Is it worth doing a project management course?
Whether or not you should take a project management course depends on where you want to take your career.
Traditionally, project management is practiced as a discipline within a pre-existing position. That means project managers are rarely just project managers. They’re most often IT specialists or external contractors who help manage projects in addition to their main roles.
Sometimes project management roles will grow naturally out of your current job. Say for example, you work for a print publication and must ensure your marketing department correctly places advertisements. You may not consider yourself a project manager, but eliciting requirements is a big part of what project managers do as part of their role.
If you can identify tasks in your current role that qualify as project management duties and clearly communicate how they might help you in a full-time project management role, you’ll be sure to impress interviewers.
That’s not to say professional certifications are worthless however, far from it. Some qualifications such as a PRINCE2® project management certification, are seen as an industry standard. You’ll be at a disadvantage if you don’t have yours. If nothing else, project management certifications are an easy way to show employers you have the skills and knowledge necessary to oversee projects to try to ensure they succeed.
What jobs can I get with a project management certificate?
Project manager roles generally grow from existing roles. It’s all well and good to understand what it means to be a project manager, but without relevant industry experience you won’t know how to use the resources at your disposal.
If you want to be a construction project manager for example, you will need to know the unique risks involved in construction projects (such as safety hazards, bad weather and legal issues), how to budget a project (the cost of hiring builders, subcontractors and equipment) and much more.
Take any industry, tack on ‘project manager’ to the end, and you’ll have a rough list of roles you might find yourself working in – IT project manager, construction project manager, engineering project manager. You get the idea.
If you don’t' have relevant industry experience, don’t worry. You can still find project management roles that don’t require any kind of special training. These roles will generally be low risk/low visibility, meaning you’ll be managing a tiny team and the only resources you have at your disposal will be the skills your team brings to the table. It’s not much but working up from the bottom will guarantee that by the time you’re managing complex projects, you’ll be an expert in your field.
