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First management role without prior experience?
RHEL
Member Posts: 195 ■■■□□□□□□□
A separate thread on this forum that I was active in triggered a question that has been on my mind for quite some time -- how does one step into a management role (their first management role) without having prior management or supervisory experience?
I've reached a realization that for the area I'm living in, I'm essentially salary capped (+|- $5K or so) for my job title in this area... I just don't see any other employer ever offering me more to do the same thing, which means I either change roles or accept the small cost of living raises each year.
My master's degree (MS CIS) is essentially focused around IT management, and I pursued it because I wanted to eventually head in this direction; however, it seems the only real way to step into an IT management role is to either having prior experience, having great connections and luck, becoming a dinosaur at an organization, or stepping into a micro IT department.
I've seen project managers transition into management and perhaps this is a more feasible path for me at this point. I'm currently 5 years into my professional (post-undergrad) IT career, having only worked at a UNIX systems administrator/engineer. Additionally, I have around 4 years part-time IT experience in various roles and industries.
Is project management as high stress as it appears to be? I've seen these guys mid-failing project and they just look... rough. Beaten down, malnourished, and miserable. Despite this, they've always seemed to be a paygrade above me, so perhaps it would be a decent transition and a step up later in my career.
What are your thoughts on this? The PM route? Is it possible to get my foot into management at some point directly from my technical role?
Thanks in advance!
I've reached a realization that for the area I'm living in, I'm essentially salary capped (+|- $5K or so) for my job title in this area... I just don't see any other employer ever offering me more to do the same thing, which means I either change roles or accept the small cost of living raises each year.
My master's degree (MS CIS) is essentially focused around IT management, and I pursued it because I wanted to eventually head in this direction; however, it seems the only real way to step into an IT management role is to either having prior experience, having great connections and luck, becoming a dinosaur at an organization, or stepping into a micro IT department.
I've seen project managers transition into management and perhaps this is a more feasible path for me at this point. I'm currently 5 years into my professional (post-undergrad) IT career, having only worked at a UNIX systems administrator/engineer. Additionally, I have around 4 years part-time IT experience in various roles and industries.
Is project management as high stress as it appears to be? I've seen these guys mid-failing project and they just look... rough. Beaten down, malnourished, and miserable. Despite this, they've always seemed to be a paygrade above me, so perhaps it would be a decent transition and a step up later in my career.
What are your thoughts on this? The PM route? Is it possible to get my foot into management at some point directly from my technical role?
Thanks in advance!
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thenjduke
Member Posts: 894 ■■■■□□□□□□
PM is a rough position. You are talking about strange hours and long projects. Everything little thing you are responsible for on a project. The plus side is you are exposed how to manage projects and oversee a project and get to work with many different types of people and technologies. You get to do alot of paper work and organize many meetings. This does pretty much get you ready for management.CCNA, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCDST, MCITP Enterprise Administrator, Working towards Networking BS. CCNP is Next. -
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jibbajabba
Member Posts: 4,317 ■■■■■■■■□□
Must be mainly luck ... One finance company I have worked for saw the senior network engineer to become the CTO !!!
No idea how that happened, was before my time, but he was ............ odd .... So maybe really right place at the right (desperate) time...My own knowledge base made public: http://open902.com