Requirements

IT project manager - requirements

As an IT project manager, you’ll apply your technical know-how and organisational skills to plan, develop and deliver new information systems or processes within a certain timeframe. Read on to learn more about a career in IT project management, get an idea of what it involves and how you can work towards a role.

Know what you'll need to land a job below.

What qualifications do you need to be an IT project manager?

You could enter this field from many subject backgrounds but especially useful subjects include:

You can enter this field without a higher-level qualification or even an HND if you can show employers strong relevant experience in the sector and excellent IT skills.

Please note this is a beta version. We'll continue to improve our suggestions here so that we show you the most relevant subjects.

Do you need a postgraduate qualification to be an IT project manager?

Postgraduate qualifications aren’t typically needed but are a great way to transition over from a different subject area.

You might consider a postgraduate degree such as:

Computer science
Computing science
Business analytics
Software engineering
Cyber security and data governance
Cyber security engineering
Data science

What skills do you need to be an IT project manager?

In this role your leadership and management skills, along with your ability to communicate with others, will be important.

Hard skills usually include:

Managing projects
Agile project management
Software scrums
Service levels
Managing stakeholders
Project finances
Software and system development

Soft skills include:

Managing people
Managing processes
Leading others
Planning tasks
Proactive thinking
Solving problems
Influencing people

Do you need work experience to be an IT project manager?

Work experience is an important part of your career development in this field, as managers are expected to be knowledgeable and confident in the technical areas that they’re directing.

Having familiarity or experience with different IT systems, software platforms and project types is particularly useful. Many IT companies offer training programmes that could help you build a strong base of experience or you could pursue personal programming or IT projects to help you build an attractive portfolio.