project engineer on the other hand I'd expect to have an engineering/technical background again heavily dependent on the role and sector.

The guys I know who worked for BE were outage type manager on power stations-heavily technical. They all got pulled into a central office to try and make things efficient so in effect when a station needed a PM they were 'loaned' one of these guys.

Good luck with application. To me project management is all about applying processes relevant to the scope of the work.

[maxwellwd]

Big thread bump here, but couldn't see any other relevant ones on PH

I'm currently doing Prince2 and foundation exam tomorrow then will rack on with the practitioner. Also then be doing Agile, ITIL & PMP

I come from a digital marketing background for the last ten years and have been looking to make a change and project management has always appealed. Would this be that difficult?

Has the game moved on much in terms of finding work since the last thread updates?

[LeoSayer]

Is there an opportunity to get involved in projects in your current role?

Qualifications and training are good but plenty of the skills needed to be successful can only be gained through experience, humiliation and frustration.

[Podie]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

It's the de facto PM qualification, sadly. It's merely a box ticking exercise.

[Origin Unknown]

You are both correct, Prince2 is not a good methodology, It is however, like it or not, often how you get past a recruiter to even get put forward for an interview. Particularly if you don't have a well developed network/known as a go-to PM.

I'll give you my view as someone who went from technical to PM, then to running a PS practice and now Head of Customers Success with services still under me. I've hired (and fired) a fair few PMs, amongst other roles.

The advice above about is great, a cert doesn't mean a thing to me. I take the certs in context, if we close an opp in public sector, prince2 would be useful to state we have that competency, but primarily I'm looking for demonstrable experience in the primary skills I bring a PM for.

Lets start with what you do today, Digital Marketing is a fairly broad term, what specifically do you do?

You clearly have some skills to hold down roles for 10 years, given what you know about the role of PM, in broad terms, which of your skills are transferable/apply? And where are the gaps?

The other advice about seeing if you can PM something internally is very good advice. I spend quite a bit of time with our marketing team, those that have delivered the best lead returns, were those with structure around delivering the programme.

There's a few proper PM's in this thread, worth taking note.

[maxwellwd]

Thanks all for the replies, so to add some more context - I am currently freelancing for a few different companies looking after their digital marketing. My main forte is SEO but over the years have got involved with ad campaigns, content strategy, app store optimization etc

I have worked for major corporations such as banks, financial exchanges, insurance companies etc, have been involved in countless projects over the years, but more as a stakeholder. But in recent times have instigated projects and seen them through to completion, such as site redesigns, bringing on new digital capabilities etc. Have managed teams and headed up digital functions as well

I think due to all the above I have seen many PM's run projects with the Prince2 methodology and using Agile to deliver it. (That is next on my list) I believe I would enjoy it as many different industries I could work for, ideally would hope to move away from digital.

Just want a bit of a career change and to futureproof myself more as digital marketing and specifically SEO I think will only have certain shelf-life.

I guess though based upon this, would I need to start from the bottom? Or by doing these courses (PMP, Agile, Prince2, ITIL) give me a bit of a leg up?

[Podie]

Origin Unknown said:

You are both correct, Prince2 is not a good methodology, It is however, like it or not, often how you get past a recruiter to even get put forward for an interview. Particularly if you don't have a well developed network/known as a go-to PM.

Exactly my point.

As a Program Manager, I still have conversations during recruitment with HR and heads of department who insist on having P2 on the list of required qualifications - and I'm not in govt or public sector.

Then again, all this was covered back in 2013 at the start of the thread, so quite why we have to revisit the same stuff

[bonerp]

Podie said:

Origin Unknown said:

You are both correct, Prince2 is not a good methodology, It is however, like it or not, often how you get past a recruiter to even get put forward for an interview. Particularly if you don't have a well developed network/known as a go-to PM.

Exactly my point.

As a Program Manager, I still have conversations during recruitment with HR and heads of department who insist on having P2 on the list of required qualifications - and I'm not in govt or public sector.

Then again, all this was covered back in 2013 at the start of the thread, so quite why we have to revisit the same stuff

Prince2 is just part of your toolkit. I've done it, but never used it from end to end. I've also done Agile courses and a PM degree from Lancaster Uni, and not one course has delivered a project for me. Just do the course, recognise the content and what its trying to teach you and dib into the best bits as you go along.
Not one project is the same and each will have its own challenges. Course don't teach you how to manage challenging or difficult sponsors for example. You just need to get burned a few times to experience it.
I always wonder what the draw is to project management. It wasn't on my career path - just happened through running teams, improving processes, testing and guess what became the next step!

[Podie]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

P2 is seen by the uninformed as a basic PM requirement. I'd maintain that hasn't changed for 15 years.

P2 foundation essentially qualifies you to tie your own shoe laces, and little else. Practitioner is at least useful as a basic toolset. IMO, experience and the right aptitude makes a decent PM.

I work in Finance. Previously at an IB, but in PE.