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Opportunity for IT Management
10-04-2016, 08:30 AM
I finally have an opportunity to take my IT career to the next level. My boss is encouraging me into an IT management role. He is a great boss and willing to mentor me for the next 6 or so months.
I've been in a senior position/architect in my niche for a while and I've been in the industry for 16 years. I feel this is natural progression for me and I am generally interested.
That being said, have any of you made that transition? Any tips, suggestions or warnings? My main question is, how did you take the change of working with peers to all of the sudden managing the same team members? Luckily I do work with a great team.
Thoughts?
"When in chaos, speak truth." - Jordan Peterson
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Opportunity for IT Management
10-04-2016, 08:34 AM
Quote: (10-04-2016 08:31 AM)Suits Wrote:
What do you want to do?
I'd like to do it. The idea of being a good leader appeals to me and it opens doors previously closed to me.
"When in chaos, speak truth." - Jordan Peterson
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Opportunity for IT Management
10-04-2016, 08:42 AM
Sounds like your choice has been made!
With that said, being in management will buy you time against the agism issues most in IT deal with. You can also avoid getting laid off most (key word) of the time.
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Opportunity for IT Management
10-04-2016, 08:47 AM
Quote: (10-04-2016 08:42 AM)The Beast1 Wrote:
Sounds like your choice has been made!
With that said, being in management will buy you time against the agism issues most in IT deal with. You can also avoid getting laid off most (key word) of the time.
That's great. Granted I'm only 40, but yes, in 5 to 10 years, I think I'll be aging out against the millennials (lame).
"When in chaos, speak truth." - Jordan Peterson
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Opportunity for IT Management
10-04-2016, 09:12 AM
When moving into management, you will have to accept that your technical skills will probably fade away. You will still be able to grasp the concepts, but you won't get enough practice to stay on top of the details.
To be a good IT Manager, it helps a lot if you enjoy talking to people (part of the reason many techies never make the move) - depending on the exact position, there's usually a lot of meetings, and you'll need to understand business objectives and translate them into specific tasks for your team(s).
"I'd hate myself if I had that kind of attitude, if I were that weak." - Arnold
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Opportunity for IT Management
10-04-2016, 09:29 AM
I'm envious to be frank! I've been trying to get into a management position for ever.
A lot of the problems i face really stem for poor resource allocation and bad communication. I dig my bosses but they're too disconnected from the foot soldiers.
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Opportunity for IT Management
10-04-2016, 09:40 AM
Congrats! Take it, you won't regret it. If you ever need advice from me my PM box is always open. Maybe you could advise me later, who knows. Good luck and God bless.
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Opportunity for IT Management
10-04-2016, 09:41 AM
You have an opportunity here. Would your boss be happy if you turned it down? Could you stomach seeing someone else take the position which may compromise your current position because lets be honest, what happens if you don't like the new manager?
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Opportunity for IT Management
10-04-2016, 10:25 AM
I wish I could find such an opportunity. I am so sick and tired of being trapped in the position of keyboard monkey.
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Opportunity for IT Management
10-04-2016, 01:17 PM
Thank you guys for your support and advice!
I'm going to accept, wish me luck!
"When in chaos, speak truth." - Jordan Peterson
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Opportunity for IT Management
10-04-2016, 03:02 PM
I made transition from consultant to IT manager and back. I didn't like managing people, excel sheets, being on management meetings etc. I enjoy much more doing technical work and programming. Maybe again in another time in another company, maybe if I could be more of a mentor to people and not just track their amount of work and babysit them. Nothing worse then managing unmotivated people and not being allowed to replace them.
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Opportunity for IT Management
10-04-2016, 03:22 PM
How will moving up the ladder encroach on your free time? My boss is a good manager, he's an intelligent likeable guy who is supposed to work 9-5, however he works a lot of extra hours and still doesn't manage to stay on top of his workload a lot of the time. He's by no means alone in this.
What do you do when you're involved in multiple projects, spend half your days in meetings, and have to deal with 200+ emails a day? I suppose it depends what industry you are in and what company you work for.
If getting a promotion means logging on at night and weekends to catch up on your work then I would think twice. If it's not going to negatively impact your life in this way then go for it. I made a similar transition in a previous job and it worked well for me.
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Opportunity for IT Management
10-24-2016, 10:47 AM
Just want to give you guys an update. I accepted for management training that was supposed to start on November 1st. Well, they have to "restructure" for a merger and it's being put on hold (of course it is).
Not big deal, I'm still the lead engineer so my job doesn't really change. Like anything else, I just ride it out until a better offer comes along. One good thing about my particular niche is, it's always in demand.
Fun!
"When in chaos, speak truth." - Jordan Peterson
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Opportunity for IT Management
10-24-2016, 12:39 PM
What are the metrics for this new position? Understand that before you blindly walk into something ill defined. If times get tough and they need to make cuts, it'll be better for you to demonstrate what KPIs you've met, value added, etc. versus being just another middle manager doing TPS reports.