Less than a year into her role with an engineering and design firm in Newark, DEDC, electrical engineer Joy Dufitumukiza embarked on another new journey: earning a project management certificate through the University of Delaware’s Division of Professional and Continuing Studies (UD PCS). She had already been recognized in Electrical Construction and Maintenance magazine’s 2023 “30 under 30,”​ but she was determined not to rest on her achievements. Instead, she focused on preparing herself to meet new opportunities with a future-forward mindset.

“My day-to-day work is engineering design and documentation,” she said. “And MEP​ [mechanical, electrical, plumbing] work has its own approach, its own ‘thing.’ Technical, design and planning skills are the foundations that must be there for me to do my job. But as I progress in my career, I am interested in understanding ‘the big picture.’ I want to understand not just how to manage projects, but how to lead them.”

Project management is about people

Born and raised in Rwanda, Dufitumukiza earned the prestigious Rwandan Presidential Scholarship to study electrical and computer engineering at California Baptist University. After working as a California-based electrical engineer for seven years, she moved to Delaware to be near her sister, who is working toward a doctorate in psychology at UD. 

She hoped the UD PCS project management course would provide a chance to network and meet new people, and she was pleasantly surprised to also gain something even more valuable from her classmates.

“At the beginning of the course, we took a personality test, and the test results were used to form groups for projects,” she said. “The personality tests helped me to realize that teams complement each other in a lot of ways. Having introverts, extroverts, analytical thinkers and feelers on the same team proved helpful in balancing each other's strengths and weaknesses. The course project helped me to put into practice all I learned about Agile project management, and it made terms like ‘sprints,’ ‘backlogs’ and ‘daily stand-ups’ more than just jargon — they are valuable tools for people working together.” 

Dufitumukiza also found course instructor Ryan Crawford’s approach to teaching a role model for project leadership, and she sees him as an important new mentor. 

“Ryan got to know me as a person, and he took the time to understand my strengths and needs,” she said. “When I needed a recommendation letter recently, he was the first person I thought of, and he helped me right away.”

Crawford is glad to know his course communicates the importance of people in project management.

“I was once given the sage advice from an executive in a meet and greet: ‘relationships before issues and tactics,’” he said. “That quote lived on a Post-it note on my office wall for many years, and it has stayed with me in how I aim to instruct future project managers to become project leaders. My students don’t just learn the 'hard skills' associated with the issues and tactics of project management — they also learn the importance of people, motivations and the strength and power of relationships. Joy embodied this from day one in our class, and she did an excellent job establishing relationships with her team and class peers.” 

Dufitumukiza’s project management certificate has not only put her on the path to attaining the internationally recognized Project Management Professional (PMP) credential from the Project Management Institute (PMI), but it has also given her a deeper appreciation for the importance of effective leadership and teamwork in achieving project success.

“Now I see project management more as people management,” she said. “And I see more clearly now how Howard [Krinsky, principal at DEDC] leads our projects by leveraging the skills that my colleagues and I have and how he mentors us for the future. I hope to be that kind of leader one day.”

Krinsky recognizes Dufitumukiza’s dedication to ongoing professional development as a strength. 

"Joy's commitment to continuous improvement is a valuable asset to herself and DEDC,” he said. “I have no doubt that she will continue to achieve great things and be a leader who mentors others along the way.”

Spring 2025 Project Management Certificate course

The UD PCS Project Management Certificate course provides people seeking to enhance their careers with a comprehensive curriculum, expert instruction and practical applications that equip them with the skills needed to excel in diverse applications of project management.

The next live-online course in the Project Management Certificate program runs Feb. 5 through April 9. Learn more about the course and register at https://www.pcs.udel.edu/project.