A Career in Project Management
Project management is not only a job or a career, it is a balancing act. Project management is a mixture of administration, planning, experience, analysis, peopleskills, political wrangling, leadership, technology and a little bit of luck. Clarizen project management software helps project managers to develop their technology aspect of their career.
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In a CNN|Money article of the Top 50 Best project managers Jobs in America, Project Management positions constituted nearly 10% of the positions listed.
- Product Management Director #15
- Construction Project Manager #23
- Network Operations Project Manager #24
- Project Engineer #41
And this does not include the positions where project management may be a large part of the role such as those of engineers, consultants, and managers.
The field of Project Management includes a wide range of positions, specialties, and fields and spans the range of entry level to senior management positions. Here is an overview of some of the most commonly project manager job descriptions found that can help to plan a desired career in project management:
Project Engineer – Project Engineers fall somewhere between project managers and engineers and tend to be academicallytrained Engineers before moving over to Project Management. A Project Engineer’s work crosses the boundaries between engineering and project management, leading the technical workers who contribute to the building of structures or products. They often act as a liaison between the project manager and the technical disciplines involved in a project.
Program Manager – The title of Program Manager is one that covers a large range of roles and is used differently within each organization. The term Program often refers to a set of projects, in which case a Program Manager is a Project Manager who manages many projects. This type of Program Manager often manages a set of projects and not the people resourced to that project and often times have more of a matrixmanagement role. In the field of software, a Program can also refer to a piece of software or a system of software, and, in this case a Program Manager is a technical leader responsible for pulling together software requirements into a new feature list and highlevel design.
Product Manager - A Product Manager is responsible for the development of products within an organization by leading the process of maintaining and improving existing products and developing new ones. Product Managers are often responsible for the profit and loss of a product and carry out tasks such as forecasting sales, training the sales team, and gathering, interpreting, and relaying customer feedback to engineering.
Operations Manager – An operations manager is responsible for overseeing, designing, and redesigning business operations in an attempt to lower costs and increase efficiency in order to make a company more productive. Operations Managers prepare budgets, manage projects around the company, control inventory, handle logistics, and interview and supervise employees. Operations Managers need to be strong leaders, good communicators, and dynamic problem solvers.
Account Manager – According to BusinessDictionary.com, an Account Manager is the daytoday support of a particular customer's account with a business, and who serves as the primary point of contact between the customer and the company. The account manager position can provide customer support, technical support, planning and optimization for the account, as well as developing a relationship with the customer.
Functional Manager – A functional manager is a senior project manager who focuses on providing management oversight for a specific department within a business. A functional manager is an expert on the subject and is not usually directly affiliated with a specific project team other than ensuring that goals and objectives are in line with management’s overall strategy and vision. Clarizen's project software enables the functional project managers within a matrix organization to collaboratively plan and execute the project.
The above job descriptions of project managers may be differ from one country to another. It may also be differ from one industry to another.
Take a free trial of Clarizen project managers' software and find out how Clarizen can help you to develop your project management career.