Is it easy to switch industries as a Project Manager?

[stevenjhepburn]

How easy is it to switch between industries as a Project Manager? Is it simple enough to go from Engineering to Healthcare to IT to anything else?

Is there much of a market for contract/consulting Project Managers within or between certain industries?

[djglover]

Given the cock ups I see in IT, I hope they don't ever transfer to civil engineering projects!

[Burrow01]

An IT PM I know did a study on this for his MSc - non IT background PM's moving into IT, vs people with technical IT backgrounds moving into Project Management

After less than a year there was no difference between them.

This may be a reflection on the state of Project Management in IT or that the methodologies are similar / transferable between all disciplines.

[T5R+]

A competent Project Manager "should" be able to run initiatives in almost any sector BUT it is always good to have some appreciation of that sector eg "events management" to "nuclear" may not be such a good idea but "pharma" to "nuclear" could work.

The biggest hurdle is convincing Recruitment Consultants or HR Managers that your experience and successes from outside of sector are equally transferable.

My Healthcare colleagues tell me that "it will kill you or drive you around the bend" as run so badly. IT seem to have all the glitzy tools and spreadsheets but seem only capable of landing about 1 in 4 even remotely successfully.

Lots of contracting roles within engineering.

[Pulse]

It can be difficult convincing others you can make the change, and I understand that.

I am just in the process of making the switch, from NHS to the financial sector. I've had to take a step down in terms of role in order to switch over, but hopefully it'll be a sensible move.