What are the ways to transform your career from IT to exclusively Project Management? Having in IT field for several years at different roles including technical lead/manager, but how to get your self into a PM role? What factors contribute to it and how to do the search? Thanks.
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
First my recommendation is to search for the different project management approches: PMI, IPMA, GPM, PRINCE2, etc. In my case, I can work with any of this approaches because in my personal work experience I have faced that for project requirements. After that, if you have lead/manage something then you have a good experience on project management no matter your work was formal or informal defined. The third is you have to decide if you will work as specialist or generalist. In my case, I recommended to be a generalist but there is a lot of discussion about that.
In many if not in most of the IT companies or IT departments/divisions the transition from a technical role to project management is not considered an advancement or a promotion and is something not very easy to achieve.
If you look for IT project manager jobs you will see that most of them require prior project management experience. The experience as a project technical lead is usually not taken into account when applying for a project management role unless the projects in which you have worked had no dedicated project manager and the technical lead was also responsible for the project management aspects.
Many IT project managers claim that they are leading and managing teams but in reality this is not true as leading means giving instructions, guidance or even orders to a group of people something that most IT project managers can't do as they lack both the technical background and the authority to do that. It is the technical leads and not the project managers the ones that actually lead the people working on projects. Leading as a pure technical lead involves completely different skills than leading as a pure (non-technical) project manager.
Most companies are not expecting their project managers to get involved in the technical aspects of their projects but instead they want them to manage the stakeholders, the budget, the risk and any other aspects of a project that are not technical in nature. The overwhelming majority of project manager who I have worked with had no technical background at all and they were not involved in the technical decisions that the teams were taking in order to complete the project.
I think you have two options to move to project management:
- find a senior technical role that involves both technical leadership and project management
- find an entry level project management position such as a project coordinator/junior project manager gain the required experience and then advance to a full project manager role
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1 reply by anonymous
Mar 23, 2016 2:51 PM
anonymous
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Thank you Adrian for deep insights. I agree it is complicated and out of normal process to move from one filed to another.
Saving Changes...
Tariq JavedProgram Manager| Government of PakistanIslamabad, Federal Capital, Pakistan
Good advises Adrian Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Mar 23, 2016 11:08 AM
Replying to Adrian Carlogea
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In many if not in most of the IT companies or IT departments/divisions the transition from a technical role to project management is not considered an advancement or a promotion and is something not very easy to achieve.
If you look for IT project manager jobs you will see that most of them require prior project management experience. The experience as a project technical lead is usually not taken into account when applying for a project management role unless the projects in which you have worked had no dedicated project manager and the technical lead was also responsible for the project management aspects.
Many IT project managers claim that they are leading and managing teams but in reality this is not true as leading means giving instructions, guidance or even orders to a group of people something that most IT project managers can't do as they lack both the technical background and the authority to do that. It is the technical leads and not the project managers the ones that actually lead the people working on projects. Leading as a pure technical lead involves completely different skills than leading as a pure (non-technical) project manager.
Most companies are not expecting their project managers to get involved in the technical aspects of their projects but instead they want them to manage the stakeholders, the budget, the risk and any other aspects of a project that are not technical in nature. The overwhelming majority of project manager who I have worked with had no technical background at all and they were not involved in the technical decisions that the teams were taking in order to complete the project.
I think you have two options to move to project management:
- find a senior technical role that involves both technical leadership and project management
- find an entry level project management position such as a project coordinator/junior project manager gain the required experience and then advance to a full project manager role
Thank you Adrian for deep insights. I agree it is complicated and out of normal process to move from one filed to another.
Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Mar 23, 2016 9:41 AM
Replying to Sergio Luis Conte
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First my recommendation is to search for the different project management approches: PMI, IPMA, GPM, PRINCE2, etc. In my case, I can work with any of this approaches because in my personal work experience I have faced that for project requirements. After that, if you have lead/manage something then you have a good experience on project management no matter your work was formal or informal defined. The third is you have to decide if you will work as specialist or generalist. In my case, I recommended to be a generalist but there is a lot of discussion about that.
thanks Sergio for your thoughts.
Saving Changes...
Tariq JavedProgram Manager| Government of PakistanIslamabad, Federal Capital, Pakistan
Please acquire some certification to enhance your CV and then also prove yourself to be a good team lead / manager to be assigned responsibility as PM
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1 reply by anonymous
Mar 23, 2016 11:42 PM
anonymous
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Yes Javed , all that is done. However my question iseven after having a proven record during your tenure in IT field including but not limiting to leadership and team management, it is still not an easy transition like a career growth, instead it is a big leap and convincing your peers that you have enough talent to prove in the pure management filed.
Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Mar 23, 2016 2:55 PM
Replying to Tariq Javed
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Please acquire some certification to enhance your CV and then also prove yourself to be a good team lead / manager to be assigned responsibility as PM
Yes Javed , all that is done. However my question iseven after having a proven record during your tenure in IT field including but not limiting to leadership and team management, it is still not an easy transition like a career growth, instead it is a big leap and convincing your peers that you have enough talent to prove in the pure management filed.
