Any project managers here?

[isabel]

I know this is pretty random, but I would love to hear what you do day-to-day, what kind of projects you're involved in, and your role in general. Also, how did you get into the field and do you hold any special certifications that you think help make you a better candidate.

I am contemplating a pretty serious career shift and H has been thinking for a while that this is something I would enjoy and be good at. I'm not entirely sure how to go about it at this point, so I'm just looking for whatever information I can get.

[Deleted]

In what field Isabel?

[jena]

DH is a project manager in IT. He's "in the field" if field=office. Very rarely he gets to travel to another office. His place is usually between a rock and a hard place. He does exciting projects like moving applications so they can move/shut down/upgrade servers. He got in the field by moving up from help desk (which was a rather random job for him as he did not have an IT background or related degree, but since then he's gotten the PMI certification (company paid for it but it's handy in job hunting).

[birdistheword]

I'm a project manager, but in educational technology for a school district, so likely very different from what you are thinking. Day to day I oversee procurement and inventory, schedule and follow up with techs on work orders, communicate with administrators regarding projects for their buildings, provide quotes for proposed projects, etc.

I don't have any special certifications - just a bachelor's degree.

ETA: I just kind of fell into this. My degree is in Marketing (I'm also the district Communication Coordinator...small district, lol).

[isabel]

Jan 7, 2015 18:42:44 GMT -5 @lazerus24 said:

In what field Isabel?

Honestly, I'm not really sure. It's something I'm very tentatively exploring right now. I do think it's something that matches a lot of my current skills and works well with my personality, but I don't want to be in construction or IT.

RexManningDay, the backbone I have. It's actually something that gets me into trouble a bit in my current role. Being strong-willed and standing up to people isn't exactly appreciated with my current company. Thanks for your input. It's good information to have.

[isabel]

Jan 7, 2015 18:53:40 GMT -5 birdistheword said:

I'm a project manager, but in educational technology for a school district, so likely very different from what you are thinking. Day to day I oversee procurement and inventory, schedule and follow up with techs on work orders, communicate with administrators regarding projects for their buildings, provide quotes for proposed projects, etc.

I don't have any special certifications - just a bachelor's degree.

ETA: I just kind of fell into this. My degree is in Marketing (I'm also the district Communication Coordinator...small district, lol).

Actually, this sounds more like what I could be interested in. I don't have any interest in construction or IT for the sake of IT, which seem like two of the most common fields for this. I am very much interested in the scheduling and communication pieces of project management. I'm a very organized person in a lot of ways and I have some background in dealing with inventory, though in a rather different field.

[birdistheword]

Jan 7, 2015 18:58:41 GMT -5 isabel said:

Jan 7, 2015 18:53:40 GMT -5 birdistheword said:

I'm a project manager, but in educational technology for a school district, so likely very different from what you are thinking. Day to day I oversee procurement and inventory, schedule and follow up with techs on work orders, communicate with administrators regarding projects for their buildings, provide quotes for proposed projects, etc.

I don't have any special certifications - just a bachelor's degree.

ETA: I just kind of fell into this. My degree is in Marketing (I'm also the district Communication Coordinator...small district, lol).

Actually, this sounds more like what I could be interested in. I don't have any interest in construction or IT for the sake of IT, which seem like two of the most common fields for this. I am very much interested in the scheduling and communication pieces of project management. I'm a very organized person in a lot of ways and I have some background in dealing with inventory, though in a rather different field.

This might be something for you to look into, then! My job is all about organization and communication. I actually really enjoy what I do. It can be stressful, but it's more like "busy, a million things to do" stress than "keep you up at night stress" if you know what I mean, lol.

[isabel]

Jan 7, 2015 19:04:20 GMT -5 birdistheword said:

Jan 7, 2015 18:58:41 GMT -5 isabel said:

Actually, this sounds more like what I could be interested in. I don't have any interest in construction or IT for the sake of IT, which seem like two of the most common fields for this. I am very much interested in the scheduling and communication pieces of project management. I'm a very organized person in a lot of ways and I have some background in dealing with inventory, though in a rather different field.

This might be something for you to look into, then! My job is all about organization and communication. I actually really enjoy what I do. It can be stressful, but it's more like "busy, a million things to do" stress than "keep you up at night stress" if you know what I mean, lol.

This is the job I want. Can I just take yours?

[FastHands]

Dh is a project manager. He's mostly been in IT-adjacent positions within HR and healthcare companies (so managing their technical/software projects). He just sorta fell into it. He is very tech savvy but is really good at getting IT folks to play nice with business types. He has no bachelor's degree. He worked his way up from a data entry temp position. He does have a couple of certifications - sphr and scrum master, and will get his pmp (which I can't NOT call "pimp") this year.

