Want to Be More Valuable in IT? Learn Project Management

IT

Information technology involves “the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems” (source: Quora). IT spending is expected to grow to almost $3.5 trillion worldwide in 2017 And for the 10-year period ending in 2024, computer and information technology employment in the U.S. alone is expected to grow 12 percent, “faster than the average of all occupations,” according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Driving the importance of IT is an increasing emphasis on cloud computing and mobile computing. Whether you’re starting your career as a developer or looking to make the leap straight into project management, learning the basic concepts and best practices through the PMP certification will increase your skill set and boost your earning potential.

ITES/BPO/KPO

First, let’s get to the bottom of the alphabet soup.

ITES: information technology-enabled services. It’s a part of IT but focuses more on service delivery and communication.

BPO: Business process outsourcing, which is when a company outsources business functions to a third party to save money. It can involve areas like customer service, accounting, and human resources.

KPO: Knowledge process outsourcing. It’s a subset of BPO and involves knowledge-based outsourcing; the goal isn’t always saving money. It can involve areas like R&D and legal services.

Plunkett Research estimates that global outsourcing revenues in 2017 will be $565 billion. And in ITES, BPO, and KPO, project management plays a critical role, leading to increased efficiency in terms of cost, time and effort. So if you’re looking to move into one of these fields, gaining project management knowledge and experience is a must.

Banking and Insurance

New technologies for more efficiency and competitiveness are continually emerging in the banking and insurance industries, and new operating models are always on the horizon. How will you keep up? Whenever a new policy, practice or system in insurance or banking is implemented, a project manager or even many project managers are there to make the process as effective as possible. Someone with both IT and project management skills is, therefore, a valuable asset in both of these fields.

Health Care

Health technology may be the most profitable sector in the world. And with health care companies merging, profit margins perpetually in the spotlight and medical techniques becoming more advanced by the day, project management may be more important than ever. Learning how to maximize resources and efficiently meet goals through a project management course will give you a leg up on other candidates when health care companies are looking to hire.

Manufacturing and Construction

Whenever there is work like road construction, bridge construction, and building construction, as well as product manufacturing (and where don’t these things exist?), there is a huge demand for project management. With schedules and cost-efficiency of the essence, and with project scope often changing mid-project in response to the market or the client, a skilled project manager can keep things from going off the rails. Learning how to manage a team of employees, contractors, subcontractors, and more, as well as how to manage the material resources involved, increases your worth to an employer or can maximize your success if it’s your own business.

Consulting and Training

The U.S. consulting market alone was worth $58.7 billion in 2016, up more than 7 percent from the prior year, and the IT consulting market, in particular, has expanded over the past five years. Specialty areas like cybersecurity and cloud computing are hot, and companies without employees dedicated to these areas are hiring consultants to fill the gap. Similarly, companies need IT workers trained in project management to training their in-house teams on best practices. Becoming certified in PMP® is an excellent way to make yourself stand out from other candidates for consulting or training jobs.

Are you ready to learn how to best handle project schedules, costs, the scope of work, project constraints, market competition, stakeholders, and more? Take Simplilearn’s PMP Certification course to get all the training you need.

PMP is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.