School of PE Blog

In a single engineering project, a lot goes on behind the scenes- and it's not just designing, strategizing, and developing an item. Outside of the engineering visionaries lies other professionals who help manage the project as a whole by keeping the entire team on schedule. They are project managers.

What is a project manager?

According to the Project Management Institute^®, project managers are passionate goal-setters who use their organization and communication stills to strategically help companies or teams succeed in their projects. From the beginning of a project to the overseeing the completion of a final report on a completed project, project managers help ensure a project goes smoothly by collaborating with team members throughout the entire duration. Typically to become a Project Manager, one must take and pass the Project Management Professional, or PMP^® exam.

How do they play a role in engineering?

Project managers play an extremely important role in the engineering world. When diving into an engineering project, project managers work hard and provide constant communication to team members to ensure the project is finished on time without going over budget. Another important role of project manager is to serve as a liaison between the engineering team and a client, ensuring all communication is recorded and addressed accordingly.

Think about it: without a project manager on a team, deadlines can become foggy, therefore risking a firm's relationship with a client. When a client contacts an engineering firm to complete a project, they are putting their trust in your firm (while putting a large sum of corporate dollars on the line too).

Engineers can be Project Managers, too!

Just because you're an engineer (or aiming to become a licensed professional engineer), doesn't mean you can't be a project manager. In fact, there are many licensed engineers who have also continued their education to become project managers. By having a PMP certification as well as your PE license, your career will be extremely rewarding. As an engineer with a PMP certification, you will be able to:

Interested in learning more about becoming a project manager? We can help! To learn more about our suggested method of preparing for the certification exam, click here.