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Tag: What are the best skills for a program manager

how to be a technical program manager

aimconsulting.comImage: aimconsulting.comSteps to Become a Technical Program ManagerEarn a Degree …Choose a Specialty in Your Field …Get an Entry-Level Position as a Technical Program Manager …Advance in Your Technical Program Manager Career …Continued Education for Your Technical Program Manager Career Path …

What are the best skills for a program manager?

Milestone planningProcess mappingPlanning and facilitating meetingsChange managementStatistical quality controlRoot cause analysisScenario analysisBrainstormingScheduling toolsLessons learned (PMI,2008)

How to become a Technical Program Manager (TPM)?

Volunteer to be a TPM for a small project within your company to understand the various aspects that entail in successfully completing a project end to end.Highly recommend pursuing any of the Program Management related certifications. …Learn about Agile methodologies.Shadow other TPMs and learn from them.Find a mentor.

What does a program manager actually do?

Working as a Program ManagerIdentifying the needs of the organization,then creating and managing long-term goalsCreating programs following the mission of the organization to ensure its successDeveloping a budget,writing funding proposals and allocating company resourcesManaging a team and meeting with stakeholders to communicate on goals and issuesMore items…

What are the job responsibilities of a program manager?

Responsibilities – Program ManagerThey organize programs that represent the vision and mission of the organization.They also develop new programs to give a new strategic direction to the organization.Their goals are long-term in nature.Program managers also create an operational plan for the organization.They also plan a decent budget for the organization.More items…

How Do You Become a Tech Project Manager?

Regardless of your professional path or current role, experience in other jobs will help you on your quest to become a technical project manager. In fact, many technical project managers have previous career experience in operations management, business analytics and software engineering. Here are a few steps that will help you in your journey toward gaining technical project management experience.

What Tools and Software Do Tech Project Managers Need to Master?

Asana is a project management platform to help you plan, organize and manage your team’s work from start to finish, and also acts as a collaboration tool. Coordinate team tasks, share feedback, files and status updates to keep everyone aligned. Plus, Asana gives you a complete view of work so teams tackle the right tasks at the right time.

What is Agile methodology?

Agile methodology promote s continuous iteration of both testing and development throughout the project life cycle, letting you develop products via short cycles of work that allow for rapid production and constant iterations.

What is JIRA project management?

JIRA is a web-based project management tool that gives project managers the ability to manage multiple teams, projects and workflows more efficiently. It works well for sizable teams and organizations, where employees and managers work on individual components of a large-scale project, and may sometimes overlook certain necessary tasks.

What is Trello system?

It is a great tool for standard projects and is convenient for both command directives and individual assignments.

What is leadership focusing on?

Leadership focuses less on tasks and more on people. Here, you’ll need to be aware and mindful, generate a sense of urgency when needed, know how to motivate teams individually, build cohesion and facilitate collaboration. This takes strong communication to give team members all the needed information and resources to do their parts for the larger goal at hand.

What is a tech PM boot camp?

Learning through a tech PM boot camp program or online course can provide you with a strong foundation to pivot your career and lead technical projects. Through these hands-on programs, you will be able to develop in-demand leadership and business management skills that are an integral part of technical project management.

Education levels for Technical Program Managers

Based on the requirements of Technical Program Manager job openings on Indeed in the United States within the last three years.

What is the job outlook for technical program managers?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t maintain data specific to technical program managers, but computer and information systems managers have similar technical goals and management responsibilities.

How can technical program managers advance in their careers?

Once you gain enough experience as a technical program manager, you can progress to higher-level roles such as senior technical program manager or director of technical program management. Professionals with extensive experience can even earn general manager positions. To advance to one of these roles, it may benefit you to pursue certification.

What is a technical manager?

The role of a technical manager is a hybrid role that focuses on leading a team and working hands-on with projects involving technology. The technical manager oversees a company’s computer and information systems to keep everything running and may make improvements to systems as needed.

Why is customer service important in a technical manager?

Customer service: Customer service is an important skill for technical managers because they may work with customer-facing software and they should be able to explain computer systems to people. Project management: The ability to plan and execute successful projects can be an essential part of a technical manager’s job.

What are the skills needed for a technical manager?

Skills for technical managers. Skills that may be important for technical managers to have for their job include: Creativity: Since the role of technical manager comes with little guidance or existing protocols, technical managers need to use their creativity to shape the position.

