Always end up in boring roles

[ladymuck]

I noticed your edit about "making a difference". Do you mean charity work? What sort of a difference are you hoping to make while still earning more than a permie, and way more than any volunteer?

You need to pick an industry that you think is worthy. I'd say avoid banking, pharmaceuticals, oil & gas, government, marketing, retail, and hospitality sectors.

[jjdarg]

I work in PMO, too, have been for 13 years, so usually end up heading programme offices. I can guarantee, it generally doesn't get more interesting with seniority.

Most clients aren't interested in having a PMO run the way it could be; they just want all the paperwork and administrative headaches that bother them done on time. Introducing little changes is helpful, but you also need the client willing to invest in those sorts of changes. More often than not, the Programme Directors (and most contract gigs nowadays are public sector) tend to be micro-managers who don't want to touch anything they are not familiar with (and most of them are just familiar with MSP and PRINCE2, which more or less cuts off a whole world of project and programme management knowledge and methods) or the whole organisation is wed to entering data into an enterprise tool, which takes up an inordinate amount of time and tends to drive everything else. So once the PMO is set up and doing its reporting cycle, it can be a pretty boring place.

Why do I do it? It's a niche skill and pays a bit better than being a PM. There may not be as much demand, but I can guarantee, when roles are released, I get contacted about most of them. PMs usually have to compete with 200+ other applicants. I am usually contacted by the agencies.

The thing that spices it up for me is the type of client and programme you are working on and the sense of mission you can feel from supporting delivery efforts for interesting initiatives, and in a PMO, you get a unique birds-eye view of the whole programme which members of the various delivery teams rarely have - and that can be pretty cool sometimes.

If you want to remain a generalist but want an opportunity to flourish, I would recommend going permie. I would suggest, though, if you are still relatively junior, maybe specialising in planning and becoming a geek about it. Good planners are like hens' teeth - it took us 5 months to find a decent one once.

[TheFaQQer]

edit: to be clear I want to make difference, learn new things, advance. But I don't see many opportunities to do so - whether it's a permie role or a contract.

That's life, Jim. Some roles are interesting, some just aren't.

[FrontEnder]

Always end up in boring roles....

PMO
.

[monita]

Thank you all for your thoughts - it's helpful.

PMO is not necessary what I always wanted to do, but life happened and I am now competent enough to get jobs and contracts easily. I agree, the money is good and work is work - it can get boring for everyone, but I find myself hating it every day.

I used to think that the problem is always in client co or my employer, but I am starting to realise that it is somewhere else. I suppose I would probably prefer becoming a PM - but how. I did all possible training but the experience is the key.

I don't want to do charity, but I want to make difference in client companies, improve systems, deliver something useful.

I suppose my hope was that with seniority and experience I'll get more *interesting* and challenging work in PMO. But I recently got a new contract which seemed great, 2 months in and I am already fed up.

[SueEllen]

Thank you all for your thoughts - it's helpful.

PMO is not necessary what I always wanted to do, but life happened and I am now competent enough to get jobs and contracts easily. I agree, the money is good and work is work - it can get boring for everyone, but I find myself hating it every day.

I used to think that the problem is always in client co or my employer, but I am starting to realise that it is somewhere else. I suppose I would probably prefer becoming a PM - but how. I did all possible training but the experience is the key.

Go permanent for a bit.

There are plenty of medium size companies who need PMs.

[northernladuk]

Go permanent for a bit.

There are plenty of medium size companies who need PMs.

Totally this. The money is good contracting but not good enough to be fed up all the time. Short term hit in a permie role will pay dividends when you can come back on a better rate and enjoy it more.

[Cirrus]

Mr Monita - is prison really right for you??

What am I doing wrong?

It's not what you are doing wrong.

The worst job in the world - by far - is project management. This is slightly unfortunate given the vast number of jobs and the half decent rates.

Except that project management is not actually the worst job. The totally worst ever job is what you do. It has all the pointlessness, impotence, frustration and mental torture of project management only with even more utterly useless spreadsheets/powerpoints/Clarity etc etc. It's not a job; it's a punishment.

It's not what you're doing wrong; it's what you did wrong. In a previous life. And need to atone for.

You have to stand back and ask yourself "Is there any possible crime I could have committed that justifies my carrying on any further? I've led a blameless life so surely I can be released from this endless torment?"

Then hand in your notice and get a better job.

(That is of course if you really have led a blameless life.)