Can Anyone Be Trained to Be a Project Manager?

People starting out in their careers ask me this question all the time. Perhaps even more commonly, I hear it from people later in their careers who are considering a change.

"Can I actually become a Project Manager?"

Undertaking a project management qualification can be daunting. You see Chartered Project Professionals, PRINCE2 Practitioners and people with strings of qualifications after their names and wonder how you're ever supposed to get there.

But I want to give you some reassurance.

They all started in exactly the same place.

At the beginning.

So, can anybody be trained to become a Project Manager?

I believe they can. Let me show you why...

Choose the Right Qualification

People see the Chartered Project Professionals, the PRINCE2 Practitioners and the qualification gatherers, but every single one of them had to start somewhere.

This is why I always encourage people new to project management to consider something like the APM PFQ (Project Fundamentals Qualification) or PRINCE2 Foundation.

Irrespective of your experience, these qualifications can provide a brilliant springboard onto the other big-hitting certifications later in your career.

They introduce the terminology you need to understand the industry, the role of a Project Manager and what actually goes on within a project.

You aren't expected to walk into your first training course already knowing everything.

That's why you're there!

Build the foundations first. The rest can come later.

Age Doesn't Matter

I like to use myself as the example here.

I was 17 years old when I first picked up my PRINCE2 Foundation certificate and 19 when I gained my APM PFQ.

At 17, I had very little real-world working experience.

But what I did have...

Was a really great trainer!

Lots of examples. Lots of visuals. Lots of stories. Lots of exam practice.

I still model much of my own training style on some of the brilliant trainers and teachers I had back in the day.

Good training shouldn't simply be somebody reading a textbook at you. We listen, adapt and find different ways of covering the same content.

Audio. Visuals. Reading. Practice. Discussion. Feedback.

Different people learn in different ways, and part of being a good trainer is recognising that.

If you're sitting there thinking, "I've never worked on a project before, how am I supposed to understand all of this?", don't panic.

You aren't expected to know it already.

Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks?

Nonsense!!

Some of the best candidates I teach are people with bags of experience from completely different fields who are willing to share their stories.

As much as I am the trainer, we can all learn from each other.

You may not come from a traditional project background, but I bet once you start learning about project management, you'll begin to recognise just how much of it already flows through everything we do at work and even in our personal lives.

Planning something.

Managing a budget.

Organising people.

Dealing with something going wrong.

Managing expectations.

Working towards an objective.

Sound familiar?

Career changes are incredibly common, and plenty of people specialise in an industry first before picking up the project management side of things afterwards.

Great!

I can't wait to hear about your industry, your experience and your stories, and then explore how project management knowledge can complement what you already know.

A qualification doesn't have to wipe the slate clean on your previous career. It can build on it.

But Training Isn't Magic

There is one important caveat.

Anybody can learn project management, but that doesn't mean somebody can sit through a five-day course and instantly become an excellent Project Manager.

I've written before about how qualifications demonstrate knowledge, while professional maturity comes from knowing how and when to apply it.

Training gives you the tools.

Qualifications give you the knowledge.

Practice gives you confidence.

Experience teaches you judgement.

Put those things together over time and you begin developing into a genuinely capable Project Manager.

Nobody starts with all of them.

So, Can Anyone Become a Project Manager?

Ultimately, yes, I believe they can.

With the right training, study, practice and, above all...

Passion!

I am a big believer that if you truly want something and are prepared to put the work in, you give yourself an incredible chance of achieving it.

You don't need to be a certain age.

You don't need to have spent ten years working in projects.

You don't need to understand every piece of terminology before walking into the classroom.

That's what learning is for.

We can work on your learning style. We can work on your knowledge. We can work on your exam technique. Then, with practical experience, you can continue building from there.

Every experienced Project Manager was inexperienced once.

Every qualified Project Manager once opened that textbook for the first time.

Everybody starts somewhere.