Project Management

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How important is learning code for project managers in the IT industry?

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Michael Shanklin, MBA PMP CSSGB ACP PSM Director of Business Development| Energy Economics Inc Durham, Nc, United States
If you do recommend learning a code to improve your project management abilities, which code is most used and for which applications?

Thank you!
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Sergio Luis Conte Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations Buenos Aires, Argentina
Dec 22, 2017 6:10 AM
Replying to Peter Ambrosy
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...and not to forget PL/1, Fortran....It is important to "stay young" in our beliefs and behaviour in our daily PM practise.
JAJAJA, I used them too!!. In fact, Cobol and Fortran is used in some places in Argentina and helps me a lot to know about them. Agree with you.
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Stéphane Parent Self Employed / Semi-retired| Leader Maker Prince Edward Island, Canada
Knowing a programming language is not useful to a project manager. Knowing software development is.
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1 reply by Xin Qi
Dec 23, 2017 2:09 AM
Xin Qi
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I thought programming language contains the software development. Maybe I misunderstood.
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Meade Rubenstein PM III| IT Project Guide Sparta, Nj, United States
Here's where I'm going to disagree with most PM's here and most likely is coming from having a heavy coding/development background (as well as QA and BA).

If 90% of a PM's role is communication - having in-depth understanding of the terminology being used enhances you skills. It helps you verify and validate the information being provided as well as being able to translate between the various teams.

There is a greater risk of being pulled in to deep into the nuts and bolts of the development process and being to 'vocal' in discussions best left to the experts at hand.

Regardless of the environment - development, building, events - having prior experience and knowledge helps.
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komberg ke China Harbour Engineering Co. Ltd. Shen Zhen, China, Mainland
Jul 17, 2017 8:26 AM
Replying to Eric Simms
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If you want to actually improve your project management abilities using code, you can learn Visual Basic so you can customize Microsoft Project to do truly amazing things.
Fantastic! I agree with you, i once use VBA to customize Microsoft Excel to complete work, but i never try VBA in Microsoft Project, now, I regularly use Microsoft Project to make planning, could you kindly recommend web resources/books in this regards?
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Xin Qi Consultant| Chengde New Kid's Mind Bilingual Kindergarten Chengde, Hebei, China, Mainland
Dec 22, 2017 10:20 AM
Replying to Stéphane Parent
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Knowing a programming language is not useful to a project manager. Knowing software development is.
I thought programming language contains the software development. Maybe I misunderstood.
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1 reply by Stéphane Parent
Dec 23, 2017 10:07 AM
Stéphane Parent
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My point, Qi, is that a software development project manager should understand software development. The programming language is less important.
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Drake Settsu Project Manager / Blogger Hi, United States
Good comments from the group. I was a Programmer/Analyst many years ago programming in COBOL and IBM Assembler. I understand the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) so that experience helps me when I manage software developers.

Is knowing code a must? no
Knowing what the SDLC is about will help you. If you are expected to know coding then the teams you are managing needs major babysitting. That means they have weak supervisors in the development teams. They are not in need of a PM. What they are looking for is a programming babysitter to hold the hands of the entire development team.
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Vincent Guerard Coach - Trainer - Speaker - Advisor| Freelance Mont-Royal, Quebec, Canada
Michael,

Like for all industries you need to understand the industry.

To manage project in IT you need to understand IT, software development.
To manage project in construction you need to understand construction industry, not be a plumber !
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Stéphane Parent Self Employed / Semi-retired| Leader Maker Prince Edward Island, Canada
Dec 23, 2017 2:09 AM
Replying to Xin Qi
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I thought programming language contains the software development. Maybe I misunderstood.
My point, Qi, is that a software development project manager should understand software development. The programming language is less important.
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1 reply by Xin Qi
Dec 24, 2017 1:44 AM
Xin Qi
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Thank you, I see.
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Xin Qi Consultant| Chengde New Kid's Mind Bilingual Kindergarten Chengde, Hebei, China, Mainland
Dec 23, 2017 10:07 AM
Replying to Stéphane Parent
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My point, Qi, is that a software development project manager should understand software development. The programming language is less important.
Thank you, I see.
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umer wani India
Untill PMI says something about this , there is no scope of discussion on this subject.
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