What are the qualifications needed for a Project manager in an engineering firm?

Community General Discussion
1

Hello everyone,

Currently i have completed my electronic engineering degree and i would like to be a Project manager in an engineering firm, since im not that good in technical side. I know that management knowledge is required to be a project manager, So can anyone suggest me a good management course that will be sufficient enough to attain my goal??

Thanks in advance

2

Ashuk:
i have completed my electronic engineering degree ..... im not that good in technical side.

Interesting admission.

3

First get 5-10 years or experience in the field.
In most tech companies managers should have a proven record of what they accomplished.

Or start your own company, then you're the big Boss from start..

4

Rob's right: you need to have shown your technical expertise first. And while it's true that a PM can't be a guru in all the technicalities of a project, he or she needs to have demonstrated a level of technical skill. Without that, the PM has no respect from the project members. Then from the PM's point of view, it's also important to have enough technical skill to not be taken advantage of.

So yep, knuckle down to getting some solid technical experience. While you're doing that, look at the various PM qualifications that are around. You don't have to go the whole PMI PMP route- maybe look at CompTIA's Project+ as a starting point.

5

I dunno. I've met managers that didn't have a "strong" technical background. Some of them are even pretty good at it. I don't think I know of any "good courses" (There are of course actually degrees in "management"...) Also, different companies have different ideas about what 1st level managers should do. I was a manager for a while. When it involved hiring engineers, providing loose or high-level technical guidance, planning and scheduling projects, and working with other engineering groups, it went pretty well. When the company got bigger and it was more about justifying projects and budgets to upper management, it went less well (and was a lot less fun!)

6

@westfw
When management becomes politics it is definitely less fun for "techies" who think in "hard" truths. (been there too)