Career path of a Project Manager

Good day...

So, you are now a project manager. You have transformed yourself from a junior project manager into a senior and seasoned one. You have delivered all kind of projects, from smaller one, large and complex project, a program, a transformation, just name it. You have received a number of awards due to successful project delivery. In short, you are anything a project manager can achieve.

Then, what's next?

Picture credit: qimono

For me, becoming a project manager is a complete package to climb up the next career ladder as a true leader. Why? Because as a seasoned project manager as I described above, I am sure that you have the characteristic of a leader and you must have demonstrated both managerial and leadership skill. Then, there is no doubt you will be successful once you move up to a middle or even senior managerial level.

As for myself, I started as a product manager, project manager and started to step up into project portfolio head, project delivery head, and into a more strategic position heading the enterprise wide project services. I do believe that you will find the career path that best suits your aspiration. I have witnessed some of my project team members stepped into a managerial position. Some even move from IT to business, Finance and other strategic role. On the other hand I also witnessed a successful movement of a business person to IT to become a rising start in IT.

As long as you have the determination and confident to move further, the opportunity will come sooner or later for you to move higher up your career ladder. However, I found that you need to be ready whenever the opportunity comes. Keep up with your personal development (refer to my other posting on personal development), maintain a strong network with everyone within and beyond your organization, and consistently hold on to your values (integrity, care, accountability, etc). Then you can be sure that your name will come first whenever there is an opportunity at a higher level.

I also found that a as a project manager, in many cases you have the access to senior management, especially when you deliver a strategic or organization wide project. It comes back to you whether you are smart enough to take the opportunity to build your rapport and positive impression of everyone working with you.

Coming back to my initial question, you are now a seasoned project manager, then a wide horizon of opportunities is waiting for you to step into.

Edwin