Salaries in each industry depend on the country you live in, your experience, the company size, the company’s financial situation, the specific sector, and a number of other factors. So average numbers might often not give you too much specific information. But if you compare the average salaries to the average salaries of other professions, then even the averages might start making sense.

What might be the average salary for a project manager?
Project manager salary might be anywhere between $60k to $140k annually. The average at Infosys is $78k while the average annual project manager salary at HP is $94k. And at the same time, the average at Epic System is just $64k.

As a senior project manager the higher number could go up to $180k while the lower end is the same as for the project manager.

See http://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/project-manager-salary-SRCH_KO0,15_SDMC.htm for some more detailed information.

According to indeed.com, the average Senior Project manager salary based on job  offers on their website is $102k.

By the end of the day, the salary you can expect to receive as a project manager depends on the industry, your skills, your certifications, your level of education and a lot more tiny yet important factors.

Whenever you see a company looking for a project manager, you have a general idea of what the jobs is about. However, companies often like to present some simple job with a more attractive name. In many cases, project manager in the real world might mean that the job actually offered is an office admin or a secretary. That being said, while being a secretary isn’t bad either, if you are actually looking for a project manager job, it might not be for you.

But do you know what a project manager generally needs to do anyhow? The title looks great but we seldom know what’s behind the nice name.

As a rule of thumb, project manager is responsible for planning, executing, controlling and monitoring of the projects assigned to you.  While this description is still very broad, it should already give you a good enough idea of what it’s all about. Basically – as a project manager, you are responsible for the success of the project.

As a project manager you need to be able to define strict project requirements, estimate reasonable timeline, clearly state the goals and objectives, assign specific tasks to specific people and track their performance throughout the project. You need to be able to get the project done based on your employer’s or your client’s guidelines. Preferrably sooner than expected and preferably faster than expected.

Based on textbook examples, the job description for a project manager is fairly simple to write, to understand. Yet, no actual situation is based on any textbook. And this is why you should always make sure you understand what a potential employer would expect from you as a project manager.

Even the name of the project manager varies from company to company. Project manager, team leader, project coordinator. Whatever the specific details of the job are – by the end of the day, you are responsible for getting the project done.

Just keep in mind – while the general requirements are mostly the same – which is planning, organising and controlling the project and getting it done successfully, there are always small details that vary depending on the company you work for, depending on the project, depending on your team and your client.