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PM magazine | FALL 2019
FALL 2019 | PM magazine
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GO WHERE THE ACTION IS!
Maybe you are like me and have a fascination with project management. Maybe facilitating meetings excites Nicholas Wojnowski, you, or maybe you are just PMP, CSM, MCTS, MCP really good at managing IT Security Specialist things. Either way, you have U.S. Federal Government decided that project management was the right career path for you! So now what? (Yes, that dreaded question that you have been hearing from your parents since you have moved that tassel to the left.) You have earned your Bachelor’s Degree and maybe you took it a step further and decided to become a Project Management Professional (PMP). Now you are ready to reap the benefits of your hard work. But the real question is, which industry do you want to work in?
“The outlook for project managers is better than it’s looked in years.”
After a quick search on one of the top job search engines, one can quickly notice that the options seem endless. But why? Does every project manager across the country have these endless options? Actually, yes! Demand for project managers is growing faster than demand for workers in other occupants. According to Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Project Management Job Growth and Talent Gap 2017-2027 report, 22 million new project-oriented jobs will be created in the next 10 years (PMI, 2017). So the outlook for project managers is better than it has looked in years. But what are the top industries that are growing and boosting with job opportunities? According to an article written by bestcollegereviews.org, these are the top five industries hiring project management professionals: Healthcare; Finance; Information Technology; Construction; and Energy (Five Top Industries Hiring Project Management Professionals, 2019). Lucky for me these industries are right in my backyard of Baltimore, Maryland, a city and state that flourishes with top companies in these industries and is home to twelve Fortune 1000 companies. Baltimore and Maryland also thrives because of its close proximity to Washington, D.C. home of politics and policy making, and the job opportunities that come with that. In this article we’ll take a deeper look at some of the top PM industries such Healthcare, Finance, and Information Technology in and around Baltimore, Maryland and why it should be your top landing place to jump start your career (Search Fortune 500, 2019).
care paving the way for a healthier future. These leaders along with other healthcare shareholders are undergoing radical transformations with technology, building new hospitals, and providing outreach service in hard-to-reach communities. Project managers will find plenty of opportunities in this industry especially since there’s a necessity to move from paper-based records to digitizing patient medical data and the need to secure Protect Health Information (PHI) data (Baltimore Key Industries, 2013). Finance Financial project managers do not need to go any further than the Greater Baltimore region as it continues to maintain a lofty position within the financial services industry. Project managers are an integral part of the way financial services and businesses operate striving to find smarter ways of working and implementing technical changes while organizing and managing resources and costs (Baltimore Key Industries, 2013).
cies. Such agencies include U.S. Cyber Command, National Security Agency, Social Security Administration, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services as well as a high concentration of government contracting firms. The U.S. government has recently incentivized the need for project managers and PMPs, as former President Barack Obama signed in the “Program Management Improvement and Accountability Act” (PMIAA). This PMIAA creates an increased awareness and the need for certified experienced PM professionals (Baltimore Key Industries, 2013). In conclusion, whether you have a strong interest in a particular industry or still testing the waters, why not go where the action is? Baltimore! Whether you know this or not, one of the main advantages of a project management career is the flexibility to work in almost any company or industry you prefer. The elements of project management are standardized in such a way that switching from one industry to the other is seamless.
Information Technology and Cybersecurity The Baltimore-Washington corridor is the strongest IT market in the U.S., ranking higher in IT employment concentration than areas such as the Silicon Valley and Boston. With the industry continuing to grow and being the forefront of hiring project management professionals, project managers have an endless range of work to lead development and infrastructure projects (Baltimore Key Industries, 2013).
Healthcare
The cybersecurity industry is rapidly growing and project managers are needed to help support cybersecurity projects to ensure that they stay on budget and schedule. Maryland is home to important agencies and local offices of leading national cyber security companies located in Anne Arundel, Howard and Baltimore counties, including the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Booz Allen Hamilton and Raytheon.
Some of the world’s most respected medical institutions are found in Maryland. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the University of Maryland School of Medicine, are leaders in health-
As if those top industry picks are not enough for a project manager to land a dream job in Maryland, just a short drive from our nation’s capital, Baltimore is home to more than a dozen federal agen-
“You decided to become a Project Management Professional (PMP). Now you are ready to reap the benefits of your hard work. But the real question is, which industry do you want to work in?”
References: Project Management Institute. (2017). Project ManagementJob Growth and Talent Gap. Project Management- Job Growth and Talent Gap. Retrieved from: https://www.pmi.org/-/ media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/learning/job-growth-report. pdf?v=c304efd3-8c2a-48dc-9489-a945a8a07614&sc_lang_ temp=en Five Top Industries Hiring Project Management Professionals. (2019). Retrieved November 1, 2019, from: https://www.bestcollegereviews.org/lists/five-top-industries-hiring-project-management-professionals/ Search Fortune 500. (2019). Retrieved November 1, 2019, from https://fortune.com/fortune500/search/?hqstate=MD Baltimore’s Key Industries. (2019). Retrieved November 1, 2019, from https://baltimore.org/info/baltimores-key-industries
