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How does one get a job as a program manager? [closed]
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I work in a technical field and I've always wanted to move into some sort of management position, and one of the positions I've been eyeing up is a program manager as defined by Microsoft:
Our job as PMs is to anticipate what customers want, and translate that into the products and solutions they get. That means working with development, test, user experience and marketing team members to identify requirements, set priorities, and manage feature sets across product lifecycles, as well as authoring technical specifications and customer scenarios.
How does one make the jump from being a mid-level technical professional into this sort of work?
career-development careers career-switch
asked Mar 6 '14 at 23:01
Dylan Ribb
898816
closed as off-topic by Rhys, jcmeloni, jmac, bethlakshmi, ChrisF Mar 17 '14 at 20:59
This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave this specific reason:
- "Questions seeking advice on what job to take, what skills to learn, etc. are off-topic as the answers are rarely useful to anyone else." – Rhys, jcmeloni, jmac, bethlakshmi, ChrisF
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
I work in a technical field and I've always wanted to move into some sort of management position, and one of the positions I've been eyeing up is a program manager as defined by Microsoft:
Our job as PMs is to anticipate what customers want, and translate that into the products and solutions they get. That means working with development, test, user experience and marketing team members to identify requirements, set priorities, and manage feature sets across product lifecycles, as well as authoring technical specifications and customer scenarios.
How does one make the jump from being a mid-level technical professional into this sort of work?
career-development careers career-switch
asked Mar 6 '14 at 23:01
Dylan Ribb
898816
closed as off-topic by Rhys, jcmeloni, jmac, bethlakshmi, ChrisF Mar 17 '14 at 20:59
This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave this specific reason:
- "Questions seeking advice on what job to take, what skills to learn, etc. are off-topic as the answers are rarely useful to anyone else." – Rhys, jcmeloni, jmac, bethlakshmi, ChrisF
Hello op, good day. Your question may be a good question, but it seems in the moment that you're asking for advice. Can i suggest you to edit your question, to be more fitting to our workplace?
– Hugo Rocha
Mar 7 '14 at 14:44
1
@HugoRocha: Absolutely. I will edit it to make it more broadly applicable.
– Dylan Ribb
Mar 7 '14 at 16:35
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
I work in a technical field and I've always wanted to move into some sort of management position, and one of the positions I've been eyeing up is a program manager as defined by Microsoft:
Our job as PMs is to anticipate what customers want, and translate that into the products and solutions they get. That means working with development, test, user experience and marketing team members to identify requirements, set priorities, and manage feature sets across product lifecycles, as well as authoring technical specifications and customer scenarios.
How does one make the jump from being a mid-level technical professional into this sort of work?
career-development careers career-switch
asked Mar 6 '14 at 23:01
Dylan Ribb
898816
I work in a technical field and I've always wanted to move into some sort of management position, and one of the positions I've been eyeing up is a program manager as defined by Microsoft:
Our job as PMs is to anticipate what customers want, and translate that into the products and solutions they get. That means working with development, test, user experience and marketing team members to identify requirements, set priorities, and manage feature sets across product lifecycles, as well as authoring technical specifications and customer scenarios.
How does one make the jump from being a mid-level technical professional into this sort of work?
career-development careers career-switch
asked Mar 6 '14 at 23:01
Dylan Ribb
898816
edited Mar 7 '14 at 16:37
asked Mar 6 '14 at 23:01
Dylan Ribb
898816
asked Mar 6 '14 at 23:01
Dylan Ribb
898816
asked Mar 6 '14 at 23:01
Dylan Ribb
898816
898816
closed as off-topic by Rhys, jcmeloni, jmac, bethlakshmi, ChrisF Mar 17 '14 at 20:59
This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave this specific reason:
- "Questions seeking advice on what job to take, what skills to learn, etc. are off-topic as the answers are rarely useful to anyone else." – Rhys, jcmeloni, jmac, bethlakshmi, ChrisF
closed as off-topic by Rhys, jcmeloni, jmac, bethlakshmi, ChrisF Mar 17 '14 at 20:59
This question appears to be off-topic. The users who voted to close gave this specific reason:
- "Questions seeking advice on what job to take, what skills to learn, etc. are off-topic as the answers are rarely useful to anyone else." – Rhys, jcmeloni, jmac, bethlakshmi, ChrisF
Hello op, good day. Your question may be a good question, but it seems in the moment that you're asking for advice. Can i suggest you to edit your question, to be more fitting to our workplace?
