2 years of Dev Experience to a Project Manager

Question

I have a 2 years of .NET experience in enterprise architecture. Plus I hold a Masters Degree in Management (Not MBA, 1st yr of MBA). Now I am moving to a software consulting company of less than 50 employees as PM.

• What should I do (reading books/blogs etc.) to try to become a successful PM.
• Is this move logical? I know I cannot see myself as an architect after 5 years.

Any Advices?

Answer 1

welcome to PMSE!

What should I do (reading books/blogs etc.) to try to become a successful PM.

@Zsolt's link is good, but I believe your question is far wider than this... therefore, for such a complex question, you won't find a specific answer. Nevertheless, I'd start with

• Daily visiting PMSE (oh wait, we're already doing it!);
• Searching on youtube (I'd suggest ProjectManagerVideos channel);
• Discuss about question with more seasoned colleagues;
• Listening for PM PodCasts (like THIS);

But, in the end, there's no better teacher than real life experiences.

Is this move logical? I know I cannot see myself as an architect after 5 years.

You'll find this discussion on PMSE as well. HERE's one link where we've discussed about something I believe falls into your question. Notice that, from my point of view, an architect would be the highest engineer (i.e. technical person) in a project, while the PM would be the highest person responsible for deliverables. So, if you don't see you as an architect, I'd say PM is your future.

Wish you success, and hope you have the opportunity to share your knowledge with us here!

Answer 2

What should I do (reading books/blogs etc.) to try to become a successful PM.

Here is a very good summary: how and what to learn new to project management

Is this move logical? I know I cannot see myself as an architect after 5 years.

I'm not sure that there's a good answer to this question. If you plan to have a carrier and you don't have architect ambitions then it may be a good choice. The thing is that the line/project management is a one way street. If you are a manager you won't be able to work as a developer/test/architect in the same organization again, unless you have very-very good connections. On the other hand, if you are an architect you can be a manager. I have no idea how this has evolved, but I see this all the time.

Answer 3

Is this move logical? I know I cannot see myself as an architect after 5 years.

This depends on your preferences. There are in general two very different career paths in almost every company:

• Technical or Engineering
• People/Project Management

These are quite separated and almost always you have to choose one of them. It is very rare that you can have some mixture and I think it is good as goals of every path and position in it are quite different.

So it's your decision, but from my experience the change from technical to management is much more common (=maybe more logical).