Should I consider Project Manegement to make more $$$ ?

Let me cut to the chase: I love being in IT, but due to pay difference between project manager and system admins, I'm considering going into IT Project Managment, so at least I will still be in IT.

Is the assumption correct that project managers will always make more money than system admins, let's assume they both start at the same day.

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networker050184

Way to many different situations to make a blanket statement. It depends on the project and the company etc etc.. You should do what you like instead of thinking about the money. Trust me, you can make more than enough being an admin if you stick with it. Have you ever managed a project? It isn't easy. Personel management and all the paper work sucks, especially when you have some sub par individuals working under you and you have to answer for all their mistakes.

rossonieri#1

networker050184 wrote:

Way to many different situations to make a blanket statement. It depends on the project and the company etc etc.. You should do what you like instead of thinking about the money. Trust me, you can make more than enough being an admin if you stick with it. Have you ever managed a project? It isn't easy. Personel management and all the paper work sucks, especially when you have some sub par individuals working under you and you have to answer for all their mistakes.

blargoe

You have to love your job in the IT field, or you WILL get burned out over time. A few thousand more dollars a year in the future isn't worth losing happiness.

binarysoul

Good points, and I couldn't agree anymore. In fact, I wanted to hear answers like these to be encouraged. I love IT and I can't imagine I could have liked something else better. With all student loans, sometimes I wonder if should move to Project Management; honestly I don't like paper work, documetnatin and reporting (I'd rather set things up and manage them, than to type up some letters and reports and sit in the board room yawning)

But I believe you guys are right; I don't think my passion is worth selling it for a few thousands dollars. I will try to stick with this statement, but don't be surprised if I ask a similar quations;

damn student loans

Kaminsky

networker050184 wrote:

you can make more than enough being an admin

More than enough ? As a sys admin ?

Let's be real here. The poster is asking quite a good question... Is it worth running up through the support tree heading toward admin which, in all honesty, is neither rocket science or well paid these days. Have any of you ever met a sys admin living the life of luxury when considering the amount of hours at the grindstone? Consider the PM, sitting in meetings and messing about with MS Project a lot and drwing up all sorts of rediculous charts and ideas. BUT, getting a good £15k more than than the top tecchie in the organisation.

I have always been a PM hater myself but it does cut straight to a better salary without all the years it takes to get to the equivelent salary through the tech tree.

The better question is ... "What experience and knowledge does the poster have to prove that they are able to deliver a project on time and to budget when applying for their first PM job ?" Yes they could blag it at interview by getting Prince 2 and hoping or the best but without detailed experience, it wouldn't be long before something goes wrong and all heads turn to the PM and they haven't a clue and then, without fail, turn to the techies for help.

binarysoul

Kaminsky wrote:

networker050184 wrote:

you can make more than enough being an admin

I have always been a PM hater myself but it does cut straight to a better salary without all the years it takes to get to the equivelent salary through the tech tree.

You just spoke my mind. It's a tough choice: Most of us like being techy, but not if our skills aren't valued as the skills of a Project Manager. Why should a Project Manager get paid more than a system admin? If that's because the employer values PM more than a system admin, then obviously we shouldn't like a job that is valued less.

I hold on to my belief that my passion for IT is more valuable than a couple thousand dollars, but if my work is valued less, underappreciated and underpaid in compared to PM, then I'd rather be a PM.

Pash

As a systems engineer for a company that provides IT solutions as around 80% of our turnover. I would have to say this.

A PM's communication skills are his/her main asset. We have some PM's in our company who lack heavy technical skills but they generally know how to communicate with the customer and the staff working with them. This in it self makes up for their patchy IT knowledge. One of our guys even has a qualfication specially for project management and to be fair he is very very good at it. I have a great deal of respect for his skillset and ability to make light out of everything.

Now, if something needs to be complete that requires a good knowledge of IT, whether it be MS, Cisco, Juniper, Sun, Unix/Linux etc etc....... is the PM gonna be the guy/gal working at it until its fixed? The answer is no, its down to us, the engineers/techies.

Do you wanna have to be on the phone to the customer every minute explaining why its not working, writing countless emails and attending pointless meetings when you can be doing what we all enrolled in IT to do....fix IT stuff...right????

The two, work in unison, normally to great effect, at least from my own experience.

So whos worth more salary wise? Well that depends on the company and the job specfication....a well paid PM could have several customers to deal with and be expected to work lots of overtime. A well paid techy could be in exactly the same boat. However, personally id never work for a company that values one above the other, because then they havent got a clue.

Daniel333

General rule, yes. 45-50 hours is 45-50 hours. Might as well get paid more. Follow the money!Unless for some reason the project managers at your job are treated poorly. Ours make nearly twice as much as the people they supervise.