– Hugo Rocha
Mar 7 '14 at 14:44
1
@HugoRocha: Absolutely. I will edit it to make it more broadly applicable.
– Dylan Ribb
Mar 7 '14 at 16:35
add a comment |Â
Hello op, good day. Your question may be a good question, but it seems in the moment that you're asking for advice. Can i suggest you to edit your question, to be more fitting to our workplace?
– Hugo Rocha
Mar 7 '14 at 14:44
1
@HugoRocha: Absolutely. I will edit it to make it more broadly applicable.
– Dylan Ribb
Mar 7 '14 at 16:35
Hello op, good day. Your question may be a good question, but it seems in the moment that you're asking for advice. Can i suggest you to edit your question, to be more fitting to our workplace?
– Hugo Rocha
Mar 7 '14 at 14:44
Hello op, good day. Your question may be a good question, but it seems in the moment that you're asking for advice. Can i suggest you to edit your question, to be more fitting to our workplace?
– Hugo Rocha
Mar 7 '14 at 14:44
1
1
@HugoRocha: Absolutely. I will edit it to make it more broadly applicable.
– Dylan Ribb
Mar 7 '14 at 16:35
@HugoRocha: Absolutely. I will edit it to make it more broadly applicable.
– Dylan Ribb
Mar 7 '14 at 16:35
add a comment |Â
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
up vote
7
down vote
accepted
I have found in general that when you want to switch careers, it is often best to get some experience in your current field that is similar to what you want to do.
In your case, most people I know who have made the switch started out as tech leads, then moved to the first line supervisory positions. That will give you experience dealing with non-developers and people type issues. Then from there, many places have what is called a technical project manager who is expected to understand the technical details of devlopment more than a straight project manager. That is the next natural step. People who have been tech leads can also sometimes move to the BA positions once they show some talent at translating tech speak to user speak. BAs often move up to the PM positons.
To make the switch is easiest at a company where you currently work. So if your company doesn't have the bureaucracy to have TPMs and PMs and tech leads, it is time to move to one that does.
Things you should focus on as a tech lead to get noticed for higher positions include showing that you think of things from a business and not just a dev standpoint. You should be able to have your team deliver on time and on budget. You should be able to explain technical information to nontechnical people, you should be an active participant in meetings and you should get to know the people in the positions you are intertested in (and their supervisiors) so that they will recommend you for any vacancies. A tech guy who can speaker "user" is a pricelss commodity. If you show that ability, they will want to move you up.
answered Mar 6 '14 at 23:10
HLGEM
133k25227489
1
"A tech guy who can speaker "user" is a pricelss commodity" - very true
– Mike
Mar 7 '14 at 11:53
add a comment |Â
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
7
down vote
accepted
I have found in general that when you want to switch careers, it is often best to get some experience in your current field that is similar to what you want to do.
In your case, most people I know who have made the switch started out as tech leads, then moved to the first line supervisory positions. That will give you experience dealing with non-developers and people type issues. Then from there, many places have what is called a technical project manager who is expected to understand the technical details of devlopment more than a straight project manager. That is the next natural step. People who have been tech leads can also sometimes move to the BA positions once they show some talent at translating tech speak to user speak. BAs often move up to the PM positons.
To make the switch is easiest at a company where you currently work. So if your company doesn't have the bureaucracy to have TPMs and PMs and tech leads, it is time to move to one that does.
Things you should focus on as a tech lead to get noticed for higher positions include showing that you think of things from a business and not just a dev standpoint. You should be able to have your team deliver on time and on budget. You should be able to explain technical information to nontechnical people, you should be an active participant in meetings and you should get to know the people in the positions you are intertested in (and their supervisiors) so that they will recommend you for any vacancies. A tech guy who can speaker "user" is a pricelss commodity. If you show that ability, they will want to move you up.
answered Mar 6 '14 at 23:10
HLGEM
133k25227489
1
"A tech guy who can speaker "user" is a pricelss commodity" - very true
– Mike
Mar 7 '14 at 11:53
add a comment |Â
up vote
7
down vote
accepted
I have found in general that when you want to switch careers, it is often best to get some experience in your current field that is similar to what you want to do.
In your case, most people I know who have made the switch started out as tech leads, then moved to the first line supervisory positions. That will give you experience dealing with non-developers and people type issues. Then from there, many places have what is called a technical project manager who is expected to understand the technical details of devlopment more than a straight project manager. That is the next natural step. People who have been tech leads can also sometimes move to the BA positions once they show some talent at translating tech speak to user speak. BAs often move up to the PM positons.
