Moving from technical expertise to leadership is not a natural promotion, it is a complete identity shift. What really changes and how to make the transition work.
Thanks for writing this. As an engineer who became a project manager myself, this is something that I'm always very interested in. I also find that the engineers who are the most technical, who love the tools and equations the most, often struggle to transition into project management. They either stay "stuck" in engineering or they become reluctant project managers.
The unfortunate reality in many industries is that those who stay in engineering hit the salary ceiling much faster than those who move into project management. This is something that I've seen people try to change over the years, but with very limited success. It would be much more helpful if engineers learned more project management skills during our formal training.
Your experience matches mine and so many other engineers, project management seems to be one of the few things that leaders expect engineers to do without training. (I became a trainer btw)
Thanks William, great article. "The problems you no longer solve directly get solved anyway, and often in ways you would not have imagined yourself." really stuck with me, as I often get delusions of grandeur, and often it is me that is stopping a problem from being solved!
Thanks for writing this. As an engineer who became a project manager myself, this is something that I'm always very interested in. I also find that the engineers who are the most technical, who love the tools and equations the most, often struggle to transition into project management. They either stay "stuck" in engineering or they become reluctant project managers.
The unfortunate reality in many industries is that those who stay in engineering hit the salary ceiling much faster than those who move into project management. This is something that I've seen people try to change over the years, but with very limited success. It would be much more helpful if engineers learned more project management skills during our formal training.
Your experience matches mine and so many other engineers, project management seems to be one of the few things that leaders expect engineers to do without training. (I became a trainer btw)
Thanks William, great article. "The problems you no longer solve directly get solved anyway, and often in ways you would not have imagined yourself." really stuck with me, as I often get delusions of grandeur, and often it is me that is stopping a problem from being solved!