Project Management Education: Should I Go Back To School?

In “How To Get Into Project Management“, I talked about how a 4-year degree is usually the minimum standard for most project management roles.

“So what if I don’t have a 4-year degree?”

That was a question I received in response to the video, and it’s a good one.

I suggest you go after your 4-year degree. You may know I went back to school to get a BSc in Project Management. Well, I had gone to college for electronics after high school, but ended up dropping out of college after about 3 semesters. It wasn’t the job for me, and I was an 19-year old kid who frankly didn’t value education as much as I do now.

Fast-forward several years. I had been in several management roles, and so while I COULD get these jobs, it was always a struggle. I really had to prove myself in order for hiring managers to overlook the fact that I didn’t have a degree. I wanted to go back to school and get my degree so that:

I could gain the full benefit of the education
I could stop struggling so hard to land management and project management positions.

I went back to school (night school) and worked full time while I went to school full time. It was a taxing 3 years before I finished my degree in Project Management. The best thing about going back to college as a “non-traditional student” was that I really valued the education. I put a ton of effort into it, and got a ton of value out of it. I worked my tail off and didn’t get much sleep, but it was worth it.

Many programs don’t offer Project Management degrees. That’s OK. Assuming you want to manage projects, a business degree or technical degree can both be just as good.
If you want to manage IT projects but don’t have any technical background, go for the Computer Science or related degree.
If general project management and business appeal to you, go for the business-related degree.
If you want to be a construction project manager, try to find a construction management degree program or something similar.