What Is a Project Manager? How to Become One, Salary, Skills

There are several ways to gain the skills you need to become an IT project manager. You will be joining a progressive and thriving academic environment, and will benefit from the collaborative and well-established Department and Faculty systems at the University of Bath. This includes a strong mentoring and personal & professional development environment in the Department. The lifestyle advantages of working and living in one of the most beautiful and accessible areas in the UK are an added attraction. You will remain optimistic in the face of challenges, seeing them as opportunities for growth and innovation.

The rise of remote work has also impacted the workplace of project managers. Many project management tasks can be performed remotely, allowing flexibility in work arrangements. Virtual collaboration tools, video conferencing, and project management software enable project managers to coordinate with teams, regardless of geographical distances.

Engineering Project Manager, Early Career

Any team working together to reach a shared objective is engaging in some form of project management. Whether it’s the project manager, a team member or any other project stakeholder, they’re a member of the greater project team and their actions directly affect other team members. Like any team, you “win” or “lose” as a unit, so it’s incredibly important to communicate and listen to other team members in order to coordinate efforts and succeed. Most project mishaps and project failures are the direct results of poor communication or lack of collaboration. Besides the types of projects mentioned above, projects can also be classified by the project management methodology that’s used to plan, schedule and execute them. The average annual salary for project managers in the US is $98,420, although it varies by industry [1].

  • They may be skills you already use in your day to day life as well as being job-specific abilities developed through education and training.
  • We talk a lot about specific facets of project management, but it’s sometimes valuable to start at the root and dig into the basics.
  • You should always check with the product provider to ensure that information provided is the most up to date.

This flexibility has become increasingly important, especially in response to changing work trends and global circumstances. In the technology sector, project managers may work in fast-paced and collaborative environments, often characterized by open office spaces and agile methodologies. The emphasis is on adaptability, innovation, and regular communication as technology projects frequently involve dynamic requirements and evolving solutions. Collaboration with software developers, engineers, and other IT professionals is integral to successfully managing and delivering technology projects.

Project Plan Template

During the initial phases of project planning, teams clearly outline team roles and responsibilities while monitoring individual workloads as work progresses, ensuring that resources are allocated appropriately. During the monitoring phase, the project manager(s) keep tabs on the progress of the project overall and the status of the team. Whether teams are on track and delivering stellar results or struggling with roadblocks and challenges, the project manager can help eliminate stressors, solve problems, and communicate updates with key stakeholders. But to be a highly effective as a project manager, you must be a strategic business partner fully vested in organizational success, and you must be able to roll with inevitable setbacks. One of the most important characteristics of a project is that it’s a team effort. While the structure of project teams might change from one organization to another, projects usually involve a project manager and a team of individuals with the necessary skills to execute the tasks that are needed.

what is a project managers

As you can see, their responsibilities are widespread, but that doesn’t mean spreading too thin. Ideally, a project manager creates the foundation of the project—like the foundation of a house. This course walks through all the core features and functionality of Advanced Roadmaps – JIRA’s project planning and agile road-mapping tool, that is now available with Jira Premium. Salaries also vary by location, with cloud certification for project managers project managers in the San Jose, California, metro area topping the list at $133,950 on average compared to those in northern Texas earning, on average, $74,500 per year [1]. Whether you decide to earn a degree or certification depends on where you eventually want to work. For example, if you want to work in the construction field, you may find it helpful to have a degree in construction or engineering.

Types of Projects By Project Management Methodology

During this phase, the project manager(s) coach and guide the team to present essential project deliverables while keeping stakeholders in the loop and monitoring progress against key milestones and KPIs. Project managers provide the foundation for projects by defining their scope and establishing teams to carry them out. They set deadlines and budgets to ensure teams have the resources and tools they need to complete their tasks.

Deliverables can be “tangible” or “intangible,” meaning they can be a physical product or something conceptual. Typically, deliverables are the need that inspired the project in the first place. If someone contracts a builder to design and construct an office space, the office is a tangible deliverable. Now that we’ve reviewed the main characteristics of a project and the various project types that exist, let’s review some common project examples to better illustrate what a project is. These project constraints are known as the triple constraint or the project management triangle and are one of the most important project features to know about.

Project Management Tools and Techniques

This type of chart is popular with Scrum teams for tracking work across sprints, as it can easily reveal the total scope of work against items that have been completed or left unfinished. Waterfall project management is a traditional approach to project management that involves rigid, sequential project phases. In the waterfall model, each phase of the project must be fully completed before the next phase can begin, and project deliverables are turned over only at the conclusion of the project.

  • Project Management Software helps teams organize all project essentials in one place, while streamlining and simplifying the project management process overall.
  • You can begin building your resume before applying for project manager jobs or pursuing a degree or certification.
  • While it might seem narrow, project managers end up overseeing many of the invisible tasks that make a company tick.
  • At this level, a programme manager can typically lead a programme of limited complexity or assist on a complex programme, following the appropriate governance applied for the determined life cycle.
  • Collaboration with software developers, engineers, and other IT professionals is integral to successfully managing and delivering technology projects.
  • With that in mind, the project manager’s responsibility is to allocate the limited resources they do have in the cleverest, most efficient way possible.
  • Scrum project management, as the name suggests, is inspired by the camaraderie and teamwork of a Rugby team within the Agile methodology.
  • In this model, tasks may finish way ahead of time, and still the project completion date may stay put for other constraints.

You can get started on preparing by practicing your responses to some common interview questions. We are constantly seeking to reduce the unconscious bias that enters any assessment process, with the goal of creating an inclusive and equal assessment process. To support this, personal details will be removed from application forms at the initial shortlisting stage. For a full view of the person specification, please see the job description attached below.