Cedric Cook ⋅ Richmond, TX IBM ⋅ 19 years experience

Joshua-

Congratulations and thank you for your service. While having a Technical degree can help you in understanding the work that your teams are responsible for; it doesn't guarantee that you can be a good Project Manager. Good PMs have a collection of skills -Leadership, Organization, Time-management, and Communication skills.. I think that your most valuable assets will be your leadership skills and business acumen...

Another bit of advise is to stay engaged with PMI.org to get the latest information regarding PM practices.

Regards,

Cedric

Phani Penumarty ⋅ Bridgewater, NJ ⋅ 13 years experience

Hello Joshua,
Thank you for your service. Project Management needs you to be a good and exemplary leader while managing the team and tasks methodically. It also needs keen analytical abilities and interpersonal skills to manage various teams that are involved in the projects. The key points in your background are MBA and PMP (it is strongly advised to get the certification). If you are looking for project management positions in IT, you are best advised to learn about following key elements of IT industry
1. SDLC – Software Development Life Cycle
2. Various phases of testing – Unit, Integration, System, User Acceptance Testing
3. Different models of development – Agile, Waterfall
4. Basic tools – Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and Project)
5. Basic outlines of major software used – Java, .Net, Oracle and SQL Database
Good luck with the transitioning!

Stefan Beyer ⋅ Kirkland, WA Wipro Ltd ⋅ 12 years experience

I've worked as a contract SDET (Software Development Engineer in Test) for many teams across multiple companies, and I've found that the Project Managers on these teams tend to have mild IT skills, and don't often deal with implementing features or fixing defects.

Having limited IT knowledge probably isn't as large a hurdle as you might think; a PM's main skill set is to: identify risk, set priorities, coordinate with the right people on and off your team when a problem arises, and re-evaluate the team's schedule based on problems and progress.

Demonstrating that you have a basic understanding of programming, server architecture, and testing techniques will not only show employers you can wrap your head around how computer systems work, but you'll be able to easily demonstrate your ability to solve problems the team may encounter and show how your military experience translates.

Specifically, you might want to look into the following:

For Programming:
- learn a "scripting language". You don't need to become an expert in it, but getting the gist of how programming works should go a long way. The scripting language I'd recommend getting an intro to is "Python". Making a couple of quick sample programs should do the trick.

For Server Architecture:
- Know the difference between "Front End" and "Back End" systems. and how they interact with one another.

For Testing Techniques:
- Know what "Black Box Testing" and "White Box Testing" are
- Read up on some uses for automated testing (don't worry about coding this yourself, though - just when's an appropriate time to use it).

Finally, I'd recommend going through a staffing agency to find PM jobs. They'll be able to understand your career goals and help match you with appropriate job openings. Reach out to multiple agencies, and if the recruiter isn't working as hard as you are finding you a job try and work with a different recruiter. The contract-to-hire is fairly rare nowadays, but you can sustain yourself and gain a valuable diversity of experience working multiple contracts one after the other.

Anyway, I hope this helps :)

Tom Cal, CFA ⋅ San Francisco, CA Army Veteran, Investment Manager ⋅ 25 years experience

Research these resources and concepts.

Provide feedback and ask follow up questions.

VCTP Syracuse, PMP, Six Sigma, PMI.org, ASQ.org, professional certifications and professional organizations.

Request mentors from PMI and ASQ.

Request a career goal relevant mentor from ACP, ideally a Project Manager with the PMP certification.

Interact, provide feedback, ask follow up questions!

Joshua Milam ⋅ Malabar, FL U.S. Army, Master Sergeant ⋅ 21 years served

Thank you all for your input. It was very valuable provided a lot of things for me to think about.

Joshua

Amit Chaudhary ⋅ San Jose, CA Doordash, Silicon Valley Software Company ⋅ 20 years experience

Les Cohn ⋅ Boynton Beach, FL Coverall North America ⋅ 25 years experience

Congratulations, Joshua on your retirement. And thank you for your service! You have received many great answers to your question, and I would like to add that as an MBA with a PMP I currently work as a Project Manager that engages in about 40% business-related (process improvement) projects and about 60% IT. Depending on the organization, not having a STEM background may not limit you as you might expect. A suite of strong business skills, program and project management can go a long way to trump just having a STEM background. In fact, Project Managers are now in demand in the legal profession, marketing and large consulting firms that require the skills of a project manager.

If I can be of any help whatsoever, please feel free to contact me.

Wishing you the best,

Les

Michael Del Vecchio ⋅ Killingworth, CT U.S. Army, Staff Sergeant ⋅ 3 years served

Good morning Joshua,

I worked in industry for a long time. I did hold a PMP for many years and taught PMP exam licensing, observed that the brand has diminished value and is trumped by experience. Check out the value for your chosen field. I would seek information from an executive recruiter. As a retiring sergeant, you probably have more than average project management experience and all of the requisite skills. Leverage that. I did give my son the project management reference materials/books that I used, he gets value in the textile business. My sense is that good PM's are valued outside of the STEM areas - construction being a glaring example. You might try networking through a veterans' chamber of commerce for job leads. Take care, Good luck.

Tracy Goller ⋅ York Harbor, ME Liberty Mutual ⋅ 27 years experience

Hi Joshua,

Congratulations on your coming retirement and thank you for your service. I agree with others that have noted the value of your PMI certification. I'd also like to add that not all PM roles are engineering or IT related. You may be able to expand your search into other areas as well. Although I work in IT, I have been on many projects with Project Managers from business side of the house. Pairing your MBA with PMI certification is a great step finding a position where you will be able to apply our skills. Good luck with your search.

Tracy

Sheila Stepp ⋅ Washington, DC Department of Labor ⋅ 20 years experience

I would also like to add that getting your certification as a PMP will also help. There are companies that will look for that as more important. Proving your strength as a Project/Program manager is more likely to get you the job than your IT skills. ensure that you highlight this in your resume and you should be well on your way. I agree with what Jennifer said. Remember that you had to adapt to different environments in the military and you will have to do the same in your civilian career as well.