Ph.D. in Project Management
Ph.D. in Project Management
(OP)
I have a masters degree in mechanical engineering and 4 yrs experience working with force transducers. I am thinking of getting my Ph.D. (Part-Time) in Engineering Management with specialization in Project Management. I wanted to know if it is too early to get a degree in Project Management since I only have 4 yrs expeience (Say 7-8 by the time I get the degree). Also how useful is it in the industry? Does the industry really require someone with a Ph.D. to be a project manager? Or is it good only in academia? I would greatly appreciate any input in helping me make an important career decision. Thanks
Ahad
Ahad





RE: Ph.D. in Project Management
The biggest value of a PhD in industry is the PR value of the letters after your name. A Masters is better suited for work in industry than a PhD.
I’d stay at the master’s level unless you wanted to be a consultant and then the PhD is more of a marketing tool than anything.
The time frame is about right. The advanced degree will take some time off the usual time to make the transition to management, usually on a 2 for 1 ratio so say 8 years experience with a 2 year graduate degree would translate into 12 years normal experience to make the transition
However once in management further advancement would be dependent on performance than on education.
Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng
Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
www.kitsonengineering.com
RE: Ph.D. in Project Management
Stacy
Project Management Knowledge Base
RE: Ph.D. in Project Management
If anything, having such a degree can be a detriment, since there's usually an "ivory-tower" connotation associated with higher degrees.
TTFN
RE: Ph.D. in Project Management
RE: Ph.D. in Project Management
To me, that's the essential trade. Do you give up your outside life to ace a few projects to build a track record or do you give it up to get a degree? The down side, of course, is that you might find that you either hate it or are bad at it. In that case, the degree is sort of superfluous, while the actual project experience can still be taken advantage of.
While I'm not a project manager nor want to be, my experience working on projects gives my "lessons learned" higher validity than if the lessons learned were only from books or lectures.
TTFN
RE: Ph.D. in Project Management
Ahad
RE: Ph.D. in Project Management
As far as I can tell, a PhD is almost always considered as a research-oriented person. You essentially have to spend up to 6 to 10 yrs after BS to get PhD, which puts you behind the power curve on experience. Much of the experience that REALLY teaches you lessons are almost always learned by BS-level junior engineers.
As you become a senior engineer is when you get to pontificate about "lessons learned" when you were just a newbie.
TTFN
RE: Ph.D. in Project Management
There is a trend of PM "a" working on the MBA part-time (online or at the local university(s)). PM "b" is probably a clinical workaholic and extremely rare.
A Ph.D. in project management, in my opinion, would only be meaningful if your research concentrated on sociological effects of idiots in "leadership," or contrasting "business development" with "technical mastery" or engineering history of project managers (L. Sprague De Camp's "The Ancient Engineers" has good insight into that).
Maybe study "engineering business processes"? But how is that different than "fast-food marketing business processes"?
What about a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering? - If you're interested in engineering management processes.
RE: Ph.D. in Project Management
A PhD is a research degree and generally only opens doors to opportunities in research or areas of industry that you may have covered in your studies.
Personally I think it does very little for career and leaves you with 3-4 years less experience than your counterparts. Employers are interested in people who get results and a good track record demonstrates that best off all.
You could end up being stuck in something which you hate and end up with little to show for it. I heard of a person who was partially sighted and spent 9 years studying for a PhD but was only awarded an MPhil.
RE: Ph.D. in Project Management
Definately, consider the real career outlook!
Jay Maechtlen
http://home.covad.net/~jmaechtlen/
RE: Ph.D. in Project Management
a) Have you talked to your manager?
b) Does he think this would be useful in your company?
c) Is he willing to pay you for it (tuitiion and salary while you are in school)?
If the answer is yes, yes, yes - then I suggest that you go ahead and do it.
If the answer to a) is no, maybe you should.
If the answer to a) is yes, and b) is no, well, that sort of answers it for your company. Maybe for your industry or geographical location too?
If the answer to a) is yes, and b) is yes, and c) is no, well, this is where the future payout vs self actualization/improvement debate/analysis takes place.
With respect to do you have enough experience to go back to do a Ph.D, it is common for students to do bachelors to Ph.D straight, so I would venture yes, you have enough experience.