How to Become a IT Project Manager in 2025 Next Steps + Requirements

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What Do You Love the Most About Your Job?

Being an IT project manager is an exciting career that combines leadership skills with technical knowledge. IT project managers work with a team across business and technology domains, leading them through the project’s life cycle to deliver great results. They are responsible for creating plans and schedules that guide your team from ideation to launch, ensuring everyone knows what needs to happen next and motivating them along the way. An information technology (IT) project manager is a professional who works within an organisation to help them achieve their IT goals by planning and executing projects.

Do you need a degree to become a Project Manager?

• With the expansion of technologies across all industries, like cloud and big data, IT project managers are required to assist with projects like cloud migration and application development.
• Information technology project manager salaries range between $76,000 and $149,000 per year.
• While a good technical background is essential, job descriptions also seek non-technical skills such as task management, scheduling, and producing detailed plans.
• From 2020 to 2030, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts an 11% increase in job opportunities for IT managers.
• Finally, use a numbered list to outline your procedures or rankings, such as the steps you took to streamline project workflows or the rankings you achieved in project performance evaluations.
• To become an IT project manager, IT professionals are usually required to have a bachelor’s degree.
• An IT (information and technology) project manager is an expert who plans and executes projects to assist organizations in accomplishing their IT goals.

The demand for IT Project Managers is high, especially as companies continue to adopt digital solutions. Candidates with certifications, practical experience, and strong networking skills have a better chance of breaking into the field. Once you gain experience, opportunities open up in various industries, from tech startups to large enterprises. The US Bureau of Labour Statistics projects a 17% growth rate for computer and information managers from 2023 to 2030 which is faster than the average for most occupations. Project management helps identify and mitigate risks, manage resources effectively, and ensure stakeholders are informed and involved throughout the project. A business-oriented project manager may not be successful leading a software development project because they can’t effectively articulate the needs of the engineers or technical specs, and vice versa.

Internships and Co-op Programs

Use action verbs to describe tasks you performed in previous roles, and when possible, emphasize any quantifiable outcomes. They develop a budget and allocate resources, including technology and human capital. EvolveWithTech offers flexible, beginner-friendly programs that provide you with career roadmaps, expert instruction, and real-world internships to help you thrive in the tech space. So hopefully, that helps to delineate what some of the terms mean, understand what the description of the role is, and some of the requirements for that. Jennifer added that some people ask her how Scrum and Agile or other certifications fit in.

Get Experience

If you’re interested in advancing your career in IT project management, consider IBM’s IT Project Manager Professional Certificate on Coursera. This program covers topics such as project lifecycle management, Agile development, and more. Upon completion, gain exclusive access to career resources like resume review, interview prep, and IBM’s People and Soft Skills Specialization. Some organizations may require an IT manager to have a graduate degree, such as a Master of Business Administration Middle Project Manager job (MBA).

Look for an entry-level project management job.

• IT project managers are responsible for planning, organizing, and managing the information technology processes of an organization.
• At the beginning of my career, I started as an SAS and a .NET software developer at the U.S.
• An IT project manager is a project manager who focuses on IT-related projects, such as introducing new software solutions, scaling IT processes, or switching an organization’s cloud provider.
• There are specific skills recruiters look out for you should focus on gaining and communicating your proficiency in these skills to increase your chances of being selected.
• Some companies even create IT project management offices (PMOs) to oversee the completion of large projects.
• Finally, the complete project is handed to the customer, stakeholder, or client.

In high school, you may wish to take as many computer and technology classes as possible, including classes in computer science, programming, computer security and software design, if offered at your school. Project managers identify the project goals, scope, plans and deliverables. Here are a few key steps you can take to position yourself for success in this exciting field.

• Do you have several years of experience in project management plus at least one project management certification, but no degree?
• To succeed in an IT project manager position, IT professionals need a specific set of durable, professional skills.
• They should be able to motivate and inspire their team members, delegate tasks efficiently, and resolve conflicts when they arise.
• One of the essential skills of a well-rounded project manager is to instil a climate of psychological safety.
• Before we get too far along, let’s make sure we have a solid understanding of the role itself.

Gain important project management skills on Coursera

This expertise allows them to communicate effectively with technical teams and address project challenges confidently. IT Project Managers are crucial in bridging the gap between technical teams and business stakeholders, translating complex technical requirements into understandable terms for non-technical decision-makers. In the world of project management (PM), universal traits such as communication, organization and negotiation programmer skills are absolute requirements to be successful.