What Does an IT Project Manager Do?

The IT project manager is responsible for the organization, planning, and control of IT projects. What does an IT project manager do and what are the conditions to be successful like an IT project manager? Salary overview and examples for applications – all in this career guide.
 

Job as IT project manager – Working in project management

What does a project manager in IT do? As an IT project manager, you encounter the planning, organization, and control of IT projects. An IT project manager is the one who is responsible for the IT structures in a company.
 

Definition of “IT project manager”

An IT project manager, sometimes also called an IT project manager or system engineer is the interface between users and application development in a company. The job of an IT project manager is an important job in companies due to the steadily increasing importance of information technology.

But what exactly is an IT project manager? An IT project manager deals with all the tasks involved in planning, organizing, and controlling IT projects. IT project managers mainly organize the management of employees and the collaboration with the individual departments in a company respecting the IT project. IT project managers also prepare a structured plan for the implementation of the project, with the goal of organizing and implementing projects successfully in terms of corporate success and the success of a project.
 

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How do I become an IT project manager?

What prerequisites and skills are necessary for working as an IT project manager?

As an IT project manager, you need to be able to always adapt to new software, as there are constant innovations in this regard, especially in the IT area. At the business level of an IT project manager, leadership qualities and confidence are required as well as organizational skills in order to be able to behave economically and analytically, especially in complex projects. Also, these competencies, soft skills, such as persistent willingness to learn, endurance at work, and flexibility are required.
 

Training as an IT project manager

In order to be able to take up the job of IT project manager, you first need either a degree in technical informatics, electrical engineering, a technical degree with a concentration on IT, a comparable qualification or training as an IT specialist. Another important competencies are basic mathematical knowledge and analytical skills.

Here these competencies are now divided into must-haves and nice-to-haves, i.e. those that companies require in every case (must-haves) and those that are desirable for a company (nice-to-haves).
 

Competencies (must-haves):

• Technical skills
• Knowledge of server systems
• leadership skills
• Planning skills
• Strategic competencies

Competencies (nice-to-haves):

• Communication skills
• Reliability
• Teamwork
• Organizational skills
• Conflict management skills

 
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What are the tasks of an IT project manager?

IT project managers design, organize and conduct IT projects in companies. The IT project manager should always incorporate business goals such as budget and deadlines. IT project managers must be able to familiarize themselves with new information technology and also be able to pass it on to employees so that business can run smoothly in the company.

The other works of an IT project manager are the distribution of tasks to employees in IT for setting systems on servers, managing servers, administering network monitoring, storage systems, and scheduling, and managing user rights for employees. As an IT project manager, you also evaluate the hardware and software requirements in a company and make adjustments. Even if problems and malfunctions can arise in systems, IT project managers are expected to have to act quickly.

Besides the technical works in the IT sector, the tasks of coordinating employees and departments are also incorporated in the planning. As an IT project manager, you are the company’s internal contact for issues about IT projects and also responsible for the fundamentals in complex projects. The field of responsibility of an IT project manager is very interesting and varied, but also very challenging and responsible.

During the training to become an IT project manager, the topic of big data is a trend in IT. The term Big Data refers to large amounts of data, for example from the Internet, industry, health care, mobile communications, or traffic, which are stored and evaluated by various sources. With these analyzes, IT projects can be made more maintainable and successes can be achieved. IT project managers there work very closely with a business analyst to primarily design and define the success of a project.
 

How much does an IT project manager earn?

Even with the starting salary, IT project managers can rely on an above-average salary. There are various factors, such as work experience, studies, or responsibility in the company, that impact the salary of an IT project manager. The average starting salary is around $70,000 – $90,000 annually.

In principle, however, the larger the company, the higher the earnings. Because the job of an IT project manager is generally very responsible and new tasks are constantly being added, this profession is becoming more and more important for companies, especially for larger companies and corporations, and therefore salary jumps are possible in the shortest possible time.

The point of view and the chances are accordingly very high due to in recent years there has been an agile development in this professional field. As an IT project manager, you have a very conscientious and challenging position in a very broad field of activity, which is why the job of an IT project manager is very well paid.
 

 

How do I apply to be an IT project manager?

In addition to technical skills, the most important thing when applying to become an IT project manager is the leadership skills that you need to have in order to be a good project manager. That is why it is an important measure for many employers if one has already gained practical experience in the field of personnel management in IT.

Generally, the more experience you have already acquired in the area of project management, the more important you are towards decisions made in the company. For many companies, this is a big plus when hiring a new employee.

Social skills also play a significant role when hiring a new employee, so your social skills must also be considered in your application. These are desirable advantages in the job of IT project manager in the eyes of your future employer because the practical experience is one of the most important hiring criteria.
 

Tips for applying to become an IT project manager after training:

If you have already set priorities in your academic training as an IT project manager and have concentrated on very specific tasks, then place a special focus on this in your application. In the application, concentrate on what is good for you and the training content that you would like to continue to deepen later.
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Conclusion

The IT project manager is responsible for the IT structures of a company and everything else has an exciting job. We have summarized the most important facts again.

• IT project managers coordinate the management of employees and cooperation with the individual departments in a company. You set up a structured plan for project implementation and help a project to be successful.
• Suitable courses can be found in the field of computer science, economics, or project management.
• An IT project manager should have leadership qualities, technical and strategic skills, and conflict management skills.
• On average, 50 applicants apply for a position as IT project manager.
• IT project managers earn between $70,000 – $90,000.

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