Education · 1 of 4
The path
Learn a field first, then learn to run its projects. Almost nobody is hired as a project manager at 22.
- 1
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Math, English and any course where you organize a group: student council, a robotics team, a school play.
- 2
Post-secondary in a field
2 to 4 years
Engineering, construction or architectural technology, computer science, business or health administration. The field decides what kind of projects you will run.
- 3
Work in that field
2 to 4 years
Site engineer, technologist, developer, analyst. You learn how the work actually gets done.
- 4
Coordinator, then project manager
1 to 3 years
Assisting a senior manager with schedules, budgets and contracts, then owning a project of your own.
- 5
Certification
After a few years of experience
The PMP (Project Management Professional) from the Project Management Institute needs about 3 years of experience leading projects plus 35 hours of training. Some take a 1-year college graduate certificate first.