Project Management as a career
Hi there, it’s Dipo. Welcome to The Console newsletter, where I share information about technology projects and project management.
Teni was at a crossroads and unable to decide. She had spent the last few years in a career that paid her bills but offered little satisfaction. She could decide to continue down this path of boring stability or try to find something fulfilling. The more she thought about it, the clearer the question she needed to answer became to her. What did she want to achieve in her career in the next 10 to 15 years? She had to answer the question in the next couple of days and owed it to herself to make the right choice.
She tried to keep her mind from wandering to the million other topics she would rather be thinking about this late afternoon. The Netflix show on the TV playing in the background provided white noise to her thoughts. Her flat in the city she had just moved to was comfortable and small. She had furnished it to be minimalist, both by design and constrained by budget. She looked from the dining table where she was seated to the TV, then the kitchen and spotted the kettle. Some lemon and green tea might loosen her mind to think more fluidly about her choices, she thought. Or was that just another way to procrastinate and distract herself from this difficult question? She decided a cup of tea wouldn’t hurt. She had been drinking more tea since she moved anyway.
Teni made her tea; she felt better as she enjoyed the warmth of the hot cup and the smell of the lemon. It was time to refocus her mind on the task at hand. Perhaps the best place to start was not a list of potential careers but what she sought in a new career. Excited by this insight, she grabbed a pen and started writing on her notepad.
She boldly wrote “What I want in a career!” at the top of the page and drew a line under it.
Number one, she knew she wanted a career in technology. This was the point she was surest of. She had worked briefly with her previous organisation’s technology team and enjoyed participating in the initiative. Back then, she hadn’t understood many of the discussions but recognised the goal and how they planned to achieve it. This experience lasted for only a month but left an impression on her.
Now that she had started writing and thinking about her career goal, she felt the ideas coming quicker and wrote down the next 4 points.
She wanted a role that required planning and execution, took advantage of her natural problem-solving skills, was highly collaborative and involved working with a team or teams, and had accountability for creating something new. She looked at her list like a proud artist who had just painted a masterpiece. She felt closer to getting answers to her questions.
It was evening when she finished this list; the sky outside was dark, and the streets were quiet. Doubt came with the evening darkness. Was she chasing a pipe dream? Was there a job out there that could match her list, or was she being silly, and all this was wishful thinking?
She could keep working at her current job. It wasn’t what she envisioned for herself or liked doing. But hey, who likes their job, right? It might be time to put in five years and see if her feelings change towards the role. She could grow to like it when she gets promoted and earns more money.
Feeling partly defeated, she finished her now cold cup of tea and moved to the sofa. The TV was still on, providing most of the room’s light. The only other light was her laptop. She was about to resign herself to the defeat and continue watching the unfinished episode of her new series.
As she was about to give in, she decided to give this silly idea one more try. She picked up her laptop and did a few searches about roles in technology, but nothing seemed to catch her attention. She then searched for “roles in technology not related to coding”. The first result listed project manager, product manager, technical writer, UX/UI designer, and a few other roles.
Now, her interest was piqued again. She hadn’t considered these roles in her previous attempt at find something she could enjoy doing as a career. Time for another cup of tea!
Teni spent the next 2 hours in research mode. Glued to her laptop, unable to stand from her position on the sofa. She was particularly interested in the first two options, project manager and product manager. The more she read about both, the more she could see herself in the two roles. They matched her list of what she wanted in a career.
She made a simple table comparing these two roles from the information she had gathered. This would help her understand each role and which better suited her.
Looking over the completed table, she could see the difference in these two related but distinct roles. She also knew her strengths and interests aligned more closely with the project manager column.
In addition to the qualities on her list, she learnt the role of a project manager required other skills she either possessed or wanted to develop. Leadership, ability to motivate a team, and a great deal of communication. She also realised being a project manager gave her transferable skills, helpful in technology and any environment she transitioned to in the future.
Teni felt empowered. She knew what the pivot in her career would be, and all she had to do was build the map of how to get there. She still needed to understand what is required to be a good project manager, how to begin a career as a technology project manager, and how to import her skills and years of experience to this new field. These were questions that needed to be answered in due time. For tonight, she could enjoy her Netflix show in peace.
