Hard facts about Project and Programme Management roles

[cojak]

I think this applies to Business Analyts as well. Well this has been my long held view. I may be wrong.

Which is why you need the certificates to differentiate yourself from the wannabes (says cojak ISEB BA certs, currently on an ITIL V3 Expert course...)

[al_cam]

Which is why you need the certificates to differentiate yourself from the wannabes (says cojak ISEB BA certs, currently on an ITIL V3 Expert course...)

Did that, but employers eventually realise certificates aren't worth the paper they are written on and I see adverts requiring them appearing less and less.

[norrahe]

I never bothered with the ISEB route as it never factored for me as a BA, but I did get asked for Prince2 experience even as a BA so went and got the practitoner cert. I've since moved on to PM but worked my way up to it and got relevant experience.

But there are quite a few headless chickens out there who are just power mad loons, who stick their head in the sand at the sight of anything going tits up in their projects and blame the whole team.

[Wanderer]

tits up in their projects

If you are going to have a PM, then a nice pair of tits would probably be the main thing I would look for. That way things still look good when it goes tits up.

Most of the PMs I've worked with have been rubbish, some of them dangerously bad and just went around pissing everyone off. A few have been very good, methodical, good at networking and getting to know the right people to get the job done.

I think PM roles are oversubscribed because they pay a fortune and anyone can try and bluff their way into them. With a hard core techie role you can be questioned and it's obvious if you don't have the skills. A good PM is much harder to spot at an interview...