Recently I've seen an increase in job postings for "senior" project managers with 3 years of experience (or more). While experience is a somewhat of a squishy topic and often industry related, on the whole, do you think 3 years is enough experience to rate a "senior" designation? Saving Changes...
Cheikh FAYE Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Expert, CEO and owner| Eurêka TechnologiesDakar, Senegal
2, 5 or 10 years, the community is divided on how many years are required to be a senior project manager.I agree with Ramon Rodriguez and Gary Hamilton while Timothy is emphasizing on the size and complexity of the projects managed. It depends on the size of the company and the type of industry as well as the scope of the responsibility.The lessons learned aren't the same whether the organization is a functional, matrix or projectized one. Saving Changes...
Helen McCulleyAssociate Director Project Management| Covis PharmaZug, Switzerland
Seniority should be based on the level of leadership the individual is showing in the role. Are they purely coordinating, managing or are they truly leading the projects?
Hence, why there seems to be such a variety of responses here on the number of years. This really is not a number of years served topic. Saving Changes...
Drew CraigSr. Agile & Product Coach| VanguardPhiladelphia, Pa, United States
Depends on the organization and industry, and the requirements of the role. If you are the PM on-board with the most experience at 3 years with the others at 1 year, then that person is the senior. . If I had to throw out a number, I'd say 5, but again, depends. Could be 3-5, or 5-7, or 10+.
Andrew, you have a great memory. I thought I would poll the group again to see if anything has changed. :)
Saving Changes...
Wade HarshmanScrum Master| GDITIndianapolis, In, United States
It's a little ambiguous, but not nearly as much as the "Project Manager I - II - III" designations. No one seems to know what those titles mean.
(I recently took a PMI member survey that asked for my title, and those were the only three options. I still can't believe that someone at PMI thinks we all fall into those three undefined categories.) Saving Changes...
The consensus seems to be indicating a 5 year minimum with 10 years at larger entities, with an acknowledgement of industry-specific factors. Saving Changes...
Depends on the organization and industry, and the requirements of the role. If you are the PM on-board with the most experience at 3 years with the others at 1 year, then that person is the senior. . If I had to throw out a number, I'd say 5, but again, depends. Could be 3-5, or 5-7, or 10+.
@Timothy: after 3 years you have had the opportunity to lead, let's say 1 or 2 significant projects. So I believe you are rather an experienced Project Manager - I wouldn't say a solid one.
As Rami said, 10 years seem to be a minimum. I started to call myself a Senior Project Manager after 15 years. In my organization Senior Project Managers have mostly 20+ years experience. Saving Changes...
Deborah PettigrewScrum Master/Agile CoachLaguna Beach, Ca, United States
Yes, I think 3 years could easily qualify someone for a Senior designation pending the type of experience in those years. Rather than approach in linear manner quantifying years, I tend to think in terms of performance and effecting improvement/change, scenarios, environment, problem-solving, etc. There are so many variances in types and sizes of projects, number of teams, and overall challenges faced. Saving Changes...
