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Project management jobs can be found in almost every industry, and in many positions of responsibility. If you are interested in the challenges and demands of a project management job, you will be able to find one in your chosen industry.
Contract project management jobs
Since projects that need to be managed are generally finite, one-time programs, there are plenty of positions for people who want to find a nonpermanent project manager position.
Project managers plan out projects from inception to the very end, and basically, work themselves out of a job.
If you become a contract project manager, you should be prepared to move fairly frequently or to maintain a home and a temporary place to live wherever you’re managing a project. Contract project managers travel a lot.
Nonprofit sector project management jobs
Yes, there are nonprofit positions, generally called consultants. Nonprofit project managers are usually in their position to raise funds for a one-time capital campaign, either to expand the nonprofit’s services or to plan out a capital expansion such as a new headquarters or other large-ticket investment.
Nonprofit project managers usually make less money than others and work somewhat longer hours, but the work is often very rewarding.
Most nonprofit project management positions need a proven track record in grant writing and fundraising, but education beyond project management training isn’t terribly important.
Physical project management jobs
If you manage a physical project of some sort, chances are very good you’re either an architect or a civil engineer. Project management jobs of this sort deal with building and construction, whether it’s a new building of some sort, a plant, a factory, or a road construction project.
For this position, you’ll almost certainly need to have a degree in an appropriate engineering field in order to understand what’s going on, and probably an advanced degree.
These projects deal not only with the issues of time and money but also a unique labor force and materials management. You’ll also have lots of government regulations to hurdle.
IT project management jobs
IT projects have no or minimal physical component – the wiring of a building for networking is probably the most you’ll ever have to do physically. Instead, IT project management jobs deal almost strictly with people and information.
If you want a position in IT project management, you’ll almost certainly have to work your way up through the IT ranks, from programmer to senior programmer and then into project management.
Project management for IT has unique issues: the spreading of teams across the country and often across the world; often eccentric and hard to deal with personalities; and tight deliverables timelines.
IT project management has, however, been fortunate to develop a large body of project management information. If you go into IT project management, you’ll have lots of methodologies to choose from.
