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I joined a firm as a PM (having 2-3 years of Software Dev experience). I made a dumb move by switching career in a different company.

This company did not like my PM skills or what not and laid me off. Now I am back to square one, I suppose in Developer role (but a mid-level). I so want to dive into PM roles but its hard to find opportunity like it.

The company I am working now is small (4-7 devs, but overall it has 5000+ employees). What should I do, I am really confused at this moment :\

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I'm not quite sure if I understood your situation. You've been demoted to dev position in the new company, or if you went back to the previous?

In the first case I think that your chances are very poor - I suggest to keep looking new company. In the second one you can try to convince your superiors that you want to learn and that you'll be good at this position..

You should think about whether your company is truly a place where your abilities are adequate. You wrote that it is a big company, but there are just a few developers. PM's work is to manage the project- not a team - and the job is completely different than it may appear. I know because I went through the path similar to yours and became PM from dev.

If you find that you feel good in this role and really want to do it, I recommend you talk to your superiors, and convince them to your idea. Otherwise, to do some training on the side such as PRINCE2 or PMBoK and then take off to another company with documented skills.

Good luck - fingers crossed

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  • Hey Pawel, thanks man. I didnt move to my old company, I joined different firm as a mid level .NET Dev. I know you are new to the PM role so your thoughts are greatly appreciated!
    – RG-3
    Mar 29 '12 at 2:08
  • moving from PM to Development position is not a demotion, there is nothing less or more about either position. They are just different roles, A good developer is better than a bad PM and a good PM is better than a bad developer. But a good developer and a good pm together are better than a either of them on their own.
    – jimjim
    Mar 31 '12 at 11:04
  • Yo're right, but moving from high-level dev to mid-level dev is. In between there was another company (PM), but big picture is a demotion for me.
    – Paweł Wawrzyczek
    Mar 31 '12 at 20:15

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