Project Management
Discussion
I'm tempted to get into project management, as it seems to be an area of contracting that is popular and has a lot of roles available.
Having worked with a project manager on my last contract I kind of know what's involved and that the role is something I'd like to do. However a lot of the roles out there require prior project management experience - for those of you who are project managers, what sort of roles did you take that gave you this experience?
Also is it worth having proper training in something like Prince2 - if so what sort of qualification is worth getting?
Having worked with a project manager on my last contract I kind of know what's involved and that the role is something I'd like to do. However a lot of the roles out there require prior project management experience - for those of you who are project managers, what sort of roles did you take that gave you this experience?
Also is it worth having proper training in something like Prince2 - if so what sort of qualification is worth getting?
Commenting from a 'interior fit-out' project perspective I managed to find some CAD contracts (My normal skill) where I managed to develop the role to take on some assistant PM duties. From there I went on over a 2.5 year period to take on full PM responsibility for several smaller jobs.
The key point for me was working in a team of experienced PMs who could offer guidance and assistance where necessary. These roles involve a lot of responsibility and is not to be taken lightly. For that very reason I am very cautious about taking on such work as I don't have any PM qualifications to fall back on and as such could easily be made a scapegoat if things went wrong due to 'lack of experience'.
There are several courses out there which you could do run by various associations. I nearly enrolled for one run by APM (Association of Project Managers) which was a one month £1800 course. Didn't do it in the end as I chose to develop my core business instead, so can't comment on whether it was any good or not.
As far as I know, Prince2 relates to procurement procedure so is something to 'top-up' a general PM qualification.
Hope that helps, and I'm sure a real PM will be along surely to correct everything I've said.
The key point for me was working in a team of experienced PMs who could offer guidance and assistance where necessary. These roles involve a lot of responsibility and is not to be taken lightly. For that very reason I am very cautious about taking on such work as I don't have any PM qualifications to fall back on and as such could easily be made a scapegoat if things went wrong due to 'lack of experience'.
There are several courses out there which you could do run by various associations. I nearly enrolled for one run by APM (Association of Project Managers) which was a one month £1800 course. Didn't do it in the end as I chose to develop my core business instead, so can't comment on whether it was any good or not.
As far as I know, Prince2 relates to procurement procedure so is something to 'top-up' a general PM qualification.
Hope that helps, and I'm sure a real PM will be along surely to correct everything I've said.
Prince2 is a general project management methodology especially popular in the public sector. There are 2 levels of qualification. Foundation, which is essentially for those working on a Prince2 project. And practitioner, for project managers.
The foundation exam is very easy to pass, but there is a strong correlation between how comfortably you pass and whether you pass the practitioner level. Bear in mind that studying Prince2 won't really teach you anything about project management itself, Prince2 is just a tool and you need to know project management in order to use it.
The foundation exam is very easy to pass, but there is a strong correlation between how comfortably you pass and whether you pass the practitioner level. Bear in mind that studying Prince2 won't really teach you anything about project management itself, Prince2 is just a tool and you need to know project management in order to use it.
Dr Jekyll said:
Prince2 is a general project management methodology especially popular in the public sector. There are 2 levels of qualification. Foundation, which is essentially for those working on a Prince2 project. And practitioner, for project managers.
The foundation exam is very easy to pass, but there is a strong correlation between how comfortably you pass and whether you pass the practitioner level. Bear in mind that studying Prince2 won't really teach you anything about project management itself, Prince2 is just a tool and you need to know project management in order to use it.
The foundation exam is very easy to pass, but there is a strong correlation between how comfortably you pass and whether you pass the practitioner level. Bear in mind that studying Prince2 won't really teach you anything about project management itself, Prince2 is just a tool and you need to know project management in order to use it.
Ditto the comments above, it is just a methodology of project managment. But with most large corperation engaging with local and central government contracts, it is an essential tool for project managers.
The best way to get into project management is to work with a good project managment team where you can pick up the techniques used. A lot of these techniques will be general but taylored to the company procedures, if you do end up changing company you will see the commonalities and where things change slightly to meet with different finacial procedures put in place.
I have completed a Post Grad Certificate in managment & PRINCE 2 Practitioner and i am now being taken seriously by my new employer, and been given a project manager mentor to oversee my development.
MTPW.... Prince 2 is ok if you work in those business sectors that use it (public sector for example). This is one of many framework methodologies in use and may not be suitable for an IT project for example. Personally I'm thinking about doing the foundation / practioner exams for no other reason than I've been offered a place for a good price and it adds a bit more kudos to the old cv.
My best advice is to try and get a more junior role as part of the project office or an assistant PM role but like many things experience is crucial. My own experience is in the oil and gas industry where I worked up from discipline engineer, to project engineer and now a PM managing a portfolio of investment / integrity assurance type projects. I've recently completed a BSc Hons degree in Project Management which is accredited by the APM (3 years part time) because I felt I needed a formal qualification to back-up my experiences.
Good luck whatever you decide....
My best advice is to try and get a more junior role as part of the project office or an assistant PM role but like many things experience is crucial. My own experience is in the oil and gas industry where I worked up from discipline engineer, to project engineer and now a PM managing a portfolio of investment / integrity assurance type projects. I've recently completed a BSc Hons degree in Project Management which is accredited by the APM (3 years part time) because I felt I needed a formal qualification to back-up my experiences.
Good luck whatever you decide....
Edited by MoonMonkey on Tuesday 31st October 21:36
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