Project Manager (IT)
Information Technology Careers
A blog on project management describes the IT project manager’s position as an axle that holds the project team, the management, and the client together.
To do the job well, you require not only technical expertise in IT but also considerable business sense. Of course, you would need to use your people skills all the time.
Responsibilites: What do Project Managers do?
As an IT project manager you would plan, execute, and monitor technology initiatives for organisations. These initiatives could be hardware installation, software development, network modernisation, data management, or cloud computing.
Your responsibilities would involve conceiving a project to cater to all of the client’s requirements, executing it, monitoring the implementation, and handing over the installation to the client.
For the IT project manager, every project would start by meeting the client to understand the client’s requirements.
You would then start planning the project stages and putting together a team to implement the project.
When the project starts, you would have to keep a constant eye on the progress of the project and whether everything is going along as planned.
A major worry related to IT projects is that technology undergoes changes during the course of implementation of projects, which would press you to constantly review your planning.
Typically, in the case of software projects, you may need to go back again and again to the drawing board because of technology advances in your domain.
Among other important concerns for an IT project manager are whether the project is progressing as per schedule and whether it is conforming to the budget. As an IT project manager, another responsibility is to ensure quality in all aspects of the project.
After evaluating and testing the project, you are ready to hand over the installation or facility to your client. Monitoring of the effectiveness of what you have created may continue at the client’s site for some time.
Qualifications
Apart from a university bachelor’s or master’s degree in information technology, and well-developed technical skills, you may also need a diploma or degree in project management besides adequate experience.
As mentioned earlier, you will be working with a number of professionals, and you will have to summon all your leadership skills and all you know about HR management.
You will need the ability to understand information about projects and clients’ requirements in terms of both technology and business considerations.
Excellent spoken and written communication skills and time management skills are essential. Being organised and meticulous may make a huge contribution to success in the job.
Typical salary for Project Managers
IT companies followed by banks are among the top employers of IT project managers. According to Internet sources, the annual salary of an IT project manager is between Rs. 7 lakh and Rs. 20 lakh in India ($50,000 and $130,000 in the US).
From all reports, you will have an excellent work environment, though you may have to travel to clients’ cities often and be away from your family for long period.
But you can constantly make use of opportunities to acquire technical expertise.
Deadlines and the task of handling several experienced professionals from various streams will probably cause headaches, but this will only enrich your learning experience.
Career path for Project Managers
In this era of specialisation, technical domain knowledge and experience are major drivers for career advancement.
From a junior project manager, you can hope to be promoted to senior project manager, programme manager, and to a place in the project management office (PMO), which large companies set up in order to assign among project managers.
Job outlook for Project Management Jobs
The outlook is excellent for IT project managers. Their skills have been among the most-sought-after in the IT field for more than a couple of years.
More and more companies with major IT initiatives are employing them to dovetail the talent and efforts of technical professionals, senior management, material vendors and contractors, and clients.
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