An interactive project manager collaborates with a team to develop websites and mobile apps for the web and mobile devices. Basic project management skills as well as technical design and application development skills are required for this position. To work as an interactive project manager, you must be creative and have prior project management, team leadership, and interactive project management experience. A bachelor’s degree in project management, technology, or design is often required, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience.
A bachelor’s degree in project management, information technology, web design, application development, or technology management is usually required to work as an interactive project manager. Take project management specialty courses, such as quality assurance, managerial communications, scope management, budgeting, and human resources, when choosing courses for your degree. System development, web application programming, web design, and graphic design courses are also beneficial. If you decide to pursue a general information technology degree, you may need to take some of these courses as electives. For senior project management positions, a master’s degree in project management or a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree can be beneficial.
To be successful in interactive project management, you’ll need leadership, marketing, and design skills in addition to project management skills. You must be able to effectively delegate tasks and use your available resources as a leader of a team of web designers and application developers to create interactive projects that meet your customers’ needs and budget. For designing web applications, you’ll need marketing skills, and you’ll need to know how to use web analytics and search engine optimization to get the best results. Because of the job’s creative nature, you should be familiar with content management programs, web design software, programming languages, social media, and the most up-to-date mobile technologies.
Before you can become an interactive project manager, most employers require you to have at least three — if not five — years of experience. Experience creating Internet content, managing other developers, working with project management teams, using social media, and performing quality assurance testing are all common requirements. Although some employers value experience in a variety of fields, others may insist on five years of experience in interactive project management. Without a bachelor’s degree, a candidate with many years of experience in the field may be able to become an interactive project manager.