[VeryViolet]

I am not an official PMP but I am going for the certification in the next few months. I work in IT sort of as sort of a liaison between the business and technical folks. I work in healthcare. I like what I do though in this position I am not a true project manager just adjacent enough to qualify for certification. Lol

It sounds more like you are looking for more operational stuff. I know you said you are looking for a career shift but are you able to transition any of the skills/expertise to a new position. My only thought is that if you aren't you may need to look more for jobs that lead to or prep you for a project manager position.

[isabel]

Jan 7, 2015 21:47:03 GMT -5 VeryViolet said:

I am not an official PMP but I am going for the certification in the next few months. I work in IT sort of as sort of a liaison between the business and technical folks. I work in healthcare. I like what I do though in this position I am not a true project manager just adjacent enough to qualify for certification. Lol

It sounds more like you are looking for more operational stuff. I know you said you are looking for a career shift but are you able to transition any of the skills/expertise to a new position. My only thought is that if you aren't you may need to look more for jobs that lead to or prep you for a project manager position.

What would you suggest?

I am a restaurant manager, so operations is appealing to me. I like what I do, but hate the hours. So, yes, something a little more operational would probably be a better fit. I think a lot of my skills are transferrable, particularly with regard to scheduling, budgeting, and tracking various moving pieces (be that people/individual tasks/equipment), but I'm not entirely sure my skill set would be viewed in that way by someone hiring for project management. I also have great communication skills and am good with customer service, so I can see myself being a good liaison between a client and contractor. I don't really have a problem with starting out in something entry level, but I'm not sure what that would be exactly.

[VeryViolet]

Jan 7, 2015 21:53:55 GMT -5 isabel said:

Jan 7, 2015 21:47:03 GMT -5 VeryViolet said:

I am not an official PMP but I am going for the certification in the next few months. I work in IT sort of as sort of a liaison between the business and technical folks. I work in healthcare. I like what I do though in this position I am not a true project manager just adjacent enough to qualify for certification. Lol

It sounds more like you are looking for more operational stuff. I know you said you are looking for a career shift but are you able to transition any of the skills/expertise to a new position. My only thought is that if you aren't you may need to look more for jobs that lead to or prep you for a project manager position.

What would you suggest?

I am a restaurant manager, so operations is appealing to me. I like what I do, but hate the hours. So, yes, something a little more operational would probably be a better fit. I think a lot of my skills are transferrable, particularly with regard to scheduling, budgeting, and tracking various moving pieces (be that people/individual tasks/equipment), but I'm not entirely sure my skill set would be viewed in that way by someone hiring for project management. I also have great communication skills and am good with customer service, so I can see myself being a good liaison between a client and contractor. I don't really have a problem with starting out in something entry level, but I'm not sure what that would be exactly.

It really depends on what field you want to go into. I know you said no IT but my first thought was seeing if there is a company near you that does POS software development. With your background it would be a good fit as a liaison with the business side.

Have you ever seen office space? There is one guy who has to justify why he takes stuff from the clients to the developers. That is a real job. Lol. Something like that though would give you experience with project management because there is a pm who you would work under running the show.

ETA feel free to completely disregard this if you aren't interested I come from IT pm so it is all I really can speak too.

[isabel]

Jan 7, 2015 22:15:20 GMT -5 VeryViolet said:

Jan 7, 2015 21:53:55 GMT -5 isabel said:

What would you suggest?

I am a restaurant manager, so operations is appealing to me. I like what I do, but hate the hours. So, yes, something a little more operational would probably be a better fit. I think a lot of my skills are transferrable, particularly with regard to scheduling, budgeting, and tracking various moving pieces (be that people/individual tasks/equipment), but I'm not entirely sure my skill set would be viewed in that way by someone hiring for project management. I also have great communication skills and am good with customer service, so I can see myself being a good liaison between a client and contractor. I don't really have a problem with starting out in something entry level, but I'm not sure what that would be exactly.

It really depends on what field you want to go into. I know you said no IT but my first thought was seeing if there is a company near you that does POS software development. With your background it would be a good fit as a liaison with the business side.

Have you ever seen office space? There is one guy who has to justify why he takes stuff from the clients to the developers. That is a real job. Lol. Something like that though would give you experience with project management because there is a pm who you would work under running the show.

ETA feel free to completely disregard this if you aren't interested I come from IT pm so it is all I really can speak too.

I could get on board with that. I'm not necessarily against anything IT related, but I haven't had much in the way of experience with it, so it doesn't seem like a great match. I've worked with a few different POS systems though, so I do have some knowledge of that type of software.

I'll take a look and see what I might be able to find in that realm. Thanks for your help!