Career Transition in Project Management

In this podcast, Ricardo gives tips for those who are wanting to change careers toward Project Management. He talks a bit about his own career and shows how we must be willing to break new ground, expanding our career options.

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Episode transcript

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Hello, everyone. Welcome to the five minutes BM podcast today. Yeah. I'd like to address one Podcast suggestion from about Career Transition and, and he did, quite an interesting question. He said, look, I'm a project manager, and I saw that you changed it from engineer to it, project management. How did that work with you and help people can change their Careers first? I'm not talking to them. Cool. Being on this podcast, how will you be from engineered to a hotel owner are a laundry, a manager.

No, I'm talking about project management. So the first thing you need to know and understand is the project manager role. So there is a set of the core that makes a great project manager in these core competencies, our, the heart of every single project manager. So if you know how to take this cloud thing, the SAP of the desires of any organization or any person, and translate this into tangible deliverables.

And in that, it's a very structured way. You can define clear scope. You can set that lines no matter if we are talking about your new vacation creep, the renovation of your kitchen or your new ERP system, or how to build a bridge in Pakistan. So we are talking about a core set of valleys, of booking things in the right place and making we delivered that this is all about a project manager, and this is a core for every time, nothing from software development to construction, to humanitarian work to or whatever.

And if you want to have a seat successful, Career Transition in Project Management, for example, go from project management in it to project management in the government. For example, do you need to have this core competency completely outstanding, or you can not have just an average set of competencies? You need to be brilliant though, on that with this, you will be open to So. This is the first time the first suggestion has, the second suggestion I have to do is that, you know, should look for new challenges and you don't need, and if you are a software developer working with Robert, Management try to work in the marketing project, but let's try to open, okay, can I do software development?

And then next time, can I support them in some way he's as a volunteer in a second for testing, can I support in the help desk? The project so Kim is open because then you opened for it. And then you would open for Management then you start supporting other projects. And this is how it happens. So you need to open, you don't need to make radical changes, but you just open your possibilities. This is the second or third one. It's you need to improve your association.

So you may join your PMI chapter. You may join order associations and talk to them and see what's going on here. Maybe you will meet people from different backgrounds. So it's great to attend a, for example, a workshop or a presentation on a webinar. I bought something and you don't know, knowledge is always something fascinating. It's always something like that. Always adds. I don't know anybody knows that is okay. I got more knowledge than I'm worse.

So knowledge is something that is always an asset. So this is the turn of the forest to do that. He said you need to develop yourself. So you need to do training. You need to do graduate studies. You need to do an open enrollment course. Do you need to improve, but please don't go on the same path. We don't say, Oh, I'm a developer. Now what I'm doing, I'm a second development, a third development, and a fourth development, of course, because this will just poke you more deeply in that line.

This could be if this is your option, but if you want to transition your career, you need to do courses in something like that. It's not what you are doing now. So you need to open your mind. So I will never ever do, of course, just to reinforce my skills. I want to learn new skills and more because if I want to be more flexible in my career. So for me, I started as a chemical engineer. And then at that time, I was given classes in the preparatory courses for the university, OK.

For sat and this kind of thing in, in chemistry, Dan, I saw an opportunity. All design things are going up. So it's an opportunity for me. Then I moved to it because I was good. So I look at to learn, and then I start teaching it, Microsoft windows. And then I saw that there was a guy, was a guy teaching Microsoft Project back in time. And they say, Oh, this guy is doing a lot of money. Oh, this is could be nice. And then I start studying that. I was like a Microsoft word in Excel teacher.

And then I get that. Then I went to it, project management. Then I went to infrastructure. Then I went to consultant services. Now I'm in the United Nations. So look, I did all of this. And every single break you put in your own gives you a more competitive advantage. So you need to of, if this is true or intent, okay, this is your intent. So you need to look for courses that are different from what you are doing now, for example, I'm sorry, mindfulness. I'm doing a course of meditation and they say, hi, and a chemical engineer, completely stressed will look from mindful.

And that's because I want to learn more. I want to learn about different things. And maybe in two years, I can be a different person with different desires of this is the magic of this transition, but don't expect at different output do the same thing. This is obvious, okay. This is obvious. So you need to understand that if you want to be in the project management fueled in a different set of projects, you need to invite yourself to this challenge. It's like a road, how much safe to do a predictable road, but I know, and you, if you want to make a transition, why not take the secondary roads and try to see what's going on, maybe that will stop you soon and it will not be a good road.

Okay? Then you just turn back and try to reorganize. This is the risk with this. You can reach probably something that is more enjoyable. It's more or valuable. I don't know what is your core values in life, but you need to challenge yourself. If you want to be more open, you need to try more. I'm not telling that being more open. It is the best option, but it's up to each of us. So it's an individual decision. But if you want to Transition you need to open your mind to different possibilities.

This is what I want you to think. Today thank you very much at what are the four, the suggestions see you next week. Go for another five minutes. BM Podcast.

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