To make the switch is easiest at a company where you currently work. So if your company doesn't have the bureaucracy to have TPMs and PMs and tech leads, it is time to move to one that does.
Things you should focus on as a tech lead to get noticed for higher positions include showing that you think of things from a business and not just a dev standpoint. You should be able to have your team deliver on time and on budget. You should be able to explain technical information to nontechnical people, you should be an active participant in meetings and you should get to know the people in the positions you are intertested in (and their supervisiors) so that they will recommend you for any vacancies. A tech guy who can speaker "user" is a pricelss commodity. If you show that ability, they will want to move you up.
answered Mar 6 '14 at 23:10
HLGEM
133k25227489
1
"A tech guy who can speaker "user" is a pricelss commodity" - very true
– Mike
Mar 7 '14 at 11:53
add a comment |Â
up vote
7
down vote
accepted
up vote
7
down vote
accepted
I have found in general that when you want to switch careers, it is often best to get some experience in your current field that is similar to what you want to do.
In your case, most people I know who have made the switch started out as tech leads, then moved to the first line supervisory positions. That will give you experience dealing with non-developers and people type issues. Then from there, many places have what is called a technical project manager who is expected to understand the technical details of devlopment more than a straight project manager. That is the next natural step. People who have been tech leads can also sometimes move to the BA positions once they show some talent at translating tech speak to user speak. BAs often move up to the PM positons.
To make the switch is easiest at a company where you currently work. So if your company doesn't have the bureaucracy to have TPMs and PMs and tech leads, it is time to move to one that does.
Things you should focus on as a tech lead to get noticed for higher positions include showing that you think of things from a business and not just a dev standpoint. You should be able to have your team deliver on time and on budget. You should be able to explain technical information to nontechnical people, you should be an active participant in meetings and you should get to know the people in the positions you are intertested in (and their supervisiors) so that they will recommend you for any vacancies. A tech guy who can speaker "user" is a pricelss commodity. If you show that ability, they will want to move you up.
answered Mar 6 '14 at 23:10
HLGEM
133k25227489
I have found in general that when you want to switch careers, it is often best to get some experience in your current field that is similar to what you want to do.
In your case, most people I know who have made the switch started out as tech leads, then moved to the first line supervisory positions. That will give you experience dealing with non-developers and people type issues. Then from there, many places have what is called a technical project manager who is expected to understand the technical details of devlopment more than a straight project manager. That is the next natural step. People who have been tech leads can also sometimes move to the BA positions once they show some talent at translating tech speak to user speak. BAs often move up to the PM positons.
To make the switch is easiest at a company where you currently work. So if your company doesn't have the bureaucracy to have TPMs and PMs and tech leads, it is time to move to one that does.
Things you should focus on as a tech lead to get noticed for higher positions include showing that you think of things from a business and not just a dev standpoint. You should be able to have your team deliver on time and on budget. You should be able to explain technical information to nontechnical people, you should be an active participant in meetings and you should get to know the people in the positions you are intertested in (and their supervisiors) so that they will recommend you for any vacancies. A tech guy who can speaker "user" is a pricelss commodity. If you show that ability, they will want to move you up.
answered Mar 6 '14 at 23:10
HLGEM
133k25227489
edited Mar 7 '14 at 14:12
answered Mar 6 '14 at 23:10
HLGEM
133k25227489
answered Mar 6 '14 at 23:10
HLGEM
133k25227489
answered Mar 6 '14 at 23:10
HLGEM
133k25227489
133k25227489
1
"A tech guy who can speaker "user" is a pricelss commodity" - very true
– Mike
Mar 7 '14 at 11:53
add a comment |Â
1
"A tech guy who can speaker "user" is a pricelss commodity" - very true
– Mike
Mar 7 '14 at 11:53
1
1
"A tech guy who can speaker "user" is a pricelss commodity" - very true
– Mike
Mar 7 '14 at 11:53
"A tech guy who can speaker "user" is a pricelss commodity" - very true
– Mike
Mar 7 '14 at 11:53
add a comment |Â
Hello op, good day. Your question may be a good question, but it seems in the moment that you're asking for advice. Can i suggest you to edit your question, to be more fitting to our workplace?
– Hugo Rocha
Mar 7 '14 at 14:44
1
@HugoRocha: Absolutely. I will edit it to make it more broadly applicable.
– Dylan Ribb
Mar 7 '14 at 16:35