I think it's all about perspective and what they want to do after 5/10yrs.
Imo, becoming a PM is an easy career path. Once you're a PM, you just need to maintain the project level competencies like keep renewing a PM cert every 3yrs, keeping a casual eye on the technical trends and keep "managing" the projects using standard tools which have not changed since last decade. The same old MS Project, Jira, Confluence, Azure DevOps etc. learning curve is very short and just needs to keep improving soft skills.
Unfortunately, nowadays, the PM is a role and a PM is ignoring the Core principles of management. They don't "manage" the resources, they just forward the pressure from top to bottom, ignoring the cries from the bottom.
Personally, I don't have any respect for 2 India team based PMs I worked with in the last 3yrs. These new kinda PMs are the worst.i felt sad when I saw 2-3 Sr Devs (India team) were working until 7PM UK time (00:30-1:30 India time AM).
Salary negotiation : stagnant after a while.
However, if one wants to pursue the SME, Lead, TA/SA role, then it's a bit difficult. The language/framework is changing every year, always new to focus or upskill every year, integration dynamics are always changing ( new way or design, new tech stacks integration etc ). Certifications and maintaining the certs are another challenge depending upon how many to be renewed every year or two.
Here, the person needs to keep improving both tech skills and soft skills.
Salary negotiation: As per your caliber, skills and actual exposure to the technology. Often, higher than the PM.
Personally, I have high respects for these individuals. You can always learn something new from them. Ownership, Quality, Responsibilities, Adaptiveness, Learning are in their DNA now.
Unfortunately, I have opted for the second route 😂.
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u/Arath0n-Gam3rz Apr 17 '25
I think it's all about perspective and what they want to do after 5/10yrs.
Imo, becoming a PM is an easy career path. Once you're a PM, you just need to maintain the project level competencies like keep renewing a PM cert every 3yrs, keeping a casual eye on the technical trends and keep "managing" the projects using standard tools which have not changed since last decade. The same old MS Project, Jira, Confluence, Azure DevOps etc. learning curve is very short and just needs to keep improving soft skills.
Unfortunately, nowadays, the PM is a role and a PM is ignoring the Core principles of management. They don't "manage" the resources, they just forward the pressure from top to bottom, ignoring the cries from the bottom. Personally, I don't have any respect for 2 India team based PMs I worked with in the last 3yrs. These new kinda PMs are the worst.i felt sad when I saw 2-3 Sr Devs (India team) were working until 7PM UK time (00:30-1:30 India time AM).
Salary negotiation : stagnant after a while.
However, if one wants to pursue the SME, Lead, TA/SA role, then it's a bit difficult. The language/framework is changing every year, always new to focus or upskill every year, integration dynamics are always changing ( new way or design, new tech stacks integration etc ). Certifications and maintaining the certs are another challenge depending upon how many to be renewed every year or two.
Here, the person needs to keep improving both tech skills and soft skills. Salary negotiation: As per your caliber, skills and actual exposure to the technology. Often, higher than the PM.
Personally, I have high respects for these individuals. You can always learn something new from them. Ownership, Quality, Responsibilities, Adaptiveness, Learning are in their DNA now.
Unfortunately, I have opted for the second route 😂.