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1 reply by Adrian Carlogea
Mar 24, 2016 9:29 PM
Adrian Carlogea
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Hi dheeraj
If it's pure management you are looking for then I don't think you want to become a project manager. In fact in all the companies for which I have worked the project managers were not even real managers as they were not part of the management/leadership team of the organization and they didn't have direct reports (matrix organization).
I think you are probably after a functional manager position. While the technical background is required for functional management it is probably even harder to be accepted in such a position than it is to become a project manager but that's because there are fewer such positions and there is probably more subjectivity when hiring for these kind of roles.
Nonetheless becoming a functional manager is the normal "transition" for the technical people who want to move to management and having leadership experience as a technical lead will be a huge advantage.
Many Project Management job postings desire a technical background. There is a lot of healthy debate on this site and others regarding technical background, tech PM and generalist PM. What I would recommend is this:
* Find a posting for a PM that requires your exact technical background. This will give you an advantage.
* Position how any soft skill strengths you have (leadership, communication, organization, etc) can translate to a PM role.
* If you're serious about this, enroll in a project management course.
I don't think you'd have to start as a coordinator if you get some education and make sure that first PM role is one that desires your exact background.
Now a word of advise...Once you land this new role, challenge yourself to focus on the PM side of the role, and allow the technical staff to step up to the challenge of fulfilling the technical side. I've noticed a tendency for techncial PMs to jump into the technical details, sometimes at the risk of missing big picture for the project. Also it will be more rewarding for the technical resources if you allow them to do their role, and you just provide overall tech guidance while focusing on project delivery and leadership.
Best of luck!
Michelle
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2 replies by Adrian Carlogea and anonymous
Mar 24, 2016 9:25 PM
anonymous
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Hey Michelle, That's true and also a great piece of advise not to get carried away in technology when in project management role. thanks, Dheeraj.
Mar 24, 2016 10:00 PM
Adrian Carlogea
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Hi Michelle
I was looking too for project management positions that require technical background and I was unable to find many. In fact I have only found one that matches to some extent my technical background. For the overwhelming majority of jobs previous experience as a project manager is mandatory, unless we are talking about a junior project manager position.
Now regarding whether or not the project manager should get involved in the technical details of the project this depends. If the project manager is actually a technical lead responsible for project management too then he must get involved in the technical aspects as he is supposed to provide technical leadership to the team.
On the other hand if the technical lead works with a project manager that has the same technical background as he does then yes some conflicts may arise on technical matters. However in this scenario the project manager has no formal authority over the team members so they can just ignore his suggestions on technical issues.
The advantage of having a project manager with technical background, even if he is not responsible for providing technical leadership, is that he will be able to better understand what's going on in the project and he will be in a much better position to communicate with the stakeholders on project related issues.
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Anonymous
Mar 24, 2016 7:09 PM
Replying to Michelle Daigle
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Hi dheeraj,
Many Project Management job postings desire a technical background. There is a lot of healthy debate on this site and others regarding technical background, tech PM and generalist PM. What I would recommend is this:
* Find a posting for a PM that requires your exact technical background. This will give you an advantage.
* Position how any soft skill strengths you have (leadership, communication, organization, etc) can translate to a PM role.
* If you're serious about this, enroll in a project management course.
I don't think you'd have to start as a coordinator if you get some education and make sure that first PM role is one that desires your exact background.
Now a word of advise...Once you land this new role, challenge yourself to focus on the PM side of the role, and allow the technical staff to step up to the challenge of fulfilling the technical side. I've noticed a tendency for techncial PMs to jump into the technical details, sometimes at the risk of missing big picture for the project. Also it will be more rewarding for the technical resources if you allow them to do their role, and you just provide overall tech guidance while focusing on project delivery and leadership.
Best of luck!
Michelle
Hey Michelle, That's true and also a great piece of advise not to get carried away in technology when in project management role. thanks, Dheeraj.
Yes Javed , all that is done. However my question iseven after having a proven record during your tenure in IT field including but not limiting to leadership and team management, it is still not an easy transition like a career growth, instead it is a big leap and convincing your peers that you have enough talent to prove in the pure management filed.
Hi dheeraj
If it's pure management you are looking for then I don't think you want to become a project manager. In fact in all the companies for which I have worked the project managers were not even real managers as they were not part of the management/leadership team of the organization and they didn't have direct reports (matrix organization).
I think you are probably after a functional manager position. While the technical background is required for functional management it is probably even harder to be accepted in such a position than it is to become a project manager but that's because there are fewer such positions and there is probably more subjectivity when hiring for these kind of roles.
Nonetheless becoming a functional manager is the normal "transition" for the technical people who want to move to management and having leadership experience as a technical lead will be a huge advantage.
