How Do I Start a Career As a Project Manager?
Here is what I did, what I learned and what would I have done differently
One of the regular questions I am asked is “what do I need to do or study to become a Project Manager?” or “what is the best path?”
This is a tricky question as each person has a different background, circumstances and learning styles so there is not a unique path or a “one size fits all” approach.
I will share my own path, what I learned on every step and how would I have done it differently so you can build your own.
My Path to Become a Project Manager
We Can Manage Projects Without The Theory
When I was in high school, I volunteered to organize the inauguration and closing ceremonies of a big national Marists private schools sports event happening in my city every year in Guadalajara, Mexico. Hundreds of athletes travelled from different states to participate in Soccer, Basketball and Volleyball competitions.
As you could imagine, I did not have any idea about what a project was or about scope, schedule, stakeholder, team, risks, issues or budget management.
The event was a success and I really enjoyed it but my team and I suffered in the process, most of the time because of me and my ignorance.
What I learned:
We can manage a project without the theory. You may have already executed projects without knowing it (e.g. a graduation party, a wedding, your thesis or a college project)
You can suck as a leader if you do not understand how to form, motivate and respect a team. I hope some of my friends at that time could forgive me
You should have the ability and the natural drive to lead and coordinate teams to get the stuff done. I had it even that I did not know that Project Management was a thing
The schools should offer Project Management classes even in early stages (e.g. elementary school). We all have to participate in or lead projects multiple times in our life
The Project Management Theory Makes Things Easier
After my first year of college I started working for IBM supporting a manufacturing floor system application. New features had to be adopted across the manufacturing facilities worldwide and I volunteered myself to lead some of these projects.
I realized that a formal career path existed and took some introductory trainings and learned about the PMP certification. I was told that it was a really though certification, and yes it was.
Mostly during this time I continued managing and participating in IT projects.
What I learned:
The PMP certification gave me the aspirations to grow in this career
Projects can be managed much better and easier by following the theory
And for more in depth learnings, you can read my post about:
Software Is a Totally Different Animal
I always loved software and I wanted to work with software engineers developing solutions.
Given that this type of projects are knowledge projects and their complexity require a totally different Project Management approach vs. the traditional, I:
Got the PMI-ACP certification which gave me a very good understanding about Agile. This book helped me a lot in preparation for the exam and the information there is great: PMI-ACP Exam Prep
Volunteered partially to a project here and there trying to apply some of these new project management practices
Later, I accepted a job as a Scrum Master thinking that I had everything to be successful.
It was hard as I faced a lot of challenges. The team realized that I did not have enough experience and I had to fight with my ego and be humble enough to accept the feedback and try to change.
I studied as twice as hard while trying to learn on the job:
At that time, I obtained these certifications: PSM I, PSPO I, Scaled Agile Framework - Certified SAFE 4 Practitioner
What I learned:
There is a big gap between the Scrum theory and the practice
To acquire some theory, apply it to the experience, learn from it, get more theory, and iterate again and again
I do not regret for accepting that job. Otherwise, I would not be here. But some advice would have been less stressful. You can read my post about my reflections around it:
Scrum And Agile Is Not The Only Thing Out There
Later I realized that Lean Principles applied to Software Development approaches existed.
Recommended Book: Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit*
I also learned about Kanban. I strongly recommend this video from Erich Brechner:
And his book: “Agile Project Management with Kanban”*
I took the Kanban Management Professional Trainings and got the certification.
I learned that:
Kanban can be applied inside Scrum
Scrumban can help to make the transitions from Scrum to Kanban
And Kanban alone can be applied as well to Software Development projects
Kanban is a very flexible and powerful method
In my current job I also mentor and coach other Project Managers. I really enjoy teaching, sharing my knowledge and helping others.
While pursuing a career as an Agile Coach I realized every project, team and organization face different challenges and situations.
For this purpose, I recently discovered that there is a path and a toolkit called Disciplined Agile that was acquired by the PMI. Something that I liked so far about this is that context counts and you should not apply a framework, a method or a technique as prescribed since every team and organization is different.
I learned that:
There is more beyond Agile and Scrum
You do not need to reinvent the wheel. There are resources out there created by people that have faced similar situations. Just as Disciplined Agile:
You can have six different Delivery Life Cycles and
There is a free Disciplined Agile Browser that offers various “decision points” and options or “techniques” that you can choose and apply to your projects, teams and organizations depending on the phase, process and context you are facing.