Why do companies hire technical managers?

Having a technical manager on staff can make it easier to prevent technical issues and resolve those issues quickly, and there is a wide range of industries that employ technical managers.

Why do technical managers need to manage their time?

Time management: As with any management career, technical managers need to manage their time well to keep projects on track and meet their deadlines.

How to become a technical manager?

There are no specific educational requirements for a technical manager, but most technical managers have at least a bachelor’s degree in a computer- or technology-related field.

What to do when applying for a job posting at another company?

If you are applying for a job posting at another company, you can do your research on the company’s values and structure before going into your interview. It’s helpful to first determine in what areas the company may need improvement and create a plan for how you would help as a technical manager.

What is a TPM role?

The TPM role usually comes about when a company starts needing structure and discipline within its IT ranks and responsibilities. As such, they’re rare to find in small- to mid-size companies and, as such, salaries reflect the demands—and location—of the job.

What is a TPM in IT?

The job of a technical program manager (TPM) is one of the expanding roles in companies today as businesses become more digital. Generally speaking, TPMs help drive company strategy, align teams, collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders, and deliver on multiple complex projects. It all requires a tricky balance of credentials.

What is soft skills?

Soft-skills work: Act as a communications liaison between technical and non-technical colleagues. Develop and maintain productive internal relationships. Facilitate cross-collaboration and understanding between IT and other departments. Generate targeted reports for different internal and/or external audiences.

Do I need an MBA to become a TPM?

Despite the need for a broad understanding of business, it’s not likely that every organization would require a TPM candidate to have an MBA. Still, an MBA or a Master of Science in information technology is often preferred, as is PgMP® or PMI-ACP certification by the Project Management Institute.

Who is Dharma Mehta?

Dharma Mehta, director of Program Management at Roku, has more than 10 years of professional experience at prestigious companies including Amazon, PayPal, and Accenture, solving complex processes and technology problems with simplified solutions. His expertise includes technology portfolio/program/project management, driving software product development, advertising technology, and platform business, strategic planning, building high-performance teams, and transforming software experience for developers and end customers. He is particularly effective at optimizing the performance of people, processes, and technology to deliver improved business outcomes. For more information, email [email protected] or connect on LinkedIn.

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Articulating a Vision

As the TPM is a leader, but not a manager, they need to be able to excite people about joining their project (even if they were assigned to be on it) by articulating a clear vision and purpose. Communicating the WHY for a project is crucial here as that will help align the team’s purpose along a common goal.

Breaking up a Large Project into smaller

Once the team is aboard and the scope of the work has been defined it is important to break up a project into tasks that are appropriate for the team that has been assembled.

Defining DONE

It is so important to develop and define a shared, clear understanding of completion among the team before work starts so that everyone sees clearly that the end is visible and attainable. This DONE criteria will likely change during a project – that’s fine – as long as the team understands that and can recalibrate their expectations.

Storytelling

Quite often when I start a project, I envision the story that I will tell at the end to explain in human terms what we accomplished or how what we did impacted people’s lives. I use this story to articulate my vision in a way that people can empathize with.

Trying it All Out – with a Hackathon

So an engineer sees these skills and wants to try out being a TMP before they start applying for the role. This is exactly the strategy that Bill Burnett talks about with running experiments in his Designing Your Life TED Talk and book. My recommendation is to join a hackathon.

What Should I do Now to Prepare?

A reader just asked me what they should do now if they see a TPM role in their future. Here’s what I suggests:

A comprehensive guide on how to start your career as a technical program manager at top technology firms. We discuss several aspects such as the responsibilities of the role, and important skills that one needs to acquire to succeed

A Technical Program Manager’s (TPM) role is one of the most diversifying jobs today as businesses continue to adapt to digital standards. It is also one of the more challenging roles out there since it requires a deft balance between necessary technical expertise, team management, communication skills, and business acumen.

Role of a Technical Program Manager

To put it simply, a technical program manager is responsible for managing every aspect of an organization’s technical projects.

Various roles and responsibilities of a Technical Program Manager

A Technical Program Manager facilitates communication between the technical and non-technical teams of an organization.

Necessary Skills for becoming a Technical Program Manager

A Technical Program Manager must possess skills that allow him to efficiently handle both the technical and non-technical aspects of a program.

