Ways to gain "real" PM skills

Melinda:
Take action; put together a personal development plan. You may need to plan that you'll be in a pc coordinator role until to gain experience with being able to manage a project. Attend a PMI Chapter dinner meeting, get active with your chapter and volunteer.

Simply said, do it. If you're in a PM role now that isn't allowing you to grow and you cannot work it out internally, I recommend looking outside but for another PM role.

A few people have mentioned how hiring managers often look for progressive experience as a PM and it's true but all of them started as a "new" PM to build that. I don't know any experienced PMs today who started as a project coordinator. That said, I came from a BA role and transitioned in without a certification so it's a little different.

For better or worse, a certification is enough to land you a first-level interview for many PM positions.

Sell your people and communication skills in an interview. A good hiring manager will understand these are core project management skills and you might find someone to give you a chance to gain experience with the more technical aspects.

Melinda--definitely look at the VRMS at PMI for volunteer opportunities and get involved with your local chapter. But you would be surprised what you can apply the PM principles and processes to in your personal life. In the absence of formal corporate project work, I have found countless life opportunities to exercise the principles and processes of project management. I coach a competitive science team for my son and when I tell you that it exercises every. single. area. of project management I'm not even kidding. Likewise, I attack my family's own home renovation projects using PM methodology and practices.

At the end of the day, the important thing is practicing the skill set so that you are on point and understanding the potential pitfalls of the processes. The domain you apply them to is less relevant (which is a contentious topic, I realize). You can find projects everywhere. They just may not be enterprise-sized. I find that making formal projects out of life opportunities gives me a great deal of practice with the variations that come with projects in corporate America.

Of course, my husband doesn't always love this and sometimes, people may look at you a bit odd when you insert a more rigorous process than other see as necessary but not so much that they opt out of working with you.