Who is a Project Engineer?

Who is a Project Engineer?

A?Project Engineer?manages technical or engineering projects. They work with stakeholders at all levels, with direct responsibility for budgeting, personnel and project planning and making sure the project is finished on time and on budget.

Project engineering?is typically the management of engineering and technical projects – this includes managing the triple constraints of:

• Cost?(the financial constraints of a project, or the project budget)
• Time?(the schedule for the project to reach completion)
• Scope?(the tasks required to fulfil the project’s goals)

along with personnel to deliver a successful project outcome that is fit for purpose.

In addition to these factors, significant consideration of the work of project engineers is the safety of the project. They will work to minimize the risks associated with engineering projects.

The project engineer will act as a coordinating figure, dealing with stakeholders across all areas of the project. They will interpret the needs, expectations, and limitations of each, and bring them together with the aim of successful project delivery.

What does a Project Engineer do?

The role of a Project Engineer can vary from project to project. Project Engineers can be the individual in charge of a project, or they can be a co-lead or an assistant alongside a project manager, giving advice and supervision to the engineering aspects of the project.

Whatever the specific set up, the project engineer will likely be the one in charge of the technical considerations and team within a project.

As well as office-based time, a project engineer will likely spend a significant amount of time “on site” at the project.

Although specifics can vary, general tasks often include:

• Interpretation of the desired outcome into a detailed plan that can be implemented by a project team
• Planning and forecasting of the project
• Acquisition of appropriate staff, materials, and equipment
• Liaising with contractors, suppliers and internal company stakeholders
• Keeping the project on schedule
• Keeping the project on budget
• Manpower management of the project team
• Ongoing reporting of the project progress
• Ensuring that all aspects of the project proceed while adhering to internal company SOPs as well as external regulations and laws – this includes maintenance of project documentation
• Troubleshooting problems as they arise on a project – finding efficient and effective solutions
• Commissioning and qualification responsibilities

What Skills Do You Need?

The ideal skill set for someone moving into project engineering includes:

• Organizational Skills?– this is a key requirement for a project engineering role. They must be able to prioritize workloads, problems and the needs of all members of their multidisciplinary team.
• Communication Skills?– is in regular communication and direct management of a multidisciplinary team. They have to be able to outline project deliverables, understand problems and convey effective workarounds to members of the team to ensure the project continues as intended. Also, likely to have direct communication with stakeholders at all levels (including suppliers, management and project staff), have to be able to understand and adjust to the priorities of each.
• Problem Solving Abilities?– they are ultimately responsible for the engineering aspects of a project (or potentially the whole project), they must be able to find appropriate solutions for problems as they arise.
• Keen Attention to Detail?– in the management of a multidisciplinary team, they must be able to focus on many tasks at once while still maintaining close attention to the details of each.
• Commercial Awareness?– more than many other engineering roles, a project engineer must possess the commercial awareness to deliver project outcomes on schedule and on budget, while still maintaining its safety.
• Decisiveness?– will be required to make significant decisions on a routine basis. Must be able to assess and understand the facts involved before reaching an objective decision that they will be fully accountable for.

How do You Become a Project Engineer?

To manage any engineering project, you are going to need a deep and thorough understanding of its technical aspects combined with real-world hands-on experience. And so, for this reason, project engineering is generally not considered a standalone engineering or academic discipline in and of itself. Rather, the techniques used are added on to an existing engineering qualification such as mechanical, civil, chemical, process, petroleum, electrical, automation, etc. or learned on the job. Lots of universities or colleges offer project management certificates through their existing management, business, or professional education programs.

In addition, there is a wide range of professional institutions and accreditation bodies that offer certification. Here is a selection so some of the most common certifications. But there are many others.

Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)?

The program is administered by the Project Management Institute (PMI). The Certified Associate in Project Management is the precursor to the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification (See below). If you don’t have a college degree,?have limited project management experience or want to get PMP certification in steps rather than all at once, the CAPM is a stepping-stone to the more rigorous PMP.

Project Management Professional (PMP)?

This is one of the top project management certifications and is issued by the Project Management Institute. The certification process is a rigorous test that covers absolutely everything you need to prove your knowledge and skill in managing the “triple constraints”: time, cost and scope.

International Project Management Association?(IPMA-B),?(IPMA-C)?and?(IPMA-D)

IPMA?divided its accreditation levels into levels B, C and D. Level B is intended for larger, more complex projects where analytical project management techniques are a major part of the management of the project.??Level C is intended for small, less complex projects where project management often is more based on relationships than analytical methods. Level D is the lowest level and is the only one that does not require an on-site visit by IPMA-certified assessors

PRINCE2? Project Management Certifications

This is the main PRINCE2 certification, administered by Axelos in the UK. It is based on the PRINCE2 manual “Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2.”?The accreditation is broken into two levels. “PRINCE2 Foundation Examination” and the “PRINCE2 Practitioner certification”

What is the Difference Between a Project Engineer and a Project Manager?

Within technical engineering projects, project engineers execute the necessary tasks of a project while a project manager is generally a project engineer that has a much more senior supervisory or management role.

Outside of technical engineering projects, a project manager is a catch all job title given to those who plan, execute, monitor, control, and close out projects. They would be accountable for the entire project scope, the project team and resources, the project budget, and the success or failure of the project. Typically, you would find this job tile used healthcare, aviation, software development, real estate, publishing, financial, marketing, education, insurance, government, etc.