Career Transition into Technical Program Management

A Technical Program Manager’s position comes with an interesting but challenging career path. You can graduate to several levels once you have acquired relevant exposure in your current role and increased your knowledge base.

Salary of a Technical Program Manager

The annual salary of a TPM is dependent on the individual level of the job, the type of company – small to mid-sized to large-scale, and the location you are hired in.

Marketing Yourself as a Project Manager

The position also comes with a variety of benefits that include insurance plans, paid holidays, medical, retirement coverage, among other packages. The position is also linked with incentives for TPMs who succeed in fulfilling business objectives and exceed organization goals under the proposed budget.

Earn a degree

To begin your Technical Program Manager career path, a Bachelor’s Degree in computer science or a related field is usually necessary in order to remain a competitive option for employers.

Choose speciality

As an Technical Program Manager, you may be required to choose a specialty within your field. Determine which part of the Technical Program Manager field you feel strongest in, and continue taking active steps toward growing in your chosen Technical Program Manager specialty.

Get an entry level

Once you’ve acquired a Bachelor’s Degree in computer science or a related field, you’ll typically begin your career as an entry-level Technical Program Manager. In general, you can become a Technical Program Manager after completing your 4 year Bachelor’s Degree in a related discipline.

Advance in career

Following entry-level, there are several Technical Program Manager career path levels to advance into. It can take 2 years as an entry-level Technical Program Manager to progress to the senior technical program manager position.

Continued education opportunities

Not all industries and companies require continued education to advance your Technical Program Manager career path. However, earning this degree may help you advance to higher-earning positions more quickly. Earning a Graduate Degree in computer science can take 4 years to complete.

what does a technical program manager do

Typically,what are a technical program manager’s responsibilities?Technical program managers are in charge of handling all aspects of one to many technical projects for their organizationTPMs often work the full life-cycle of projects from idea generation through deployment and optimize the full release value streamTPMs are responsible for initiating programs,driving delivery to completion,and providing support in case issues ariseMore items

What makes a great technical program manager?

A good technical manager isn’t a friend. A good technical manager is a manager first, a mentor second, and a teammate third. This is why feedback must be unbiased. Ideally, a good technical manager solicits feedback from other members of the team in addition to theirs. To balance relationships within the team, a good technical manager must be …

What are the best skills for a program manager?

Milestone planningProcess mappingPlanning and facilitating meetingsChange managementStatistical quality controlRoot cause analysisScenario analysisBrainstormingScheduling toolsLessons learned (PMI,2008)

What does a program manager actually do?

Working as a Program ManagerIdentifying the needs of the organization,then creating and managing long-term goalsCreating programs following the mission of the organization to ensure its successDeveloping a budget,writing funding proposals and allocating company resourcesManaging a team and meeting with stakeholders to communicate on goals and issuesMore items…

How to become a Technical Program Manager (TPM)?

Volunteer to be a TPM for a small project within your company to understand the various aspects that entail in successfully completing a project end to end.Highly recommend pursuing any of the Program Management related certifications. …Learn about Agile methodologies.Shadow other TPMs and learn from them.Find a mentor.

What is a popular misconception about what technical program managers do?

There’s a tendency for folks to gravitate toward extremes when conceptualizing technical program managers. For instance, they’re often described as either always participating in coding or not at all. The truth is there is a spectrum of technical depth among TPMs, and this oftentimes varies by project and client. Some projects require a leader with just enough technical depth to understand technology architecture and trade-offs. Other projects support deeply technical products that require in-depth understanding of architecture, logging, configuration, and yes, code. There’s always a middle ground as well and it’s important that the consulting provider ask detailed questions to understand the need and provide the right person for a technical program manager role.

What are some universal truths about technical program managers?

Even though there can be quite a bit of variance across companies when it comes to a technical program manager’s role, there are several universal truths that you should be cognizant of:

What is the difference between a TPM and a project manager?

The biggest differentiator between TPMs and other project management-related roles is that they can operate independently of engineers to let coders code. They bring enough technical depth and understanding that they don’t need to waste an engineers’ time by bringing them into meetings to describe a solution. The TPM already has the technical depth to do this which is more than a traditional project manager can do in most cases.

What does a technical program manager do?

