Career change - project management, is it a cusy life?

[VectraMan]

But, most of the PMs I've met are not like that. They're useless over-promoted techies with no clue, who think that yelling at the team gets things done.

I've never seen a PM yell, in fact I've rarely seen a PM say much of anything. The main role seems to be sitting quietly in the corner of the meeting room while the real people talk.

I did a short 4-week project/gig at a previous client a few years back, and one day this guy came up to me and said "Hi VM. How's it going? We should talk about your project some time". I didn't have the slightest idea who he was and wasn't sure if I should tell him anything. I found out later he was the Project Manager. That was the only time I spoke to him.

[PurpleGorilla]

[Bee]

PM means more responsibility and more headaches and it's essentially a teamwork. If you have a good team will make your job easier. You need also to have soft skills like good communications skills...etc

Hi,
I have a good technical background in primarily Wintel infrastructure and have worked for multiple organisations of mid size (around 5,000 users). Most of my experience has been with a small consultancy doing project delivery and implementation - from gathering requirements, writing project proposals to design, implementation and project handover. Most of my projects have been between 2 weeks and 6 months, with a mixture of using project managers or handling it ourselves

I'm coming up to the big 40 and am getting a little tired of it, I'm thinking of a career change, maybe technical team lead or project management. Even though I've worked on and managed multiple projects, I've never had the actual title of project manager, what's the best way of going about to effect a career change? From what I can gather it's mainly get yourself into a large organisation and look for internal promotion opportunities.

In addition, what's the life of PM like? Would it be too simplistic to assume that they're generally 9 to 5 guys and there's less chance of being called out at 1am for a server failure?

As an infrastructure consultant, the worst part of the job was getting briefs like "learn everything you can about system X in 3 days, then your task is to deliver a 2 week project in 1 week" - I'm guessing this sort of stuff comes up in PM roles as well?

The other thing about infrastructure is that it changes every year (or few months if you look at Azure), so there's a constant change with certifications and systems, whereas something like project management has a slower rate of change.

[Cirrus]

In addition, what's the life of PM like? Would it be too simplistic to assume that they're generally 9 to 5 guys and there's less chance of being called out at 1am for a server failure?

Normally not 1:00 am.

Normally 12 midnight. That's when the APAC Management Team meet every Monday morning in Sydney.

Stuff starts coming in from the Near East at 4 am-sh. Then you've got 6 am Dubai meetings. And they're usually chaos, not wishing to be racist.

Then 7:30 to 6 is unspeakable drudgery, dysfunction, lies, cheating and nonsense.

9 pm it's Bermuda. After that you might want to try Chicago.

They great thing about project management is ... one day you retire

[northernladuk]

Them that can't, project manage.

HTH.

[MrMarkyMark]

Them that can't, project manage.

HTH.

True that's 80% taken care of.

The other 20% are the rare good ones, that can be hands on if required.
Like rocking horse pooh however.

[northernladyuk]

0. Identify the fall guys.

[billybiro]

Easiest gig you'll ever have.

"Project Management" is the easiest gig you'll ever have. It's basically a non-entity of a role. Remember Point 7 of this article, and remember Walter from the folllowing video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

It claims to be a "comedy" video, but it's really an honest documentary.

Change career to Project Management? Go for it!

[vetran]

The best ones I've met are calm, measured and highly intelligent. Their uncanny ability to see what needs to be done is admirable.

But, most of the PMs I've met are not like that. They're useless over-promoted techies with no clue, who think that yelling at the team gets things done.

worked with both, the former are indeed rare

[sasguru]

The other 20% are the rare good ones, that can be hands on if required.
Like rocking horse pooh however.

Them's the ones on huge rates