that I was passionate about building client relationships and delivering tangible results.”
Tip for Would-Be Interns: Specialize—;nd your
project management niche. “If you want to be an
interactive software project manager, maybe there’s
an internship available with a company that specializes in interactive software,” she says. “Become an
expert in that ;eld. Learn, for example, how an iOS
application gets submitted to the app store. ;at way,
when a project manager opportunity comes
up, you already know how interactive
technologies work.”
Best Lesson From Her First Project Management Job: Don’t be
a hero. “In project management, we have a tendency to
work through issues ourselves,”
she says. ;is is especially true,
Ms. Vigil says, of younger project
practitioners still trying to prove
themselves. “It’s so important to raise
your hand when you are experiencing issues
with your project to put some visibility on it. Other,
more experienced people are always willing to help
and say, ‘Here’s what has worked for me.’” PM
Position: Senior software project manager, ;e
Nerdery, a developer-driven interactive production
company in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Putting Vacation Time to Work: During college,
Ms. Vigil took internships that gave her hands-on
project management experience, even though it
wasn’t called project management. During one
school break, she worked as a production management intern at Hubbard Broadcasting, an ABC television a;liate in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. “I didn’t
realize it at the time, but I was managing small projects every day,” she says. “I helped produce a show
on the hottest new restaurants
and events in Minneapolis, so
I had to discover a topic,
interview the people, coordinate the shoots, stay
on top of the budget.”
;e internship, along
with another at MTV/
Viacom, made her
realize she wanted
to become a project manager. “I
learned through
my internships
Paige Vigil, 26 years old
I learned through my internships
that I was passionate about
building client relationships and
delivering tangible results.”
—Paige Vigil
58 PM NETWORK MARCH 2015 WWW.PMI.ORG
DIVE DEEP!
For more insight, advice and
actionable tips on empowering your career right from the
start, head to PMI’s Career
Central at pmi.org/
professional-development/
career-central.aspx
