Cherenia JonesStudent Services Coordinator II| Kaplan UniversityOak Park, Il, United States
I am in the last class of the Project Management Certificate program and I'm now looking to put all this knowledge to work. I have little to no professional project management experience.Should I look for companies that have a PMO? How would I know? Saving Changes...
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Anonymous
I am not sure if one can answer this question properly since we do not know your background, experience, interest, goals.
If you want to work in project management, then ideally you want to look for companies or organizations that have project management departments or PMOs.
How do you know, research these companies - follow them online - participate in PM events - and there are many others ways.
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1 reply by Cherenia Jones
Mar 16, 2016 1:00 PM
Cherenia Jones
...
Thanks for the tips. Project Management span across a number of industries. I have a strong background in financial aid but have worked in IT for a little bit and in education. I also recently obtained by MBA. You all have provided me with a wealth of options.
THANK YOU! now to get to work...
Saving Changes...
Patrick DiceyManager, Customer Project Management| CentralSquare TechnologiesOrlando, Fl, United States
I guess I am confused, because how can you get a PMP certification without experience...? It is a PMI requirement. Nonetheless, I became a Project Manager by title by the age of 28 and here was my career path:
-Undergrad (General Business)
-Defense industry internship (during undergrad)
-Full time defense industry position in planning/scheduling department (solid related experience you can get at entry level, finance would be another track).
-Grad school (Technology Management) while working full time
-PMP Exam once necessary experience was gained
-PMP certification + 8 years related experience made it relatively easy to find a PM position.
Good luck!!!
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1 reply by Markus Kopko
Mar 13, 2016 4:38 AM
Markus Kopko
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Hi Patrick,
because he didn't PMI-PMP certification but any other pm certification programm form university or whatever ...and that is exactly the problem, since our profession is based on experience ...
You can do such a cetification programm and learn all the theoratical knowledge but without any experience it is almost worth nothing.
There is some reason cause PMI defined such an amount of expereince hours as a reqirement for certification.
However, best what OP could do is go and find some poortunitys to work in several project roles (not necessary as a project manager from the beginning, cause this will fail almost 100%).
Than, after some time you can start with little project as responsable or somekind of subproject may be ...and just develop your skills based on your theoratical knowledge and your gained experience.
Just my 2 cents ...
Saving Changes...
Markus KopkoAI Enabler for Project & Program Mgmt | Founder PMotion.ai / The PM
AI Coach| PMotion.aiHamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Mar 11, 2016 3:57 PM
Replying to Patrick Dicey
...
I guess I am confused, because how can you get a PMP certification without experience...? It is a PMI requirement. Nonetheless, I became a Project Manager by title by the age of 28 and here was my career path:
-Undergrad (General Business)
-Defense industry internship (during undergrad)
-Full time defense industry position in planning/scheduling department (solid related experience you can get at entry level, finance would be another track).
-Grad school (Technology Management) while working full time
-PMP Exam once necessary experience was gained
-PMP certification + 8 years related experience made it relatively easy to find a PM position.
Good luck!!!
Hi Patrick,
because he didn't PMI-PMP certification but any other pm certification programm form university or whatever ...and that is exactly the problem, since our profession is based on experience ...
You can do such a cetification programm and learn all the theoratical knowledge but without any experience it is almost worth nothing.
There is some reason cause PMI defined such an amount of expereince hours as a reqirement for certification.
However, best what OP could do is go and find some poortunitys to work in several project roles (not necessary as a project manager from the beginning, cause this will fail almost 100%).
Than, after some time you can start with little project as responsable or somekind of subproject may be ...and just develop your skills based on your theoratical knowledge and your gained experience.
Just my 2 cents ...
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2 replies by Cherenia Jones and Patrick Dicey
Mar 15, 2016 12:52 PM
Patrick Dicey
...
Yes I see what you mean Markus... "certificate" vs "certification".
Agree with Markus on finding small projects/subprojects: any organization and function can have small business projects they need accomplished. Usually managers will take them on, but you could ask to lead them as stretch assignments and resume developers.
Mar 16, 2016 2:50 PM
Cherenia Jones
...
I have asked a friend if I could help on a project he is working on.... unofficially as a support. We'll see what happens thanks
In IT many companies hire entry level project managers for which project management experience is not required. However if you are already an experieced professional in IT be prepared to earn much less if you decide to switch to project managmenet. That's until you reach a level of project management experince equivalent with the level that you already have in your current position and then you could earn even more then you do now (depending on the company).
The experience as an IT Engineer, Tenchincal Consultant or Developer is usualy not taken into account unless the company is not employing professional project managers.
I've worked with a company that had no project managers and the technical people that were doing the work had to deal also with the project management issues. These cases however are probably not very common. Saving Changes...
Cathleen TracySupervisory IT Specialist| Department of Homeland Security Falls Church, Va, United States
You can look for entry-level project manager positions in software development or consulting industries. The key is to focus on "entry-level" where there is no expectation of experience. Saving Changes...
You can look for Project Coordinator Positions/Project Support positions initially to gain some experience and then can move to the higher roles once you have gain some professional experience. Saving Changes...
Patrick DiceyManager, Customer Project Management| CentralSquare TechnologiesOrlando, Fl, United States
Mar 13, 2016 4:38 AM
Replying to Markus Kopko
...
Hi Patrick,
because he didn't PMI-PMP certification but any other pm certification programm form university or whatever ...and that is exactly the problem, since our profession is based on experience ...
You can do such a cetification programm and learn all the theoratical knowledge but without any experience it is almost worth nothing.
There is some reason cause PMI defined such an amount of expereince hours as a reqirement for certification.
However, best what OP could do is go and find some poortunitys to work in several project roles (not necessary as a project manager from the beginning, cause this will fail almost 100%).
Than, after some time you can start with little project as responsable or somekind of subproject may be ...and just develop your skills based on your theoratical knowledge and your gained experience.
Just my 2 cents ...
Yes I see what you mean Markus... "certificate" vs "certification".
Agree with Markus on finding small projects/subprojects: any organization and function can have small business projects they need accomplished. Usually managers will take them on, but you could ask to lead them as stretch assignments and resume developers. Saving Changes...
Cherenia JonesStudent Services Coordinator II| Kaplan UniversityOak Park, Il, United States
Thanks for the tips. Project Management span across a number of industries. I have a strong background in financial aid but have worked in IT for a little bit and in education. I also recently obtained by MBA. You all have provided me with a wealth of options.
THANK YOU! now to get to work... Saving Changes...
Cherenia JonesStudent Services Coordinator II| Kaplan UniversityOak Park, Il, United States
Mar 13, 2016 4:38 AM
Replying to Markus Kopko
...
Hi Patrick,
because he didn't PMI-PMP certification but any other pm certification programm form university or whatever ...and that is exactly the problem, since our profession is based on experience ...
You can do such a cetification programm and learn all the theoratical knowledge but without any experience it is almost worth nothing.
There is some reason cause PMI defined such an amount of expereince hours as a reqirement for certification.
However, best what OP could do is go and find some poortunitys to work in several project roles (not necessary as a project manager from the beginning, cause this will fail almost 100%).
Than, after some time you can start with little project as responsable or somekind of subproject may be ...and just develop your skills based on your theoratical knowledge and your gained experience.
Just my 2 cents ...
I have asked a friend if I could help on a project he is working on.... unofficially as a support. We'll see what happens thanks Saving Changes...
