Project management jobs are amongst some of the most challenging in the IT industry. They are well-paid roles, but taking on one of these jobs should not be done lightly. Before applying for some project management jobs you need to familiarise yourself with the main challenges and ask yourself if you are really equipped to deal with them.
The IT world is a small one, so the last thing you need to do is to take on a job you are not ready for and fail. If you do that, reputation of your business will be ruined and it will take you years to recover during which time finding work could prove problematic.Working on a roller coaster
Managing projects is tricky. During conception and development, things move slowly. The project is low down on people’s list of priorities, so if you need data or feedback, at this stage, its often like getting blood out of a stone. People do not see the urgency, so do not respond. Things move slowly.
However, when you get close to the implementation date things go crazy. Everyone wants things getting done yesterday. They do not care if something is not quite ready to go live; it has to happen, so they pressure you to find a quick fix. When you launch and the quick fix fails, which they inevitably do, everyone blames you.
If you cannot cope with a chaotic workload, and pressure coming from every direction being an IT project manager is not for you.
Never reaching perfection
Perhaps the most difficult thing to deal with as a project manager is the fact that in order to deliver the project on budget and on time you will have to make compromises. Therefore, your team’s brilliant system will rarely be delivered in its entirety. For some people this is hard to cope with. So, if you need perfection to feel you have done a good and get job satisfaction working as a project manager is not really for you.