Discussion on:

Transitioning into project management without a tech background

I do not have a technical background (no programming degree), but I've successfully managed projects I think in part because I think like a programmer and have good organization and at least average people skills.
On the other hand, the last person I hired as a project manager needed very good technical skills because I knew he'd also have to do double duty, using his programming skills and data conversion experience to troubleShoot.

Winslow8,

The last person you hired was not a technical project manager. It was a person filling in two roles, project manager and troubleshooting. I usually don't like projects where I am the PM and also part of the delivery team. I prefer to keep those activities separate. (I don't mind being on the delivery team for someone else's project.)

There are two people I hire for a specific job depending on what I need in that position. The first is someone who has extensive experience in similar positions and stands out as a perfect fit. The second is someone who clearly does not have the experience to qualify as a perfect fit but has the less tangible qualities of eagerness, common sense, good interpersonal skills, and intelligence to quickly compensate for their lack of applicable experience. I have hired both with great success. The question for you is "Do you fall into the latter category."

Therefore, your task with respect to the hiring manager is to first determine what characteristics he or she would accept from someone who is not a perfect fit. That is, you must ask them, "You know, I'm considering applying for this position. If you were to hire someone who does not have the specific experience relating to the technical knowledge of this job, what qualities would you look for that would convince you to hire someone without a great deal of technical experience?" They may answer, "I would not hire someone like that under any circumstances.".... end of discussion. On the other hand, they may well give you a series of qualities and now you know what they want.

If I were asked this question, I would list the qualities I listed above. But those are my criteria. You must find out what the hiring manager values. If you can't get an answer then take mine. Your task then, in order to secure the job, is to show that you have the non-technical qualities that the hiring manager wants. If you can get the desired non-technical qualities from the hiring manager then pump up your capabilities in relation to those qualities. If you cannot get the desired non-technical qualities then hit as many qualities as you think might be important including the ones I list in this response.

The main message is that under some circumstances I will opt for the candidate that is a perfect fit... if they exist. On other occasions, I might have a really "good person"; smart; quick; articulate; able to think clearly; able to work well with people; and organized.... someone I trust to become what they are not yet. I've hired plenty of these people and they have never let me down. However, that is also a function of my ability to spot these people... some managers never take this approach. It is risky.

So your job as the non-technical candidate is in two phases. First, do the best you can to determine under what circumstances the hiring manager would hire a non-technical person for your desired position.... guess only as a last resort if you can't get the desired information. And second, if you have the desired qualities, make sure they are clearly presented to the hiring manager. That's how you make your case.

I hope this helps.
Steven Cerri

It sounds like this person has operational experience. Good project management is significant different from on-going operational managment. Historical good technical people have been promoted to project management, but many do not make the transition well, because of the lack of people skills. If you have the people skills, you still need to understand the temporay nature and other project aspects that are different from operations.

Existing Project Managers will be sure to reply to this situation with all of the "barriers" they wish to throw up to discourage some like this from trying to be a PM. I'm here to tell you to read all responses and pick and choose who you think is providing supportive advice!
The key questions I would have are the following: Have you had experience working on the types of projects you would manage in future? This does not mean the same technology, or anything like that. For example, if you have worked significantly on a project (as a project worker) to implement "ABC", you will be sure to be fine with the sequence of activities of a project to implement "GHI" in a similar fashion!
When a new Information System comes out, no one has experience managing it's implementation, but there are a lot of people who have lots of project experience in similar products.
Don't sell yourself short... if you have experience in similar projects, you should be fine moving up the chain. You will run into difficulties, but not that many more than any Tech-skilled-to-PM manager guy.
We all have our strengths. The trick is to maximize the benefit of them, and then to work hard on the "Weaknesses" you have as well. Who is ever logically going to refuse a person who does that?

There are lot of technology educational sites where you can learn the basics plus the latest technological advances. A lot of universities are also offering free beginners through advanced tech courses that would help you better prepare yourself to any challenge a techie interviewer may throw at you. Try www.coursera.com for a list of free college level courses you can enroll. You'll find original courses from universities such as Stanford and Duke. MIT has their own free courses site as well. Some of these professors would even give you certificate of accomplishment for finishing the course if you complete all the homeworks and pass the final test with a passing grade.

It is more important to know something about the business domain the project will be in and know the methodology to do project management. I would say that from all the project managers that I have met in IT they have never demonstrated that they ever had any tech knowledge worth noticing. Getting on to project mangers in non-IT sectors I personally know 3 project managers that are Chemical Engineers doing project management for civil engineering projects. What helps is domain knowledge and the methodology to do the job. I would agree with the author to try for the job and to back up the experience with a formal qualification.