What made you decide to work in project management?

[elizabethblogs]

Did you set out to be a project professional? Or have you gradually drifted into project work, perhaps after being asked to take on project responsibilities at work? On the project management courses that I help to organise, some people are retraining to work in pm, others have found that they need pm skills as their workload has diversified and they're being asked to work on projects, and others want to back up pm experience with formal training/qualifications.

I'd be interested to hear your story. :-)

Elizabeth

[ccfocused]

Actually, my career in PM started by happen stance rather than sheer planning. Moreover, the crossover from BA to PM has remains work in progress. Glad I landed in this field - it's never boring.

[dhaughey]

I think the 'accidental' project manager is common. I know plenty of project managers who didn't choose to be part of the profession when they left college. I fell into project management when working as operations manager for a road transport company. I didn't recognise I was doing project management at the time, but later came to realise it, what you might call unconscious competence. The conscious bit came when I decided to formalise my role in the profession by gaining my PRINCE2 Practitioner and later the PMP.

I wonder when careers advisers in schools and colleges ask what you want to do with your life, many students recognise project management as a profession. I suspect not. So why is becoming a doctor, teacher or civil servant seen as a profession and career worth following and project manager not. How many children when asked what they want to be say a project manager, not many I bet. It's so dull when you could be a train driver, solider, hairdresser, police officer or professional footballer. I'm not sure project manager is seen as a 'true' profession, more an addition or extension of the day job.

...and ccfocused you're right, it's never boring.

[elizabethblogs]

Thanks for your replies :) I certainly agree that, for some people, project management is an extension of their normal role at work. For others, it's what they want to base their careers around. The question of whether or not project management is a profession seems to be being hotly debated at the moment, from what I've seen on the Internet. I'm in the 'yes, it's a profession' camp, because I believe that it requires specific skills and qualities.