The Project Management Institute (PMI) released its 2015 Global Job Report at the beginning of this year. Inside, they listed updates to the economic outlook for different countries around the world, and how project managers and other project professionals are faring in the job market in terms of salaries and job opportunities.
It turns out that project management professionals are doing well in 2015. Economic growth around the world is up, and project professionals are commanding competitive salaries in specific sectors in each country.
Project manager salary highlights
Here are the median project manager salaries earned in different countries around the world, in United States dollars:
- Australia: $134,658
- Brazil: $58,963
- China: $27,156
- India: $27,052
- Mexico: $44,763
- Nigeria: $35,707
- United Kingdom: $90,666
- United States: $108,000
Do you like charts? Of course you do. Here’s that information in chart form:
Maybe we should all consider moving to Australia…?
One quick note – while Canada was not featured on this list, I was interested in finding out how much money Canadian project managers have been making. On December 19th, 2014, PMI posted that Canadian project managers made about $98,517. At that time, United States project managers were making $105,000, so you might assume that Canadian project managers are making over $100k USD in 2015.
PMP project manager salaries
While the article doesn’t specifically mention how much PMP certified project managers are making in comparison to non-certified project managers, the 2014 article referenced above indicated that in the United States, project managers with PMPs made about $14,500 more than their non-certified peers. That’s no small chunk of change!
Hello Brian,
I stumbled upon your blog when researching steps to becoming a PM and thus needing to be PMP-certified. I am looking into career changing from a public school teacher to project management. I have 8 years experience as a teacher, and though I have other experiences I will use to speak to my experience running a project, the bulk of my experience will come from my job as a teacher within the classroom working with students and outside the classroom working with adults. Considering my background, I wanted to know if you have any insight in having helped, mentored, worked with, a teacher who has wanted to become a PM or is already a PM. The main reason why I am asking is I’m a little worried that my experience as a teacher may sadly hinder my 4,500 work hours needed in case of an audit in the eyes of PMI. Is it a matter of selling myself correctly? Do you have any suggestions or insights? Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you,
Jonathan
Hello Jonathan,
Thanks very much for your question. You definitely have an interesting background.
I do think it might be difficult to justify your work as a public school teacher as project management work experience. Normally you would need work experience leading and directing projects, while teaching seems more of an ongoing thing and not actually project-related.
I do know that a friend of mine who works as a computer science instructor at the College of Charleston in South Carolina (and has for his whole career) did get PMP certified. I believe he ran a variety of different projects both at the school and with professional organizations in the Charleston area; I do not believe he was able to count his actual teaching, instructing, marking, and other various teaching-related work as project management work experience.
You might look into various ways that you can lead and direct projects as a teacher. Or you could always try to change careers first, and then get the project management experience as soon as you do that, so that you can sit for the PMP exam as soon as possible.
Sounds like an interesting challenge. Best of luck to you!
Hello Brian,
iam working as a senior consultant form past 6 years for small software development company ,my job profile is interacting with client regarding their requirement and their customization project and putting forward this requirement to technical team and discuss where the client requirement is fulfilled or not under client budget or any other modifications should be done .i mean to say from the initial stage to final stage and delivery of the project should be handle by me.but iam not technical guy . i want to do PMP certification does it is helpful for me . more over iam an MBA holder from darden business school,university of varginia,USA. can u please help me out to enhance my career.
Hello Sultan, I do think that if you’re working as a consultant at a software company and working with business requirements, PMP certification might be a good idea. I have several friends who are business analysts who also manage projects who have earned their PMPs, and they find them quite useful. Not only that, but PMP certification can open up other doors in the future, or get you involved in different, important projects that your company is working on. Congratulations on your MBA from the Darden School of Business – that is a great institution! All the best to you.