What do project managers do in a nutshell?

[adlep]

Put out imaginary fires to make themselves look better during weekly meetings.

Fixed For You...

No love for PM. Most of them == waste of money.

 

[RichUK]

In a nutshell:

Day-to-day management of the project on behalf of the sponsor/senior exec.
Financial management
Stakeholder management
RAID management
Supplier management

Job security? – If you’re shit, the sponsor/accountable exec. will boot you off the project and you likely won’t last long in the organisation.
Travel much? Depends. I work at head office and travel to satellite sites as and when necessary.
Contractual based? What are you actually asking?

What you have to remember is ‘project manager’ is just a title and a lot of people like to call themselves project managers, yet the responsibilities and accountabilities vastly vary depending on the industry/organisation.

Someone earlier made a comment about a programme manager spending 50% of his time coding – LOL, that is not what a programme manager does.

 

[RichUK]

Fixed For You...

No love for PM. Most of them == waste of money.

If it wasn't for the PM nothing would happen.

 

[nublikescake]

That is now hanging on the wall of my cube.

Careful! You don't want to get fired!

 

[freegeeks]

actually, the new fad is "business intelligence"

 

[skim milk]

They allocate time and resources based on a bunch of shit they learned that doesn't work in the real world

 

[Sea Moose]

I am sorry but you white collar boys would get fired on the spot if you stood up to pm like i did.

There was nothing more pleasurable than watching this guy piss his pants. My next job i wont be able to do that at all. But working with civvies is differnt.

disrespectful *unt rags

 

[Howard]

There was nothing more pleasurable than watching this guy piss his pants.

Because you could, or because he deserved it?

 

[Sea Moose]

Because you could, or because he deserved it?

Both

 

[SMOGZINN]

I mean what type of business degree do people usually have to have to become a project manager?

Can anybody in English explain the job?

I was a PM for many years in the IT industry, so here is your answers.

Job security? VERY little job security. Expect to be looking for a job often.

Travel much? Some jobs will make you travel up to 90%, some none at all. Remember you will be moving jobs alot, you will work both.

Contractual based? Mostly, but not all the time. You will make a lot more money as a contractor though.

Another thing you didn't ask but you should know, you will work insanely stupid hours when project is runnig. For one project I was working 18 hour days 7 days a week for 6 months, had 3 months down (only 10 hour days, 5 days a week), then doing it again. That lasted about 2 years, at the end of it the company ended my contract on the last day of the project when I was suppose to remain around for another month to do post-project wrap-up!

Expect to be screwed. Companies have people who will do everything in their power to screw you. Many contracts will include bonuses if you finish early or under budget, on one project the company locked the doors to our imaging lab for a week to make sure we didn't finish on time. Even when things go well, expect them to under pay you and make you fight with them to get paid. On average I was still trying to get my final payment six months after I ended a project.

But, if you are good at your job, you will make some very serious pay.