Depending on who you ask, you will likely get wildly different answers to the question of “what does a technical program manager do?” Generally speaking, technical program managers (or TPMs) start their careers as software engineers until they come to a fork in the road and have to decide whether they want to focus on working with people or code. If they are more people-oriented they often convert to a technical program manager role, whereas if they prefer to code they will most likely remain a software engineers or potentially become a software architect.

Why is it important to ask detailed questions to a consulting provider?

There’s always a middle ground as well and it’s important that the consulting provider ask detailed questions to understand the need and provide the right person for a technical program manager role.

What is Technical Program Management?

The position is unsurprisingly a technical one. TPMs must be capable of making strategic technical decisions.

Why are TPMs important?

It’s bringing a lot of dependencies that engineering managers/product owners need to spend additional time on while still keeping everything aligned. So TPMs are equal partners that help balance, drive, keep control, and track cross-functional program’s, streamline cross-team dependencies while making sure that the overall delivery remains smooth and efficient.

How does TPMs impact the company?

Or you can save a lot of money leading the program because you can improve some infrastructure. So, TPMs can add an impact for employees, can add happiness and satisfaction on how people do things,can increase customer satisfaction, can monetize successes for the company through revenue generation, cost-saving or new streams generation and many more ways. All of which is really empowering.

What is a successful TPM?

It shouldn’t be a surprise that a successful TPM must have a deep understanding of the goals and objectives of their company. Otherwise, the TPM would not be in the position to develop and deploy programs that would actually result in success and create an impact. TPMs must be prepared to have an intimate understanding of their organization’s particular goals, both big and small, to be most effective in their role as a technical program manager. Along similar lines, domain expertise is also a crucial piece of successful strategy definition and execution. Aspiring TPMs should always be sure to gain deep knowledge in their company’s particular domain to best prepare themselves for the role.

Why is risk management important?

Because of a TPM’s focus on an organization’s long-term, strategic goals, a successful TPM must have the ability to recognize, measure, and mitigate the many risks that come with any particular approach. They must be able to make prudent decisions when it comes to how to best apply an organization’s time, resources, and personnel to achieve some end.

Why is it important to have a strong technical knowledge?

Their technical knowledge will be indispensable when it comes to developing and executing their programs. It will also be invaluable to their overall ability to lead their different teams. Having solid technical skills yourself will, then, ensure you are an effective and inspiring leader to those highly technical members of your teams. This will directly translate into a better execution of your technical programs.

Why do companies need technical program managers?

More often than not, modern companies need skilled technical program managers to develop and direct the various technical programs that are necessary for success in the modern economy.

Technical Program Manager Job Description

Overall, a Technical Program Manager develops new products for their company. They break down a program into multiple smaller projects and supervise them all from start to finish. They work with team and department leaders to determine who is responsible for what components.

Technical Program Manager Salary

Average Salary – The average base salary for a Technical Program Manager is $125,376, according to Payscale.com. The range of salaries is between $84,000 and $165,000. In addition to base pay, Technical Program Managers usually receive profit sharing and bonuses. This can add between $5,000 and $30,000 annually to their overall take-home pay.

How To Become A Technical Program Manager

Technical program management candidates must possess a high degree of technological know-how. Most employees with this job started with an entry-level computer or tech position and worked their way up. Consider jobs like tech support, entry-level computer programmer, network support specialist, or beginner computer technician.

Technical Program Manager Career Paths

Candidates typically begin their journey by taking entry-level computing jobs. These include help desk, network support specialist, and Technical Support I positions. Some positions require 2–4-year university degrees or at least 1-year of post-secondary study.

Working Conditions

Technical program managers can usually work from home. Some hold meetings over Zoom, Skype, or other services. Some Technical Program Manager positions are entirely remote. Others offer flex-time, allowing employees to work from home several days each week. Certain projects may require on-site inspections or evaluations.

Technical Program Manager Resume Tips

Candidates for Technical Program Manager jobs will need to communicate both technical ability and management skills. They should start the resume with a clear objective or skills summary. List significant relevant skills in a section near the top. Provide clear explanations of how these skills benefitted past employers.

Technical Program Manager Interview Questions

Why it works: The Technical Program Manager leads teams of workers to complete important projects. Candidates should display an effective style of management that motivates and inspires the team, rather than overpowers them. The strongest applicants will show leadership styles that combine enthusiasm, dedication, and consistency.

What is the role of TPM in SWEs?

