Vinayak NairIndustrial Engineer| IntelHillsboro, Or, United States
Experience makes a good Project Manager. How do you get experience if you aren't one? It's a vicious cycle!
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Andrew SoswaTechnology leader| Leading global financial institutionElk Grove Village, Il, United States
This questions was asked by every aspiring project manager time and time again (myself included eons ago). The answer is still the same:
* Learn project management lingo and its usage (whether it is waterfall, Agile, or whatever methodology) - at this step you might not work as PM but other PMs will be able to communicate with you at the same level
* Start volunteering at your local PMI chapter (there are a lot of remote opportunities available)
* Start volunteering at any other local organization where you position yourself as assistant, junior, coordinator, senior etc. project manager, project leader, etc - for example at Lions, local library, school
* Start growing in your volunteering practice - don't sit on past successes, volunteer more, find gigs online, etc
* Talk with fellow project managers and get involved in their initiatives - help them build their empire and learn from them how to build your own
* Start working on your own projects - anything can be a project. As my dear friend Dave Babicz told me long time ago: "you can scrum a sandwich" so you can make a project out of anything
* Doing projects requires a mindshift from operational mindset to project mindset. An operationally minded person waits for work to be given, does the work, delivers their work and waits for another work. Project minded person understands ambiguity of situational leadership, working in phases, using soft skills to manage others, using their power, sometimes leading with no power (i.e. directing Executives to perform work for you as a project coordinator - 5 levels down). Some people cannot jump over from operational to projectized mindset.
* Take charge and initiatives. There are plenty of opportunities around. It is given that a good project manager takes charge and leads, bad ones usually want to sit back and manage on high-level. There must be 100's things in your house/appartment, community, organization, or country that you can get involved with and start leading. Then apply your PM skills, and voila - you are considered a legend. Saving Changes...
Ganesh KumarProgram ManagerBangalore., Karnataka, India
Hi Vinayak
While its true for all seeking experience.
Andrew has very well elaborated.
To add something more, I will share a link from Harvard business review, on similar lines and you could possible seek to learn something from your organisation itself, take some additional work to learn in the areas of your interest.
Sometimes it might be easier to shift into a PM role when you already are doing a different technical role in a company. If you are, make sure your manager knows of your desire to move into the PM world and supports you by finding you opportunities to gain PM experience (even if you don't wear the "title"). If there are PMs within your company, ask to job shadow one or two of them. And you may need to look at a step down to take a step forward - consider project analyst/coordinator roles as a stepping stone to getting into PM roles.
Good luck!
Kiron Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
The problem here is the word "good". What does mean good for the organization you are performing like project manager? Then, organizations are creating a path to hire people that can be potential project manager and help them to adjust inside the organization on what it is expected to be "good". Saving Changes...
Peter RapinSubject Matter Expect; Project Delivery| Independent ConsultantOntario, Canada
This is no different than any other trade or profession. Start with related academic certification and find related work leading up to your ultimate goal. Trades have formal apprenticeship programs, professions less so - you have to create your own but there are templates from those that preceded you. Find yourself a mentor for guidance. Saving Changes...
