There are many interesting careers in the software development industry, and people with the skills to work on software teams are needed by almost all businesses in one shape or form, as well as public organizations. One job that appeals to a lot of people is project management, because it allows you to work in a capacity that can be slightly less demanding from a technical perspective than software development roles, but which lets you manage and coordinate the work of lots of different people to really pull a project together.
If you are interested in this kind of career, here are some of the traits that make up a good software project manager:
Communication
One of the biggest parts of the role of a project manager on a software project is being able to talk about project matters with people from all different disciplines, at all different levels. You will need to translate technical matters into layman’s terms for clients and senior management who may not have a good understanding of IT. You will also have to bridge the gap between lots of different teams, for instance testing and dev teams, to coordinate work. Being good at explaining things, reporting progress in visual and verbal formats, and in some cases, negotiating things like schedule changes, are therefore key skills. If you’re a good communicator and enjoy working with lots of different people, this will help a lot.
Technical Understanding
Some project managers are career project managers who have never held other roles, others are people who used to work in other capacities on projects, such as former developers and testers. Even if you are the ‘non-techie’ kind, you do still need to understand the concepts relating to your project, even if you wouldn’t be able to code or debug them yourself. Good qualifications such as a computer information systems degree or MSCIS – which are possible to get through online degree providers – can help, but you need to be someone with a technical mindset who is comfortable when people start talking about technical matters even if you have a management background and degree rather than a computer related one.
Organization
As you might expect in a role where coordinating all kinds of efforts on a project is the main objective, a good project manager will have excellent organization skills, and also be good at using the tools that help manage a project, such as Gantt charts and RAID logs. The project manager doesn’t just need to keep track of everything that is going on on what can end up being a project with hundreds of people on it (often with teams in different locations), but also needs to be able to explain all of that to other people at the drop of a hat – so being a highly organized person is key.
If you think you have what it takes based on these traits, then being a project manager could be a great career for you, so why not start studying for a career as a software project manager today?
Photograph by Eloquence / Unsplash