Any IT Project Managers Out There?

I'm quickly coming up on the 4 years experience required to take the PMP and am curious about which route I should take to become a project manager?

Should I go after my MBA first or get the PMP first? There are some good MBA programs around these parts, specifically I've been looking at the IT Management MBA program at Georgetown.

In the meantime I'll continue to pursue the technical route, but management is my passion so I'm hoping to be able to convert from technical to technical management in the next couple of years.

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Comments

GAngel

It depends on what you want to do. An mba is way overkill if you want to get into project management. PMP is 5 years experience unless they've changed the requirements recently? Its esentially a totally different field with little technical knowledge needed. An MBA would help moving you into management level positons a pmp won't.

I'm a pmp but don't work in a PMO or have any intentions of doing so. PMO's are very hard to get into because there just aern't that many around.

SrSysAdmin

GAngel wrote: »

It depends on what you want to do. An mba is way overkill if you want to get into project management. PMP is 5 years experience unless they've changed the requirements recently? Its esentially a totally different field with little technical knowledge needed. An MBA would help moving you into management level positons a pmp won't.

I'm a pmp but don't work in a PMO or have any intentions of doing so. PMO's are very hard to get into because there just aern't that many around.

I don't want to be a project manager for the rest of my life...I just see that as the next big step on my way to being some sort of Sr. Technical Manager (hopefully CTO someday). Therefore I will definitely need my MBA.

The PMP requirements haven't changed. It has always been 5 years experience without a bachelors degree or 4 years with a degree... at least I'm not aware of that having changed at any point.

The company I work for values PMPs very highly as we do federal contracting and they are very valuable in the federal contracting world. Even our CTO is studying for his PMP and he is highly technical and already has his masters.

astorrs

JrSysAdmin wrote: »

The PMP requirements haven't changed. It has always been 5 years experience without a bachelors degree or 4 years with a degree... at least I'm not aware of that having changed at any point.

Actually it's only 3 years (not 4) with a degree and 5 without.

SrSysAdmin

astorrs wrote: »

Actually it's only 3 years (not 4) with a degree and 5 without.

Even better! Thanks for filling me in...for some reason I had been under the impression that it was 4 years with a degree.

UnixGuy

astorrs wrote: »

Actually it's only 3 years (not 4) with a degree and 5 without.

Thank you !! because of your comment I'll add this cert to my short term goals

EDIT: since CISSP needs 4 four yrs exp...and PMP needs 3, so I'll postpone CISSP to the next year, and maybe dedicate the next year exclusively for CISSP. This summer should be dedicated for PMP

UnixGuy

JrSysAdmin wrote: »

I'm quickly coming up on the 4 years experience required to take the PMP and am curious about which route I should take to become a project manager?

Should I go after my MBA first or get the PMP first? There are some good MBA programs around these parts, specifically I've been looking at the IT Management MBA program at Georgetown.

In the meantime I'll continue to pursue the technical route, but management is my passion so I'm hoping to be able to convert from technical to technical management in the next couple of years.

IMHO, you are working in the right direction. PMP is very valuable to a lot of multi-national companies like Nokia, Motorola, Oracle, ...etc. It's one of the requirements for a project manager position.

MBA is also a requirement for technical managers, I know of many companies that demands it for management positions, so go for it.

I'll also recommend the "ITIL certifications". Start with "ITIL v3 foundation", then see if you can take the higher level exams of ITIL. It's in demand now. It's about the life cycle of the service, and the process management. I met a lot of managers who are ITIL certified or working on getting ITIL certs, so go for it if you can.

Good luck

eMeS

Why not do both the MBA and the PMP?

At this point for you, the PMP is simply a matter of taking the exam. In my experience, this was one of the easiest certification exams I've taken. Everyone likes to complain about how hard it is, but it's really not. Back in the days when the PMP was an essay exam maybe it was tough (10+ years ago). Today it's a matter of fighting through 200 very repetitive questions. This isn't hyperbole; I seriously wish I had most of the time I spent studying for that exam back.

An MBA, especially from Georgetown, is going to take you much further than a PMP ever will. I don't see the two as mutually exclusive. The PMP is easy for you to get now, so just do it. The MBA from a good school is going to have much more of a long-term career impact.

MS

eMeS

UnixGuy wrote: »

I'll also recommend the "ITIL certifications". Start with "ITIL v3 foundation", then see if you can take the higher level exams of ITIL. It's in demand now. It's about the life cycle of the service, and the process management. I met a lot of managers who are ITIL certified or working on getting ITIL certs, so go for it if you can.

I'll second this, with reservations.

ITIL is hot right now worldwide, and is on the cusp of really taking off in the US. My reservation is that this is a totally different direction than the PMP, which is what your post is about. ITIL is more holistic from the standpoint of understanding and managing business in the form of services, whereas the PMP is specifically focused on project management best practices.

IMO ITIL credentials, beyond foundation, take you in a much different direction than pure project management.

Neither is necessarily specific to IT (Even though "IT" appears in the name "ITIL"). ITIL can be thought of as a collection of best practices for how to run a service management organization. The PMBOK is simply a collection of best practices for generic project management.

Also fair to say that with the exception of ITIL Foundation, ITIL certification exams are much tougher than the PMP exam. See some of my posts in the ITIL forums for more info.

I would put ITIL Foundation at about equal difficulty with the PMP. The Project+ exam looked alot like the PMP as well.

MS