The TPM’s technical skillset plays an important role in evaluating the costs that are presented by the SWEs. In the end, the TPM is responsible for the overall plan. Finally, keep in mind that this the initial project plan, also known as a the baseline.

What is the most important contribution for a TPM in a project?

The most important contribution for a TPM in a project is to create a reliable project plan . The goal is to understand the timelines for the launch (e.g. ETAs for each component, milestones, launch date, etc).

Why is it important to have a TPM?

As the launch date is getting closer, it is important for the TPM to manage all the processes that are required to formally enable the launch. Depending on the company, these processes might be more formal (e.g. the TPM might need to get physical sign-offs from a specific set of people) or less format (e.g. the TPM might just send an email to all parties that they are about to launch).

Why is communication important in TPM?

Communication is key for a great TPM. In most cases, the TPM is the only person, who can provide a holistic view of the project (including all dependencies, customers, metrics, etc). That’s why it is highly critical for a TPM to communicate status.

What is a TPM project?

Scenario: A TPM is assigned to work on a new project. 1. Deep dive into the Product Requirements Document (PRD) and the Design Document. 2. Identify dependencies and corresponding stakeholders. 3. Create the high-level project plan and keep it up-to-date. 4.

Why do we need multiple communication mechanisms in TPM?

Since there are multiple stakeholders, who need different levels of details for the project (e.g. a Director would need a very high-level view, whereas a Product Manager might need a more detailed one), the TPM needs to establish multiple communication mechanisms. In fact, I will go to the extent and say that there is no way to over-communicate status.

What is a product manager’s spec?

A Product Manager has written an initial spec (also known as the “Product Requirements Document” (PRD) or “Functional Spec”) that describes the business value of the tool, as well as the main use cases

What Does a Technical Project Manager Do?

The role of a technical project manager involves managing multiple areas simultaneously, with a focus on leading the development of highly technical projects. You’re expected to coordinate projects across multiple teams that may have a stake in a technical project. You’ll manage the masterplan, push progress forward to meet deadlines, and liaise with non-technical stakeholders to ensure the project stays on the rails.

What are the skills needed for project management?

If you’re seriously considering technical project management as a career, you should consider whether you have the following skills and traits: 1 The drive to be a leader 2 Ability to handle both formal and informal business environments 3 Good at keeping team members on task and in check 4 Can ensure team members are working efficiently towards the goals you set 5 Can confidently answer technical questions fired at you by team leads 6 Ability to keep a level head and think wisely in a high-pressure situations

What is project management online?

An online project management course aimed at helping you launch a career. One-on-one mentorship, professional guidance, and a robust community network are on hand to help you succeed in Project Management.

what is a technical program manager

Technical Program Manager (TPM) is aProgram Manager with “technical” domain experience. The roles and responsibilities of a TPM differ from one company to the other. In general though,in addition to being a Program Manager,at a minimum the T- in the TPM should be able to: Understand the underlying technologies being used in the Program/Projects.

What are the best skills for a program manager?

Milestone planningProcess mappingPlanning and facilitating meetingsChange managementStatistical quality controlRoot cause analysisScenario analysisBrainstormingScheduling toolsLessons learned (PMI,2008)

How to become a Technical Program Manager (TPM)?

Volunteer to be a TPM for a small project within your company to understand the various aspects that entail in successfully completing a project end to end.Highly recommend pursuing any of the Program Management related certifications. …Learn about Agile methodologies.Shadow other TPMs and learn from them.Find a mentor.

What does a program manager actually do?

Working as a Program ManagerIdentifying the needs of the organization,then creating and managing long-term goalsCreating programs following the mission of the organization to ensure its successDeveloping a budget,writing funding proposals and allocating company resourcesManaging a team and meeting with stakeholders to communicate on goals and issuesMore items…

What are the job responsibilities of a program manager?

Responsibilities – Program ManagerThey organize programs that represent the vision and mission of the organization.They also develop new programs to give a new strategic direction to the organization.Their goals are long-term in nature.Program managers also create an operational plan for the organization.They also plan a decent budget for the organization.More items…

What is Technical Program Management?

The position is unsurprisingly a technical one. TPMs must be capable of making strategic technical decisions.

Why are TPMs important?

