Imagine an orchestra. There are many musicians in it, each with their own instrument, style and presentation. It is the task of the conductor to combine them so that instead of cacophony, a symphony sounds in the hall. So, a project manager is a kind of conductor of IT teams. Only instead of a wand, he has words, a glider and a task tracker in his arsenal.
In order for everything to work correctly, such a specialist must know the architecture of projects, be able to negotiate with customers and competently distribute tasks to specialized specialists: give visual development to designers, create texts to copywriters, write code to developers. In addition, the project monitors compliance with deadlines, maintains a budget and works as a "polyglot" — translates client wishes into understandable tasks. It is also important to improve the professional slang of different IT specialists: it will be easier to understand messages from frontends and backends if you know the basic terminology.
Such workers are in demand in the market: now is open on HeadHunter Vacancies "project manager" / HeadHunter more than 17 thousand vacancies across Russia. And you don't have to have a lot of experience to start: even very newbies are looking for almost two thousand teams on the platform.
Project manager is an IT profession that is suitable if you are attracted to digital, but you are afraid of working with code. Because organizational skills and the ability to negotiate are more important in this specialty, and you can understand the specifics of IT. You can master the soft and hard skills necessary for the profession in the course "Project Manager" from Yandex Practicum. The authors of the course — current managers from Yandex Go, Redmadrobot and Luxoft - are responsible for the relevance of knowledge.
You can try yourself as a project manager for free - there is an introductory module on the course. Here it will be possible to solve the first tasks: to build work on the project and find a way out of conflict situations. If you like the introductory module, you can pay for the course and continue studying. If not, look for another digital specialty to your liking.
It is not necessary for the project to code or understand all the functions of Adobe Photoshop and Figma independently. But that doesn't mean he just walks around and talks.: "You do this, and you do that." Every word in the tasks set by the manager is verified and understood by the team members.
To do this, a project manager needs to know how IT production works, know different approaches to task allocation, such as Kanban, Waterfall, Agile, Scrum, and be able to use planning tools like Kaiten. And you also need to work with spreadsheets to keep track of projects and make reports for customers.
Project managers need flexible skills, perhaps even more than basic ones. The ability to build relationships with the client, resolve conflict situations, explain tasks to the team in an environmentally friendly way, plan the sequence and volume of work — all this will be useful literally from the first day. Without communication skills, it will be difficult to maneuver between the interests of the customer and colleagues. The skill of prioritizing will help out when there are several projects on the calendar at once. And strong nerves will be useful if the client suddenly turns out to be overly picky.Average salary Average salaries of a project manager / Job.
The salary is different Average salaries of a project manager / Job.
Six months will be enough to master all the tools and terminology. After that, you can apply for the Junior position, and then, gradually upgrading your skills, grow further: you can reach Middle after two years of work, and Senior after six. But all this is individual, it depends on the company, the complexity and quality of the work: there are also options when the career will move faster or slower.
It is easier for those who previously worked in IT in another specialty to join the project profession — they will not have to understand the specifics of the production of digital products. If you were once engaged in managerial activities — for example, you were a store manager, this will also be a plus at the start. The specifics of planning, setting tasks and resolving controversial situations are already familiar, it remains only to understand the specifics of working in digital.
The course "Project Manager" from Yandex Practicum has two program options. Basic for six months — suitable for those who are already familiar with management, but did not do it in IT. Extended for nine months — for people who don't know anything about management. The basic version includes lessons on all the necessary tools and working on IT projects from the inside, as well as practical tasks - developing a mobile and web application from scratch. In the extended version, an intensive soft skills course is added to the basic modules of the six-month course.
A large support team and Career Center experts help students quickly find their first job. Experts will give advice on preparing a resume, conduct a rehearsal of the interview and share tips on employment. Thanks to the Career Center, more than 10,000 graduates have already found a job.
In any company that deals with projects. And there are many of them. These are not necessarily IT brands - banks, online schools, medical institutions, shops and even media now have their own applications and websites. You can also get a job at an agency that conducts projects for customers on a regular basis. Or even work freelance for several companies at the same time.
The big advantage of this specialty is the variability. Just as a conductor can manage an orchestra, a choir, and a folk ensemble, so a project is able to deal with any products — even landing pages, even mobile applications. The main thing is to be able to plan the work and know which approach to apply to the team. If you get bored with one direction, you can always switch to another and return your interest to work.
