1. It Never Gets Boring
As a project manager, you don’t have a typical, monotonous 9-to-5 job, because every project and every client is different and brings its own unique challenges. Accordingly, new approaches and solutions must always be found. This requires creativity, curiosity, and complex thinking in particular. Project managers are often involved in several projects simultaneously. As a result, they deal with different companies as well as various topics, goals, and people.
2. Collaboration with Interesting People and Personalities
A particularly exciting aspect of project work for me is that you come into contact with a wide variety of people and, in global projects, with different cultures. Usually, the individual project participants have different levels of knowledge and experience. The mutual exchange and dialogue can therefore be very well used to learn from each other and thus develop oneself.
Moreover, if you engage with the other team members and accept opinions or working methods that deviate from your own expectations, it’s a lot of fun to create something new together and lead the project to success.
3. Like a Mini-CEO
A project manager must be able to take responsibility and deal professionally with various interest groups, even in pressure situations. It is also very important to reliably deliver promised or agreed results within the defined timeframe and budget. Regularly creating detailed reports and meaningful statistics is also part of a project manager’s tasks. It is therefore the best training to prepare and qualify for leadership positions or even running your own company.
4. Intensive Customer Contact
I particularly appreciate the proximity to the customer in my profession. There’s hardly anything better than finding a new solution that satisfies or even delights your clients. To succeed with particularly demanding, erratic, or hard-to-understand customers, you should bring a lot of empathy and always strive for a good relationship.
“As a project manager, you learn a lot about companies, people, and new technologies, but above all, you get to know yourself better.”
Marcel Cherubin – Senior Project Manager
5. Insights into Various Industries
Since project management primarily revolves around general processes and procedures, it is possible to apply your knowledge across industries. By switching to a different industry, you can relatively easily open up new perspectives for your career. However, since industry-specific know-how is certainly advantageous, you shouldn’t overdo it with changing.
6. You’re Always Learning
Whether newcomer or old hand, as a Project Manager, you never stop learning. To successfully carry out projects, you simply need to master the necessary tools and techniques. In practice, this means keeping an eye on current trends and developments and taking continuing education courses. In project management, there are usually no pre-fabricated solutions, which is why it’s all the more important to be able to apply established methods such as ITIL, PRINCE2 or SCRUM. Furthermore, you must of course also be able to select the right method(s) for the respective project, team, and client.
7. Flexible Work Locations
Where exactly one carries out their work in project management is quite diverse and very varied. Nowadays, projects are increasingly managed remotely. This allows Project Managers to complete their tasks in their own office or even from home. Meetings are held over the internet, and project files are stored using online shared tools, which enable real-time collaboration on documents. Team communication can be quickly and effectively realized through chat tools, and numerous useful apps support daily work. This is very practical when working on projects with international teams from the Isar meadows.
Additionally, one is of course on-site with clients from time to time. For me personally, these visits are very exciting and enjoyable, especially when the client is located near the beach in Rio or Sydney.
8. Independence
A project manager primarily organizes their own workday and doesn’t wait for tasks to be assigned to them. This self-determined way of working allows for flexible and individual scheduling of the day. To ensure this works as well as possible and, above all, efficiently in practice, an extremely structured approach is necessary, and to-do lists are part of everyday life.
As a project manager, you learn a lot about companies, people, and new technologies, but above all, you get to know yourself better. Therefore, here’s a small but, in my opinion, important tip: Stay fit and practice calmness, following the motto ‘a healthy mind in a healthy body’. The job can be demanding both physically and mentally, so it’s important to think positively and remain calm even in difficult situations.
