How to Become a Project Manager?
There are numerous paths available to become a successful Project Manager. For example, start as business analytics and move forward, gain experience to become a PM with the company. You may also begin any of the departments (such as HR, engineering, logistics, design, finance) within an organization and get in-depth knowledge and experience required to become a PM.
Starting from the project administrator to project manager and you may further progress to project director. As a project manager or project director, you will have responsibility for major projects, which carry risks to the success of an organization. You will be accountable for high-level deliverables, assuring quality and develops policy and practice across an organization.
Responsibilities of a Project Manager:
One of the major responsibilities of the Project Manager is to achieve a desired result of the project. In other words, a Project Manager is responsible for the success of the project. At each stage of the Project, the following ability of project manager gets judged:
- Planning and defining the project scope
- Planning the use of resources
- Defining schedules and assigning tasks properly
- Determining and managing a budget
- Estimating time requirement
- Ensuring quality
- Risk analysis and managing dependencies
- Managing the team and performance evaluation
- Scaling the project to other contexts
The above list of responsibilities described a role of PM closely aligned to the senior management. Indeed, a successful Project Manager requires the support of senior executives. Developing a career in project management will require professional to participate in management activities, to gain the necessary experience.
Qualifications Requires to Become a Project Manager
The Project Management Institute offers Project Management certifications that are recognized globally. These certificates validate skills and experience required to work as a project manager in an organization.
The Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is the most popular certification for project managers. It validates your experience in leading project and team, and certifies that you have the competencies and skills demanded by organizations. Program Management Professional (PgMP) is another certification that is designed for professionals who have potential to handle multiple, complex projects. A Program Management Professional (PgMP) credential is a step higher to the PMP.
There are various certifications that you can target, including CAPM, PMP, PMI-ACP, PMI-PBA, PgMP, PMI-RMP, and PMI-SP. Each certification has its own importance in the field of project management, whether it is scheduling, risk management or business analytics. If you are working on data-driven methodologies, then you can also go for Lean Six Sigma certification.