This one is funny to me.  The economy is tight – there’s no getting around that.  But it’s funny how companies are looking for someone to do everything for them.  One size fits all, right?  And it’s not really just that.  Everyone, everywhere is supposed to be a jack-of-all-trades for as little money as possible.  I think that statement probably sums it up best.



I’ve talked to many project managers who are searching for jobs and finding nothing.  Or finding things that sound like project management positions but they really aren’t.  Some aren’t even close.  I’m sure that project management isn’t the only profession getting twisted in this job market mess that we’re in right now, but it is what we all care about – those of us reading articles like this one anyway.



I’m always on the lookout for new opportunities as most of us are.  I talked to an organization the other day about a project management role and they really wanted an application developer.  I talked to another company who needed an experienced application development manager.  I’ve done that, plus I’ve been an application developer and I’ve led developers as a project manager for … well, for forever.  Again, what they really wanted was a developer who would also manage.  Here’s what most of these organizations that what crossover developers/managers don’t seem to understand – most developers don’t want to do that.  I’ve talked to a lot of application developer friends of mine and believe me, most of them want out of management as soon as they get into it.  I was the corporate application developer for one of the largest gaming/casino organizations in the world and I was taking over for a very experienced system architect who had moved into the role and wanted out as quickly as possible.  The bottom line is, the best developers are usually happier as developers.  That’s what I’ve witnessed, and that’s what they’ve told me.



So, back to the original question of the article…. “Do you ‘do’ project management?”  So many job postings, consulting requests, and – my favorite – Craigslist postings – are asking for a project manager in every field.  Project managers can be everything.  Data entry people are now project managers.  Web developers are also project managers.  Sales people are project managers.  Don’t get me wrong, those are all great professions – and necessary professions.  But project managers?  No.  Not that project managers are better, just very different.  The title has been cheapened, unfortunately, and I’m not sure what if anything that we project managers can do about it.  I do know that educating of the workforce population needs to take place somehow and at some point.



Summary