25 years old and deep in debt

[CountDeMoney]

PMs are the devil. That is all

No shit.  The worker bee equivalent of MBAs.  Useless.

[Caliga]

Good project managers aren't easy to find

Ain't that the truth.

But I disagree on "especially when pulled out of IT".  IT Project Managers should always be pulled out of 'real' IT jobs, or else you get a PM who doesn't know what the hell they're talking about and promises impossible deliverables in impossible timeframes.

It's theoretically possible for someone who has no IT experience at all to competently manage an IT project, if they follow PMO guidelines and have good management skills.  However, I have never seen this actually happen.

[Caliga]

*Except the one where he avoided going into Vietnam.

Both my father and father-in-law fought in Vietnam.  Vietnam paid for my father-in-law's college education and he's a retired teacher, and Vietnam trained my dad to be an electricial engineer which he parlayed into a career in facilities development and management.

[merithyn]

Good project managers aren't easy to find

Ain't that the truth.

But I disagree on "especially when pulled out of IT".  IT Project Managers should always be pulled out of 'real' IT jobs, or else you get a PM who doesn't know what the hell they're talking about and promises impossible deliverables in impossible timeframes.

It's theoretically possible for someone who has no IT experience at all to competently manage an IT project, if they follow PMO guidelines and have good management skills.  However, I have never seen this actually happen.

The problem there is that most IT folks (gross generalization incoming) aren't good communicators. They may know the best, most effective way to communicate with 18 different software programs, but can't talk to a customer to save their lives.

So, find someone who's IT savvy AND a good communicator: PROFIT!

At least, I'm hoping.

[merithyn]

PMs are the devil. That is all

No shit.  The worker bee equivalent of MBAs.  Useless.

See, this is an issue. GOOD Project Managers should make your life easier. They do the organizational stuff, the budgeting, the communicating with the customer, so that you don't have to. Basically, they should be dealing with the headache crap while you do the job.

I'm just not sure how that's not a positive in the workplace.

[Caliga]

The problem there is that most IT folks (gross generalization incoming) aren't good communicators. They may know the best, most effective way to communicate with 18 different software programs, but can't talk to a customer to save their lives.

So, find someone who's IT savvy AND a good communicator: PROFIT!

At least, I'm hoping.

I agree that this is true more often than not, yeah.

Also, you are on the right track by trying to get a footing in IT yourself.  A lot of the PMs I've known who don't have an IT background never even tried... though one I work with actually got Cisco certs.  In her case they're completely useless as she works on software projects, but at least she tried.

[The Brain]

is she agile

[Caliga]

is she agile

She's pretty lean, in fact.

[merithyn]

I agree that this is true more often than not, yeah.

Also, you are on the right track by trying to get a footing in IT yourself.  A lot of the PMs I've known who don't have an IT background never even tried... though one I work with actually got Cisco certs.  In her case they're completely useless as she works on software projects, but at least she tried.

Despite what many seem to think here, I'm not dumb.

It's hard to know what can or can't be done without having tried to do it oneself first.

[CountDeMoney]

But I disagree on "especially when pulled out of IT".  IT Project Managers should always be pulled out of 'real' IT jobs, or else you get a PM who doesn't know what the hell they're talking about and promises impossible deliverables in impossible timeframes.

Instead, you get IT people who:
1) over-complicate and over-engineer things, because that's their methodology;
2) have zero personality with the inability to communicate with non-IT people on an even basic human level, and
3) don't understand, and even more importantly, don't care about annoying non-IT issues such as intuitive workflow, QA/QC and other such post-project nuisances. 

It's theoretically possible for someone who has no IT experience at all to competently manage an IT project, if they follow PMO guidelines and have good management skills.  However, I have never seen this actually happen.

I had no problems getting it done, and neither have any of the non-IT project managers I've ever worked with.  IT mutts, on the other hand, not so much.

[CountDeMoney]

The problem there is that most IT folks (gross generalization incoming) aren't good communicators.

That's neither gross nor a generalization.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Good project managers aren't easy to find

Ain't that the truth.

But I disagree on "especially when pulled out of IT".  IT Project Managers should always be pulled out of 'real' IT jobs, or else you get a PM who doesn't know what the hell they're talking about and promises impossible deliverables in impossible timeframes.

It's theoretically possible for someone who has no IT experience at all to competently manage an IT project, if they follow PMO guidelines and have good management skills.  However, I have never seen this actually happen.

The problem there is that most IT folks (gross generalization incoming) aren't good communicators. They may know the best, most effective way to communicate with 18 different software programs, but can't talk to a customer to save their lives.

So, find someone who's IT savvy AND a good communicator: PROFIT!

At least, I'm hoping.

Conversely, project managers are good at communicating, but not really listening. 

[The Brain]

What?

[Neil]

But once you complete it, won't you be unemployable?

My degree will be "useful", unlike a JD. I'm going for an MS in Project Management. 

Link
CIO — Project management may not be the most exciting job in IT these days, especially when most of the talk about hot IT jobs pertains to software developers, information security professionals and business intelligence analysts. Nevertheless, IT project management remains a stable, lucrative career with opportunities for growth, according to the latest salary survey from the Project Management Institute (PMI).

"We're seeing huge demand for IT project and program managers," says Mark Langley, president and CEO of PMI. "The data in the survey demonstrates that."

Indeed, the median base salary for an individual working in the field of project management in the U.S. is $105,000. Such a high median shows that companies are willing to pay top dollar for project management expertise.

Employers pay even higher salaries to project managers who hold the PMI's Project Management Professional (PMP) certification: Those who've held a PMP for five to less than 10 years earn a median base salary of $113,000, while those who've maintained a PMP for 10 to less than 20 years earn a median base salary of $120,000, according to the survey.

The degree comes with the necessary training to pass the PMP exam.

Which is all well and good.  Project management is very trendy and meaningless, but won't you be pretty old by the time you finish?  Corporations hate old people.  They love young people.

[merithyn]

Conversely, project managers are good at communicating, but not really listening. 

Good communication requires listening skills.