How To Make $100,000 a Year as a Project Manager
OK, so we’re fast approaching February. Our resolutions are shot for the most part. But there’s one lots of us make that could be attainable: earn more money. How about $100,000 a year?
ProjectManagementHacks.com says it has four key insights to earn $100,000 a year. There’s just something about a six-figure salary that sounds enticing. Plus, there’s the bragging rights of it making you among the top 20 percent of income earners. (The article says $360,000 annually puts you in the top 1 percent.)
OK, as the article points out, there is more than just bragging rights when you earn $100k. (Plus – you really shouldn’t be bragging about your salary, at least not to co-workers.) “Once you reach the six figure income level, you are likely to have staff to manage. That means you have the challenge (and rewards) of developing people.
“Further, a six figure income means you have developed significant career capital. You will have more and more options to choose your projects and increase your satisfaction,” the article says. In other words, the more you make, the more in control you typically are.
There’s some good advice in the article that moves beyond the standard apply for better jobs and network to find out who is paying more. The first suggestion (of four) is do your research. As the article points out, “You need to start by discovering the best opportunities and capabilities of six figure project managers. Fortunately, the Project Management Institute (PMI) has taken the guess work out of earning a high income. It says the four factors that affect project manager compensation are:
Work Experience
Education
Industry
Project Complexity
When it comes to work experience, these observations are made:
For Early Career Project Managers: If you have less than 10 years of experience, reaching the $100,000 salary will be challenging.
For Mid To Late Career Project Managers: In many industries, ten years of experience starts to open new experiences. A successful PM with a record of accomplishments should be making this much after 10 years.
With respect to education, you have to be a believer and be what is considered an enthusiastic achiever. “This elite group regularly looks for educational experiences to develop their skills and knowledge. They regard their PDU requirements to maintain the PMP certification as a minimum, rather than a maximum,” the article says.
How does your industry impact your earnings? According to the article, “The Top 5 Industries That Pay Top Project Manager Salaries
Consulting: $125,000
Resources (Agriculture, Mining etc): $122,000
Pharmaceuticals: $120,000
Aerospace: $117,000
Engineering: $113,000
The article says to use this information to consider switching industries. “You might be in a declining industry. Or your industry may simply not place a high value on project management. In either case, advancement to a higher project manager salary will be easier if you switch to an industry where your contribution is likely to be valued,” is a good observation.
Project complexity is the fourth and final element to boosting your take-home pay to more than $100,000. “By any measure, our world is becoming more complex. Despite these challenges, organizations and companies are determined to improve and make changes. That’s why your ability to manage complex projects impacts your potential earnings,” the article says.
Want to make more money? Tackle projects that are larger in scope is the solution. “To reach a $100,000 income, you need to take on projects with large budgets. As a rule of thumb, I would suggest focusing on projects with budgets over $1 million. Of course, you will need to tailor this concept to meet the parameters of your organization,” the article adds.
Direct Communication within Your Project: How and with Whom?
There’s nothing more essential to a successful project than communication. It plays a role in everything from teamwork to ensuring that your stakeholders are engaged and more. Without communication, your project is dead in the water. However, how should you communicate? With whom do you really need to communicate as the project progresses? While the answers to these questions will certainly vary by project type, industry and company size, here are some of the most common answers.
How and When
Before we touch on whom you need to communicate with, let’s take a look at how and when you need to communicate. These can be difficult things to keep in place, particularly if you’re new to the role of project manager, or you’ve just stepped into a larger project than what you’re used to. There are two key words here – direct and timely. Direct communication means that you send your message (in whatever manner you choose) directly to the person in question, rather than having it come down the chain of command. Timely communication means that you don’t wait to send a message – you do it immediately, while it is still relevant.
The question of how you communicate will be largely determined by the type of team you’re managing. For instance, if your team members are located remotely, you’ll be relying primarily on electronic communication options. If they’re local, you can herd them up and have an in-person meeting when needed.
For stakeholders, this changes. Most of the time you’ll be communicating with stakeholders through email and over the phone, particularly if you’re working on a project for a client. Regardless, you need to make sure that your communication is direct and timely – you can’t afford to leave your stakeholders out of the loop any more than you can your team members.
With Whom?
Team Members – The most important people to communicate with are your team members. You need to communicate with them constantly, and it should be direct (verbal communication versus a memo, for instance). However, there are many ways you can communicate directly with them and ensure that you’re doing so on a constant basis. These include the following:
Email
Phone
Instant Message
Wiki Boards
Video Chat
Face-to-Face
Team Meetings (yes, these are necessary)
Stakeholders – Communicating with stakeholders is most frequently done through electronic means, as mentioned previously. However, that’s not true in 100% of instances. Your specific situation may require that you communicate with various stakeholders directly. These might include your managers, project champions, the heads of other departments that play a role in fulfillment, and many others. Remote stakeholders will usually require that you use phone or email communications though. Many of the same communications tools used for team communication can be used here.
Communication (timely and direct) is vital to your success. You must stay in constant contact with those who matter most to your project. Make sure that everyone who needs to be is kept in the loop at all times, and you’ll find that your path to success is smoother than would otherwise be possible.