Management in IT

Arvean

Hi Guys,

I was thinking about my career recently and thanks to opinions on this forum I've got a sense of what I'm looking for. I love IT with my whole heart nevertheless I don't want to end up doing purely network administration etc. I have some managerial skills as well. What kind of IT job would use both managerial and IT skills? Project management? What else? What would be required from me in regards to IT part of this job ( meaning what technologies, skills etc)

As always your feedback is highly appreciated. I'm sure that many will find this question helpful.

blargoe

A lot of times it depends on the company. My current company and the one before this one I had "working managers" who had IT management responsibilities - the buck stops there to see that projects are implemented successfully - but they also are skilled and work on some of the implementation too.

JDMurray

When asking to do both technical and managerial work, you are actually asking to wear multiple "hats" in an organization. This is typically the case in small companies that can't afford (or just don't want to spend the money) to hire all of the necessary people for a project. You will do twice as much work, spend 50% more time doing work, and for basically the same pay as if you only had one role in the organization.

If I see a project where managerial people are also fulfilling necessary technical roles on the project (e.g., writing code, authoring documentation, performing customer site installations), I see a project that is under-staffed and probably mis-managed. There are exceptional cases where this is temporarily necessary, such as with small, entrepreneurial start-ups, but not for established organizations.

For example, you mention project managers as doing both technical and managerial work. If this is the case, the PM probably is filling in for one or two technical people that should be hired for the project, but for some reason aren't (again, most likely budget reasons). When a PM is fulfilling one or more technical roles on a project they are loosing valuable time being the project's manager. This is rarely a good situation, and often means that the project team is overworked and under-managed.

In summary, if you want to be a renaissance technical/managerial/business guy, get a position with a small, entrepreneurial, venture capitol-driven company, do the work of three people each week for 2-3 years, and hope in that time the company finds a way to earn mad revenue by producing a highly successful product or service. Most of my resume is filled with jobs like this.

hypnotoad

In summary, if you want to be a renaissance technical/managerial/business guy, get a position with a small, entrepreneurial, venture capitol-driven company, do the work of three people each week for 2-3 years, and hope in that time the company finds a way to earn mad revenue by producing a highly successful product or service. Most of my resume is filled with jobs like this. icon_wink.gif

did it pay off?

JDMurray

nlabelle wrote:

did it pay off?

Yeah, I must admit that selling my stock options from one company did allow me to put a very sizable down payment on a nice house in a California beach city. Most of my other jobs, however, only resulted in a steady paycheck, a handful of new friends and colleagues, and another blurb on my resume. Start-ups can be exciting, are often very hard work, and are always a gamble.

Arvean

This seems to be discouraging. I was always thinking that if you are well versed in variety of skills you're increasing your market value. Does that mean that there is no place for multi-talents in bigger firms or corporate enviroment? I have nothing against small business, but right now being office manager/ it administrator seems to limit my growth, as the company is not growing. I was sure I can use both managerial skills and IT skills when I will build them up....

JDMurray

Arvean wrote:

I was sure I can use both managerial skills and IT skills when I will build them up....

Don't overlook the fact that both those skill sets will be needed if you ever go into business for yourself.

cisco_trooper

Arvean wrote:

This seems to be discouraging. I was always thinking that if you are well versed in variety of skills you're increasing your market value. Does that mean that there is no place for multi-talents in bigger firms or corporate enviroment? I have nothing against small business, but right now being office manager/ it administrator seems to limit my growth, as the company is not growing. I was sure I can use both managerial skills and IT skills when I will build them up....

From my experience what JD says is pretty true. I worked for a small company for about two years as a network admin and must admit is quite ridiculous. I had to do things that were extremely untechnical, while at the same time doing server administration, windows administration, network administration, security administration, SQL administration, proprietary application administration, 55 hrs a week, less than $50K a year. I finally wised up and got the hell out.

While a startup may be a good fit for you, there is a risk involved in going that route. My suggestion would be to try and find a more specific skillset that you enjoy doing, and start taking action to make yourself marketable in that capacity.

Arvean

JDMurray wrote:

Don't overlook the fact that both those skill sets will be needed if you ever go into business for yourself.

Been there done that... I used to run my small business as a graphic designer. The worst field ever. I really got tired of chasing every $50 dollars and clients saying that "their nephew can do their brochure in word for $25 so why am I charging a $100." Maybe it's just the field but graphic design in a small,freelance based enviroment just killed any drive I'd have for running my own firm.

I wonder how is freelance IT field in relation to that....

Arvean

cisco_trooper wrote:

My suggestion would be to try and find a more specific skillset that you enjoy doing, and start taking action to make yourself marketable in that capacity.

I appreciate your advice Cisco_trooper. You're right about it.. now I just need to find the field...