How to Become a Project Manager? What are the Roles of Project Managers?
The job of the project manager is the one that everyone is seeking. No doubt, there are quite some perks of being a project manager. According to Glassdoor, the average salary of a project manager is $66,137 a year. It's not a small amount for a single person, isn't it? If a project manager earning a handsome amount of salary per year has the responsibilities of many things.
In this article, we're going to discuss the roles and responsibilities of a product manager. Plus, we'll also be going to see how you can become one of them in the future? Follow our lead for more details related to the project manager.
- Part 1: What's the Role of a Project Manager?
- Part 2: Becoming a Project Manager, what you need to do?
- Part 3: Product Prototype Tool You May Need
What's the Role of a Project Manager?
Before going down deep into the roles of a project manager, let have a look at who is the project manager in simple terms?
A project manager is a person who is responsible for the successful planning, designing, monitoring, and controlling of the project. To do all the tasks, he manages the team and assigns them different necessary tasks to perform on a particular project. A project manager must have sets of multiple skills, communication among stakeholders and team members matters a lot for a project manager.
A manager must act quickly where a conflict occurs during the project development process. He must have the core knowledge of every department that he is managing with his team. Every decision related to the project, either small or large, is handled by the project manager. A manager has to take immediate actions where the risk arises.
Following are the different levels of the project manager:
- Assistant Project Manager
- Entry Level Project Manager
- Junior Level Project Manager
- Senior Project Manager
1. Assistant Project Manager
As the name suggests, an assistant project manager is a person who divides the work and reports to the actual project manager. The assistant project manager has some experience and education in management and looking forward to becoming a project manager in the near future.
The duties of an assistant project manager vary from company to company and the needs of the ongoing projects. The need for an assistant manager occurs for larger organizations that handle large projects which take years to complete.
Following are the standard and typical duties of assistant managers.
- Reporting and updating progress
- Reporting on budget
- Identify resource requirements
- Any other duties with low risks can be assigned to the assistant manager.
2. Entry Level Project Manager
The job for the entry-level project manager is relatively easy and straightforward. An entry-level project manager is assigned to a particular team where he guides them to collaborate with other group members. Some responsibilities are similar to assistant manager in some scenarios.
- Creating a plan for the project
- Create the project timeline
- Explain project strategies
- Presentations
- Monitors the employee progress
3. Junior Level Project Manager
The junior-level project manager defines the scope of the ongoing project. His other duties include resource planning, prepare documentation, time estimation, and many more. The junior project manager must have good communication skills and the ability to motivate the team members all the time.
Some duties a Junior Level Manager performs:
- Work with a smaller group/team.
- Manages hardware things.
- Lead Generation.
- Do technical stuff like stored procedures, triggers, and functions in Oracle SQL.
- Do social media stuff.
- Launch Company's website.
4. Senior Project Manager
A senior project manager is responsible for everything going on with the project from start to finish. Even though he also manages and guides assistant to junior level project managers. This job needs a lot of experience, though. A senior project manager must have leadership qualities. Every role that we've seen from assistant manager to junior level project manager are the roles of the senior project manager.
Becoming a Project Manager, what you need to do?
Becoming a project manager is not an easy task for the lower-level of managers. It's a long struggle to become a project manager. There is a long journey waiting for you to become a project manager. If you completed this journey without any break, no one could stop you from getting a job as a project manager.
Become a certified PMP
This is the easiest way of becoming a project manager. PMP stands for Project Management Professional, is a professional certification offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI). PMP certification is highly recognizable in over 200 countries around the globe. Project managers that are holding the PMP certification consider in the top 10 highest paying jobs in the world.
But the process of getting PMP certification is not the simple one. Before going to apply for PMP certification, make sure you meet the certification requirements:
- You must complete a four-year degree.
- Thirty-six months of leading projects.
- Thirty-five hrs. of project management training or CAPM certification.
OR
- A high school diploma.
- Sixty months of leading projects.
- Thirty-five hrs. of project management training or CAPM certification.
Do an Internship
Remember one thing, no matter how many qualifications you have, without having prior experience, there's no chance of becoming a project manager. It's better to go for some internships and or if you have qualifications apply for the entry-level, junior-level, or assistant project managers. After years of working in the following fields, you got the experience, and then there are greater chances of getting a position as a project manager.
Tools Need to Master
If you're targeting the job of a project manager, qualification or certification are not the things you should care of. There are different project management tools available project managers use them to manage everything that is related to the project. Every tool has its own features or functionalities. You need to master any one project management tool to take one step ahead of getting the position of project manager.
Well, these were some ways from which you can get the position of project manager. But remember one thing, experience matters a lot in the project management field.
Product Prototype Tool You May Need
Apart from becoming a project manager, there's a tool that can be very helpful if you're working in any organization. Which organization does not need any graphics? Every industry needs a graphic designing department for their product marketing. We've brought a highly recommended software name "Wondershare Mockitt" that can be accommodating product managers to design their product prototypes.
Wondershare Mockitt is not a project management tool; it's a prototyping or graphic designing tool that may be very beneficial for product managers to draw their product designs or prototypes. Wondershare Mockitt has countless unique features that can enhance your creativity and innovation.
Let's take a look at some features of Wondershare Mockitt:
- Team Collaboration:
Mockitt allows its users to do a real-time collaboration with team members. You can design and communicate with the project manager at the same time.
- Fast and Easy to Use:
Mockitt is an online tool, so you should be worried about its speed, and the user interface of the Mockitt is so friendly that anyone can design on it.
- No Technical Skill Required:
Some tools might need coding to create prototyping; in Mockitt, you can design anything you want without knowing the code. That's how simple it is to design in Wondershare Mockitt.
Well, that's everything from our side, we've tried to cover everything about the project manager on how you can get a job for the project manager and what are the roles of a project manager.
