Hi people, I am in a dilemma. I am working for a corporate consulting firm and as any consulting firm goes, they bid me on every other project they can fit me into. But i want to pursue my career strictly into Project management, and in fact i worked on couple of projects as Project Mgr but yet i am still pulled to do more techie oriented jobs. DO you guys think i should quit my job and find an entry level position in project management? Because it’s getting impossible for me to work in this environment. I am also doing my certification in advanced project management from Stanford and shortly planning to get certified in associate’s certification in project management from PMI. Please advice Saving Changes...
My suggestion is to perhaps call out the fact that you would like to move in the PM direction and that you no longer want to work on the type of work that you are being asked to do.
If you do not make it known, people will assume that there is nothing wrong and continue with what they have been giving you.
DO NOT QUIT YOUR JOB, without 1st a place to go. Also, don't burn any bridges. But continue your self directed PM education effort, let your firm know the direction you want your career to go, and continue to scan your environment for other PM opportunities. A word of caution, there's lots of highly experience PMs now looking for work with PMPs, MBAs, and other quality credentials. Saving Changes...
I can sympathize with your situation. I too have a consulting background. Also, I've worked as a manager in your situation.
Managers come in two flavors in consulting, good and not so good. The good manager is forced to put you in jobs that don't match your career goals because sales hasn't provided him/her with opportunities that match your desires. What makes him/her a good manager is that he/she cares about your situation and will work everytime to try and match your goals with the overall business goals of the company you both work for. The good manager isn't likely to move you to a new opening for a project manager if it means hurting the customer you currrently support. When the stars and moons come into alignment, he/she will get you into the right spot.
The good news here is that as this market turns, you will have more opportunities to do real PM work.
Now that I got that off my chest... There are pros and cons to both paths. When the work is there, consulting PMs ROCK! They get experience in multiple organizational models with extremely varied projects. Major experience points can be earned in consulting. You are experiencing the "cons" of consulting PM.
The other path you seek also has pluses and minuses. The biggest plus is you are immersed in project management. The biggest negative, (IMHO PLEASE NO FLAMES), short of aerospace and public utilities, company project management offices are typically ad hoc. No two are alike. And if you work for one company, you only experience one way to do project management.
If you choose to stay in the consulting path, I recommend that you start injecting project management practices into your routine. Develop plans for the different work you perform, publish regular and concise status reports, COMMUNICATE (lol). Your customers will recognize your PM skills and may reallocate you within their organization and you can build your own PM path.
(sorry for the book, I felt like writing this morning). Also cr/lf isn't working for me like it seems to work for Kendall. Saving Changes...
John ZacharProduct Dev Manager| Association for Project Management (APM)Brackley,, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
All good stuff, but there is an alternative. Become a consultant specialising in project / programme management which is what I do!
Admittedly I was head-hunted into my current job, but I really do enjoy it. I work for a project / programme management consultancy firm that provides health checks on projects for clients, educates their staff (with some of our programmes earning post graduate credit) and we place self-employed project managers through another part of our consultancy.
There is another way. These types of consultancies are not on every street corner, but they are around if you look. I happen to be based in the UK. If you want to see more of what I and my colleagues do, look at www.citi.co.uk Saving Changes...
