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Progression as a Project Planner

6 replies [Last post]
Wed, 2012-01-11 22:38
David Craig
User offline. Last seen 1 week 11 hours ago. Offline
Joined: 9 Oct 2009
Posts: 48
Groups: Petro-Chem / Oil & Gas
Hi everyone, I was just hoping some of you would be able to give me some advice as to how I can progress my career as a project planner. I started of as an electrician but branched into the planning side of the job. I have now been planning for the last 18 months using primavera p6 as well as a range of other tools (Microsoft office, access etc). I have a company review coming up soon and was hoping for a few pointers on the sort of training I could ask for that would benefit me as a planner. I have sat the basic primavera p6 course but that's it really. Any help n this subject would be greatly appreciated! Best regards, David Craig
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Replies

Mon, 2012-05-28 16:03
#1
David Craig
User offline. Last seen 1 week 11 hours ago. Offline
Joined: 9 Oct 2009
Posts: 48
Groups: Petro-Chem / Oil & Gas

Hi Hezz,

Thanks for replying to my post, its massively appreciated. I would love a mentor but my employer has me working on jobs on my own. I post any queries I have on this site but to be honest I dont get many replies. I have just looked at that site you posted. It looks interesting. I have been leaning towards the PRINCE 2 exam but im struggling to find direction!

 

Anyone want to take me under their wing? haha

 

Kind Regards,

 

David

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Wed, 2012-03-14 20:42
#2
Hezz W
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Joined: 14 Mar 2012
Posts: 3
Groups: None

Hey David,

 

Finding a mentor would be great and really just utilizing all the resources you can and familiarizing yourself with as much as you can so it becomes second nature almost. When I first started I was really intimidated but I tried to educate myself as best as possible. I started using PM tools so I would train my brain to think that way. I am a trained PM now, and was formally trained using MS Project and it was really intimidating and made me feel unadequate. I was recently introduced to PPT (www.pureprojecttools.com) and it has helped me out a lot - even when discussing project planning. It's a good topic for discourse and it has helped me out a lot in my personal and professional life. Good luck!!

 

H.

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Thu, 2012-01-12 21:38
#3
David Craig
User offline. Last seen 1 week 11 hours ago. Offline
Joined: 9 Oct 2009
Posts: 48
Groups: Petro-Chem / Oil & Gas
Thanks for spending your time to help me with this issue! I would love to spend time shadowing a senior planner or equivalent but my company doesn't seem to want that. I was placed with a planner for 6 month then put out to work on my own. I found this really difficult but I have learned through my mistakes. I work for an electrical company so I don't think they would be happy for me to be training towards civils (I may do this in my own time). Are there any degrees that lean towards the planning side of construction? Much appreciated guys. David
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Thu, 2012-01-12 12:06
#4
Ferdinand Fincale...
User offline. Last seen 8 years 26 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 2 Aug 2008
Posts: 140
Groups: Civil Engineering, Pinoy Planning Planet Community

Project management knowledge and framework that generally engulf the planning functions will help you achieve refinement of your planning outputs.

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Thu, 2012-01-12 11:22
#5
Mike Testro
User offline. Last seen 4 weeks 5 days ago. Offline
Joined: 14 Dec 2005
Posts: 4418
Groups: Building Information Modelling, Content Moderators, GPCCAR Editors

Hi Gary

Better switch chicken tikka for bacon butties in the middle east.

Best regards

Mike Testro

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Thu, 2012-01-12 09:28
#6
Gary Whitehead
User offline. Last seen 4 years 46 weeks ago. Offline
Joined: 24 Mar 2009
Posts: 1215
Groups: Building Information Modelling, Content Moderators, Petro-Chem / Oil & Gas, The GrapeVine

David,

 

There is of course The Planning Guild, which Planning Planet has been heavily involved in setting up. Still in it's infancy, but we should see some form of accreditation system coming through this year. -Click on the "The Guild" tab at the top of the screen for more info.

Other well-established courses like APM's Practisioner exist, but they are not planning-specific enough for my tastes.

http://www.apm.org.uk/PractitionerQualification.asp

Many companies seem to really value a relevant engineering degree. My degree in Mech Eng has certainly helped me as a planner, but depending on the nature of the jobs you are planning, a civil engineering degree would probably be of more value.

If possible, I would definitely try and get a senior planner within your company to agree to mentor you. -I found out the hard way that a junior planner left to his own devices will quckly pick up bad habits without knowing they are doing anything wrong.

Other than that, get on site as much as possible. -Sounds like you already have some site experiece as a sparky, but spend some time shadowing the civils boys. -Take plenty of photos, ask plenty of silly questions, and supply plenty of bacon butties to keep them sweet.

 

Good luck!

 

G

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