Looking for software project management courses? Want to learn how to become a project manager? Then you’ve come to the right place. This post is all about software project management courses. We discuss some of the best online software project management courses that are available, what you need to become a project manager, and what the typical salary is of a software project manager.
If you want to become a good software project manager , there are many things that have to be taken into consideration. You need to do some research and find out what is needed of a software project manager.
What is a project manager in software?
Project managers in software provide consistent leadership and technical expertise to help their teams complete projects correctly and on time. During the software development process, project managers help their teams design, execute, monitor and finalize their work so clients receive high-quality content.
Software project managers typically work full-time hours in an office environment and oversee both the production of the deliverable and the employees performing the work. Because of their leadership responsibilities, software project managers may work extra hours to help employees meet deadlines and finalize project details.
What does a project manager in software do?
A software project manager’s job responsibilities often depend on the scope of the projects they’re working on. However, there are several job duties all software project managers are responsible for, including the following:
- Communicating with clients: Software project managers work with clients to establish project budgets, specifications and deadlines.
- Leading the team: Software project managers assign tasks, evaluate their team’s performance and provide guidance throughout the software development process.
- Planning: Software project managers translate the client’s requests into project plans. They create timelines and develop checkpoints for progress.
- Serving as a liaison: During a project, software project managers frequently communicate with clients and team members to discuss progress and make any requested adjustments.
- Testing and ensuring results: To make sure the final product meets the client’s expectations, software project managers run tests and analytics on the team’s creations.
Here are the things that you should consider before starting a project management career:
- What does being a project manager actually mean? – the basic personality traits of a good project manager
- A project manager’s skills – find out if you have the skills needed to be a part of the project management field
- What does a project manager actually do? – an analysis of the most common project management responsibilities on the current job market
- What’s the secret of a project management career? – tips on becoming better in the project management profession
- How to become a project manager– education and the most important PM certificates you can get out there
- Project manager salary – know how much to ask for according to your experience level
- Project manager career problems – find out how project management experts dealt with problems when they were beginners and prepare to successfully face any issues you might encounter
- Ways of managing projects and product development – Agile, Waterfall, PRINCE2, PRiSM, Six Sigma, Critical Path, and many more
- Tools and resources – collaboration tools, video chat systems, project management software, and all the apps that project managers need to start a project
How To Become a Software Development Project Manager
If you’re interested in becoming a software development project manager, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We’ve determined that 69.2% of software development project managers have a bachelor’s degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 19.4% of software development project managers have master’s degrees. Even though most software development project managers have a college degree, it’s impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a software development project manager. When we researched the most common majors for a software development project manager, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor’s degree degrees or master’s degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on software development project manager resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a software development project manager. In fact, many software development project manager jobs require experience in a role such as project manager. Meanwhile, many software development project managers also have previous career experience in roles such as software developer or senior software engineer.
A project manager’s skills
Knowledge of project management is sometimes just not enough for you to become a great PM. As discussed above, you need soft skills as well. Being a good communicator and an open leader is not enough. Tackling daily project management challenges also requires accountability, adaptability, analytical and strategic thinking, decisiveness, a stress-resistant personality, and even a bit of love for risk-taking. Being a multitasker with great written and oral communication skills can place you among the top project managers in your sector.
When it comes to hard skills, you should be aware that there is no specific project management skill. In fact, depending on the project, you’ll have to know a bit of everything. General business knowledge is highly desired. Don’t worry though, you don’t need to be an expert in technical skills such as coding. However, being able to give accurate and detailed tasks to your developers is important. Leading a project is all about making sure that your team members lack no crucial information to successfully finish a task and delivering the final project.
Another important skill is understanding resource allocation, being able to determine the proper timing of the resources needed within the project schedule. Regardless if you run a small business or a large one, choosing the best online resource management software can ease your work a lot.
You should have an adequate level of knowledge to spot an issue and suggest possible solutions. At the same time, you should know that many project managers have had previous jobs such as software developers, marketing managers, accountants, designers, and so on. This means that they hold the required solid knowledge for projects related to their previous fields of interest.
If you’re one of these people, you might be one step ahead of the others; but you must keep in mind that you’ll also need to develop your own knowledge of project management processes, frameworks, and people management. You might be used to working individually, but project management is all about teamwork. Don’t panic if you end up realizing that working in a project manager position is not the right fit for you. This profession creates many new opportunities and pathways for other future careers.
Take a look at the skills of the most successful project managers and find out if you have what it takes to become like them and what you have to improve:
- solid understanding of business cases and risk management processes
- expert knowledge to meet specific circumstances
- proven project management and self-management skills
- strong leadership skills
- ability to monitor and control budgets
- critical thinking
- good communication and negotiation skills
- capability to make decisions under pressure
- strong interpersonal skills necessary to lead a team
- ability to define situations, document data, and draw conclusions
- strong business acumen
- ability to interpret instructions regardless of their form
- strong organizational and multitasking skills
- creative mindset
- analytical skills
- accuracy and attention to detail
- excellent time management skill
- capacity to maintain schedules and meet deadlines
- problem-solving skills
- self-motivation
- accountability
- work ethic
- working knowledge of project management tools
Conclusion:
Software development has dramatically changed over the years. The software market is growing every day, but it’s getting even more competitive. This leads to smaller margins and increased pressure on developers to deliver top-notch products. Software Project Managers are the glue which holds the whole team together. They are the gears in the clock mechanism that are hidden from sight but are essential to get everything ticking smoothly.