An interesting article on on Science Careers by David Jensen.



Recruiters will tell you that the three words “project management experience” are golden on a curriculum vitae (CV). In my biotechnology search practice, I've found that smaller employers have a ferocious appetite for people with these abilities. Such companies have learned by trial and error that keeping a dozen balls in the air is not a task that you can assign to an entry-level scientist!



Project management is an established discipline, with degrees, techniques, and professional certifications. Yet many of the people who do this kind of work in scientific industries do it without this formal training–or they pick up that training later. Furthermore, project management is also a toolbox used by those in other lines of work.



In this month's Tooling Up, I highlight one scientist's successful journey into a project management career at a biotechnology company. No matter what industry sector you consider for employment, you will find employers readily hiring people like Todd Pray–people who show that they have the detail management, communication, and people skills that it takes to manage projects.

Influence without authority

“I started to develop an interest in this type of work back in my graduate school days, because the lab I came from was such a collaborative environment,” says Todd, the associate director of project management at Amyris Biotechnologies, a San Francisco Bay–area company involved in medical research and biofuels. Todd did his Ph.D. in biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where his mentor, a professor with strong ties to industry, fostered strong collaborations. Todd quickly discovered that collaborative science works best when one has the ability to get things done without necessarily being in charge.



“They say that project management is a job of influencing without real authority,” Todd says. Here, Todd isn't talking about the technical discipline of project management but about one of the biggest challenges to getting things done in complex organizations, which is the job, ultimately, of most project management pros in biotech and pharma. The ability to motivate and influence people who don't report to you is a very subtle business, and it's a core skill that's essential for any job that involves project management.