The Project Managers thread

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I see a lot of questions about moving into Project Management and various other questions about PM's in general.

So, lets stick them in one place, I know there are a fair few PM's on here and this could be a nice little knowledge base for those looking to move in this direction right through to seasoned PM's looking for a sounding board.

Anything "Project Management" goes. Even those moaning about crap PM's

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Me. Started out as a S/W Dev PM and ran with that doing a combination of Project Management and Programme Management. Moved into application deployment, Windows 7 OSD and MS SCCM deployment in a professional services environment. A year ago moved into network infrastructure/security deployment, again in a PS environment.

Moving back to the previous role in 3 weeks time!

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Riknos said:

Slightly dragging up an old thread here I know - but I'm looking into moving into PM work in the future and I'm after some advice!

Years ago I turned down a project co-ordinator role for more cash in my current role, and instantly regretted it.

Now, I'm applying for every PC role I see - all of which seem to be £10-15k pay cuts unfortunately, but I'm hoping 2 years hard work in a PC role will land me a PM role.

Am I right in this? Or do PC roles not really get you the experience to become a PM?

I'm thinking of getting prince2 or ITIL to at least help with getting my cv looked at.

I come from a Telecoms background so trying to get into IT/Telecoms Project work.

There should absolutely be a development path from PCO to PM and if you have the opportunity, it's a good foot in the door.

I worked within a PMO for a small Telecoms services company based in Camberley and this is how the group was structured. Generally, the PCO's took on smaller more straight forward delivery projects and the PM's were responsible for the larger.

Unfortunately, the reality is that you will struggle to get past recruiters without PRINCE2 so in my view, it is a must. Additionally, you'll gain a reasonable view of some of the core PM principles. No harm in ITIL either but it's much more focussed towards Service Management so few of the principles will apply to a PM role.

What I will say is that it seems many of the small telecoms services companies seem to see Managed Services as core to their business so exposure to ITIL may at a minimum be useful during interviewing.

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My PRINCE2 practitioner certification expires in August and I just cannot see the value in renewing it. So I have booked on a PMP Exam Preparation Boot Camp. 6 consecutive Friday's from 1830 - 2230 and then exam as soon as possible after.

Has anyone done one of these exam prep boot camps before? Been a long time since I picked up the PMBOK.

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stevenjhepburn said:

What qualifications and experience do you think a PM should have before exploring/diving in to the world of PM contracting?

I'm a Professional Services PM so I deal with contractor PM's all the time. In my experience, you are required to possess barely any knowledge of core PM principles. Demonstrate a total lack of actual PM experience. Zero organisation skills. The list goes on.

Seriously, the standard seems to be so low that if you do possess any actual PM skills, you should do fairly well.

An actual contractor will be along fairly soon to give you some decent advice. I also await with interest.

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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.