How I Became a Project Manager Professional – Part 1

I have spent more than 2 decades working in the corporate world of Information Technology and more than half of that time I’ve been a Project Manager. Even though this was not at all part of the plan when I started my career, now that I have doing this for awhile, I truly enjoy this career path and want to share some of this journey with you for any of you considering this as well. It has truly been a journey of discovering myself and what I was meant to be.

The Beginnings

Back in 2000 when I needed my first job, I was willing to try anything related to my field of study. So even though I wanted to be a software developer, the position that opened up for me was one of a software support engineer. I took it just happy to have something to get my feet wet in the corporate world. Of course I started as a junior engineer tasked with troubleshooting easier problems before handing off the more complex or higher priority issues to the more experienced engineers.

Very soon, I realized that I really enjoyed this work because I had a chance to interact with our customers while also being involved in the technical aspects. I was not holed up just writing pieces of code but rather got to talk to all kinds of people everyday.

The Gradual Progression

As months passed on, I was recognized for my abilities and soon moved a more senior position to handle the complex problems as well. This also meant having to work additional hours during the evenings or the weekends so I can be part of the on-call team to support our customers 24×7. I soon realized I did not enjoy this as much because the line between my personal time and work hours got blurry. But I did my part to continue supporting our product and our customers.

As time went on and my skills improved, the company also grew from being a start-up to becoming a well recognized leader in the space and landed some top Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 customers. So as our organization was also evolving there came a need to have more specialized roles who work with some of these top customers. At this point I had a great manager who recognized my people skills and organizational skills and gave me additional responsibilities to help run a new program to help resolve problems faster for these top customers.

The Decision

As much as I enjoyed running the new initiatives and charting a new path for our team and fitting myself into a role that was almost custom suited for me, I soon realized that I was not as hands on with the technical aspects of the job anymore. And I was starting to get uncomfortable. I wasn’t quite sure what to call myself anymore. I was no longer a software engineer but I was wearing many hats that could be described as an account manager or an escalation manager. And so I had a frank conversation with my manager. And he helped me understand that I had a decision to make. It was almost like a fork in the road. I could choose to revert back to the familiar work of technical problem solving with deep expertise in the product or chart new territory that could lead me in a new path. One wasn’t necessarily better than the other – just different.

I made the choice of the latter option – I was going to explore the new path.

Finding the Right Fit

Around this same time of my career changing decision, our small company was acquired by a much larger corporate giant (at that time). As our team merged with the other teams, this also opened up more resources including the use of Six Sigma methodologies to seek process improvements. And my manager connected me with a mentor who was well versed in this area so I could learn the new skills and apply them in my new path that I was charting for myself. This was exciting. I was no longer struggling to know what to call myself. I found a methodology that was proven to work that could also be applied to the very tasks I was performing on a day to day basis.

Discovering Project Management

Even though I enjoyed learning about the Six Sigma methodologies and using it, I realized it was not applicable to all aspects of my job scope, which continued to evolve to keep up with the innovative business strategies of the company’s overall mission. Then another major acquisition happened. I was now part of a much bigger corporate giant. Again as my team and I worked through the merging process with the rest of the bigger company, I explored to see what was the official title for those who were doing tasks similar to what I had been doing. This is when I learned about the fully fledged career of being a Project Management Professional (PMP).

I was excited. Now I knew, this is what I wanted to whole-heartedly pursue. This meant, I had to embrace this fully and earn the necessary PMP certification so I have my credentials to back up what I do. And so the work began. Stay tuned for a future post where I will fully share the details of how I qualified for and prepared to become a PMP.

What Will Your Journey Be?

Well, this is my story. At least as of now. I am sure there is more twists and turns ahead but I am glad for all the ways in which I was blessed to have a successful career so far doing what I love and being able to figure it out along the way.

Each of us have our own paths to choose. Your story will be very different from mine but it will be wholly yours and unique. Just be encouraged that if you are still restless about what you should be doing with your time, stick with it and keep exploring your options until you find what it is that you truly love. It will not happen overnight, but it will come.

Cheers!