I think first thing to consider is to ensure you love this kind of job. Are you comfortable with communication? How is your time management skill? Are you good with convincing others to finish their jobs in a timely manner? If no, then one can easily take courses or read and practice such skills. I think the most important component is hands on experience-especially people skills. One can take part in voluntary projects to learn how to deal and communicate with people and manage project and identify their weaknesses. Then they can continue to work on their weaknesses. Professional certifications like PMP can help you get your foot in the door for project management jobs.

I think experience in project management would be a great indication to land a position in the field. Without experience, I do not think a degree specific to project management is necessary. People seeking opportunities within the field would have to be great communicators with some experience in the particular subject area that the project demands. 

Usually, it is said that a Bachelor’s degree in the business field is needed, but I agree with Jbarbee I don’t think a specific degree is needed. I think what’s important is that the person has proven experience in project management. The person should also have the ability to lead project teams of various sizes and see them through to completion as well as a strong understanding of formal project management methodologies. Moreover, a project management professional (PMP) certification is a plus. 

Like the others have said, having previous project management experience is a big advantage when it comes to landing a position as a project manager. It does not necessarily need to be big company project. For example, in my company at the moment, we are trying to implement an idea to re-organize some of the supplies we use during our device testing and we need to have a team that meets semi-regularly to make sure that the new areas are cleaned and organized, there are enough bins to store all the supplies and if not more need to be made, our inventory system is updated to reflect the new locations of the supplies, and the warehouse that restocks those supplies are aware of the new locations. At the same time we are trying to work with our warehouse that they bring out those supplies in the correct order (i.e. the supplies that expire sooner are the first to come out so that they can be used before expiring to not waste money). So at surface level, it may just seem moving things from one location to another, but in reality there is a lot of behind the scenes work that needs to be conducted first to make sure everything continues to move smoothly as a whole. Having experience as a project lead on something like this under your belt definitely prepares you more for a project management position than having a special degree or certificate would, but those are definitely positives as well. 

I believe the most important thing would be to have experience, not only in project management but from the ground up. I believe the best leaders are people who have climbed the ladder and reached a position of power, rather than people who have been given it. People who have climbed the ladder know how to handle a project and what each step of a project entails. With this knowledge, they are able to properly lead a team once they are project manager. My previous project manager was incredibly smart and talented, however, since she didn't work her way up, she didn't know the nuances that went with each phase of the project. When deadlines needed to be pushed or specifications needed to be changed, she wasn't the most understanding of this. 

I don't think there are prerequisites that need to be met to be a project manager, but I think being understanding, attentive, and having open communication with your subordinates would be a good place to start. 

i think most important thing is experience also. you need not olny the experience on management but also the experience of this field. if you want to get a job as project manager of medical devise field you need to have some enginering experience or some sort of job related to this field. so he can have a good understanding of the priject and able to devide the taskes and plan the duration better

I think one of the most important things for getting a job in the PM department is having good communication skills. As we learned from our first lecture, success equals 70% interpersonal skills plus 30% technical knowledge. Interpersonal skills are the key to personal success and also to project success. One of the most important interpersonal skills is communication skills. In a project team, everyone has their own responsibility.They should work together to achieve the final goal. In this process, good communication might be needed. Also,  communication skills are also needed when the team member negotiates with someone outside the project team. At the same time, a good communication could be helpful during the interview.

It is vital for project managers to have experience as engineers. PMs who have experience being an engineer have more insight on how projects are not just planned but executes as well. Someone who has worked on multiple projects is best prepared for a PM role as they have encountered working with many people and teams on various products. This experience will best prepare PMs on how to plan projects and what to expect along the way. 

As far as prerequisites go, a bachelors degree is most likely required. 

I would have to agree with @srp98 in that for a project manager to be successful, one has to be an engineer themselves to gain insight into the projects the team might do. Also, it is important to have a close bond with the team that you will be managing. Having the proper chemistry, it will allow for a much more fluid team and far less unnecessary bickering and lack of communication between the team and the PM. As well as having soft skills, having the proper hard skills and knowledge is obviously a plus to have as there will be less downtime in the beginning. When it comes to pre-requisites, carrying the proper project management tools and being able to use those tools is a necessity.

As many others have said in this thread, having experience will be the biggest difference between a good project manager and a great project manager. Understanding how the process of leading a team and what they need in order to produce great results will only come after doing it multiple times. An inexperienced manager can still produce good results but having the experience can streamline the process and help the team in ways that other project managers might not be able to. Some of the biggest skills needed that could also help people get a job in the project management department would be excellent communication and time management. Both of these are very important when it comes to running a team and making sure that all of the members are doing what is needed to be done. Being able to effectively communicate might also be a factor that comes easier with more experience but can still be done well without it whatsoever. Overall, having more experience in project management on any kind of scale can really help you effectively manage a project and a team and help you become a better candidate for the job.

In terms of prerequisites in certification/education, I don't believe there's a bachelor's degree specific to project management, and even if there were a master's degree that was that specialized I don't think it serves as much leverage as experience would. As mentioned by my peers' experience is going to be the biggest key when it comes to a management role. Aside from that, I feel like tenure at a company will also give you an edge because it's not just experience but experience within the specific organization. So you'd know how they operate in their specific system. In addition to experience, your personality will by far dictate how well you succeed as a manager. You need to know how to direct people while being likable and authoritative and on top of all that need to try to be as much of an expert as you can to properly guide your team. I feel like project management is an ongoing learning experience in itself too so you need to be able to adapt to new situations and work well under pressure. 

I think anyone undertaking project management needs to be good with people and great at time management.

Leading a team means being available to actively listen to the team's concerns, and to be responsive to their needs, even when you don't have the answer. A PM needs to provide motivation, and even keep the team focused. The PM may even need to mend fences every once in a while, so those conflict resolution skills need to be up to par. The people dynamics can be endless and people are the greatest resource to the project.

Time management is essential, one has to be able to carve out time to do all that listening and everything else on their plate!

To get a job in project management, the individual should have five project management skills:

• Communication
• Time management
• Organizational awareness
• Problem-solving
• Leadership

A project manager has to have these skills because as a PM you are a leader. Your team has to respect you and respect the decisions that you make. 

My suggestion would be to prepare youself researching different projects, going to what ever field that you are interested in and see if you could shadow a team, a PM, and assistants, to see if that is what you really want to do. Research what type of education that one need to become a PM. Purchase the PEMBOK book and read it. Look into any certifications are required and what you need to do to maintain the certifications if any. You are on the right track because you are asking questions you will see the answers you are looking for. Good luck.