I will let you know how it worked in the practice
Product and Technical Knowledge Is Crucial
When I started my career, I had the incorrect idea that a Project Manager does not need to know too much details about the product or the technicalities behind an application or a solution or how it is built.
It is like an Architect not knowing the components of a building and how they are built.
Big mistake.
Learning The Technicalities Will Increase Your Chances of Success
If I wanted to understand my teams, my stakeholders and be able to help them move forward I learned that I had to understand concepts around:
Code Versioning Control Tools
What is a Pull Request, PR Reviews or Code Reviews
Branching Strategies
SDLC (Software Development Lifecyle)
Technical Debt
DevOps concepts and tools
Software Quality Assurance concepts and Tools
And many more concepts around Front End, Backend, Mobile Apps, Data, Infosec, Machine Learning, UX, Design
You cannot become a specialist on everything but make sure to get a good understanding of all of technical concepts in your context
If you hear it and don’t know it. Google it!
Big Tech Runs Projects (Or Products) Without Project Managers
If you look for jobs postings under the Big Tech companies, you will realize that they rarely seek for Project Managers or Scrum Masters.
This interesting article “How Big Tech Runs Tech Projects and the Curious Absence of Scrum” explains how the projects are led by Tech Leads side by side with Product Managers.
The industry is trending to run Products over Projects.
I found this interesting site: Product School with free resources, articles, paid courses and certifications.
Another interesting option on managing projects under a Product Management approach is Shape Up. Again, all is around the context and the organizations should be prepared to adopt this, but many of the concepts and techniques here are worth to be explored.
I learned that:
We must learn about Product Management and its techniques if we want to survive in this industry!
Final Reflections
Make a good balance between the theory and practice. This model suggests that we learn:
70% from challenging assignments (practice)
20% from developmental relationships
10% from coursework and training
About the certifications:
Having a certification is not a guarantee that you are a good Project Manager, it only tells that you are good at studying and passing exams. Make sure to put the theory into practice
Rather than pursuing a “Certificate” or a “Credential” you should use it as a challenge or a method to force you to study and update your knowledge
If you don’t care about the certificate and you are disciplined enough to acquire the knowledge, just do it
Be careful with the organizations that promise you “express” certifications. Investigate the organization behind the certification and that the information they offer is actually valuable
All these organizations (PMI, SAFe, Less, Scrum.org, Scrum Alliance, Kanban University, etc) will claim that their frameworks and practices are the best and some or all of your organizational issues will be resolved by using their methods, frameworks and certifications:
Determine how much is enough, maintaining all these certifications cost a lot of money. Differentiate when they want to sell you more vs. the actual benefits you and your organization are receiving
Be critical, try it yourself, do not follow something as a dogma
Choose the knowledge and the credential that best fits to you
If I started all over again, this is the order I would do the certifications:
PMI-ACP - To get overall knowledge about Agile
PSM I Scrum.org** - To get a good understanding about the Scrum Master role
PSPO I Scrum.org** - To get a good understanding of the Product Owner role
Kanban Management Professional** - To get a good grasp about Kanban
SAFe - Scaled Agile Framework or Less certifications - To understand how to scale Agile and how to manage a program. There is a lot of controversy around this although I have seen companies running it effectively
DASSM - Disciplined Agile Senior Scrum Master - To help the teams improve by adopting different practices and tools based on their context and Disciplined Agile Coach (DAC) if you want to move your career forward into the coaching path
**The certifications marked with these asterisks do not require a renewal fee
Optional:
PMI-PMP - In case you want to understand more about the traditional way of managing projects although they recently added Agile topics.
PMI-PgMP - This is a very challenging certification and requires a lot of experience managing traditional programs.
You may want to try this option from Google that looks interesting but I haven’t tried myself: Google Project Management Certification
Continue polishing your people and soft skills. There is a lot of material out there. Some strongly recommended topics are:
Assertive Communication
How to receive and give feedback
Coaching, mentoring and motivating teams
Leading teams effectively
Negotiation
Leave a comment if you recommend a different path, a certification or knowledge that would be helpful to future Project Managers.
I wish you success as a Project Manager.
Hope you enjoyed this article! Let me know what you think in the comments. If you're feeling generous, you can buy me a coffee to fuel my writing!
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Thanks for sharing Edgar. This post contains super useful information. It gives you a lot of insights about where to start or recommended steps to become a Project Manager.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I can’t agree more on your statement about knowing your product... although this may sound a bit off the primary PM literature, it unlocks many doors :)