Q&A Project Management Careers: Do I Go for a PM Role?

Posted by Lindsay Scott on Jan 14, 2022 in PMChat Bloggers | Comments Off

I have a couple of years of experience working as a junior project manager for a utilities company but no formal project management qualifications. I do, however, have a bachelors degree in engineering and a masters in town planning. I recently started working for a local council in London in their planning department in a relatively ‘low-level’ admin position to get my foot in the door in the ‘planning’ sector but I really want to get back into project management, ideally in the planning/development/built environment field. I’m not sure if I should get some more experience in planning and try to improve my technical planning knowledge before pursuing a project management qualification, or would getting my APMP or Prince2 qualification help progress my career. Basically I’m worried that if I get a project management qualification now without a solid technical background first I may not have the depth of knowledge needed to confidently excel in this field. Or, if I get my project management qualification, could I go down a project management career path without having to first gain in-depth planning experience?