It’s bringing a lot of dependencies that engineering managers/product owners need to spend additional time on while still keeping everything aligned. So TPMs are equal partners that help balance, drive, keep control, and track cross-functional program’s, streamline cross-team dependencies while making sure that the overall delivery remains smooth and efficient.

How does TPMs impact the company?

Or you can save a lot of money leading the program because you can improve some infrastructure. So, TPMs can add an impact for employees, can add happiness and satisfaction on how people do things,can increase customer satisfaction, can monetize successes for the company through revenue generation, cost-saving or new streams generation and many more ways. All of which is really empowering.

What is a successful TPM?

It shouldn’t be a surprise that a successful TPM must have a deep understanding of the goals and objectives of their company. Otherwise, the TPM would not be in the position to develop and deploy programs that would actually result in success and create an impact. TPMs must be prepared to have an intimate understanding of their organization’s particular goals, both big and small, to be most effective in their role as a technical program manager. Along similar lines, domain expertise is also a crucial piece of successful strategy definition and execution. Aspiring TPMs should always be sure to gain deep knowledge in their company’s particular domain to best prepare themselves for the role.

Why is risk management important?

Because of a TPM’s focus on an organization’s long-term, strategic goals, a successful TPM must have the ability to recognize, measure, and mitigate the many risks that come with any particular approach. They must be able to make prudent decisions when it comes to how to best apply an organization’s time, resources, and personnel to achieve some end.

Why is it important to have a strong technical knowledge?

Their technical knowledge will be indispensable when it comes to developing and executing their programs. It will also be invaluable to their overall ability to lead their different teams. Having solid technical skills yourself will, then, ensure you are an effective and inspiring leader to those highly technical members of your teams. This will directly translate into a better execution of your technical programs.

Why do companies need technical program managers?

More often than not, modern companies need skilled technical program managers to develop and direct the various technical programs that are necessary for success in the modern economy.

What is a popular misconception about what technical program managers do?

There’s a tendency for folks to gravitate toward extremes when conceptualizing technical program managers. For instance, they’re often described as either always participating in coding or not at all. The truth is there is a spectrum of technical depth among TPMs, and this oftentimes varies by project and client. Some projects require a leader with just enough technical depth to understand technology architecture and trade-offs. Other projects support deeply technical products that require in-depth understanding of architecture, logging, configuration, and yes, code. There’s always a middle ground as well and it’s important that the consulting provider ask detailed questions to understand the need and provide the right person for a technical program manager role.

What are some universal truths about technical program managers?

Even though there can be quite a bit of variance across companies when it comes to a technical program manager’s role, there are several universal truths that you should be cognizant of:

What is the difference between a TPM and a project manager?

The biggest differentiator between TPMs and other project management-related roles is that they can operate independently of engineers to let coders code. They bring enough technical depth and understanding that they don’t need to waste an engineers’ time by bringing them into meetings to describe a solution. The TPM already has the technical depth to do this which is more than a traditional project manager can do in most cases.

What does a technical program manager do?

Depending on who you ask, you will likely get wildly different answers to the question of “what does a technical program manager do?” Generally speaking, technical program managers (or TPMs) start their careers as software engineers until they come to a fork in the road and have to decide whether they want to focus on working with people or code. If they are more people-oriented they often convert to a technical program manager role, whereas if they prefer to code they will most likely remain a software engineers or potentially become a software architect.

Why is it important to ask detailed questions to a consulting provider?

There’s always a middle ground as well and it’s important that the consulting provider ask detailed questions to understand the need and provide the right person for a technical program manager role.

Technical Program Manager Job Description

Overall, a Technical Program Manager develops new products for their company. They break down a program into multiple smaller projects and supervise them all from start to finish. They work with team and department leaders to determine who is responsible for what components.

Technical Program Manager Salary

Average Salary – The average base salary for a Technical Program Manager is $125,376, according to Payscale.com. The range of salaries is between $84,000 and $165,000. In addition to base pay, Technical Program Managers usually receive profit sharing and bonuses. This can add between $5,000 and $30,000 annually to their overall take-home pay.

How To Become A Technical Program Manager

Technical program management candidates must possess a high degree of technological know-how. Most employees with this job started with an entry-level computer or tech position and worked their way up. Consider jobs like tech support, entry-level computer programmer, network support specialist, or beginner computer technician.

Technical Program Manager Career Paths

Candidates typically begin their journey by taking entry-level computing jobs. These include help desk, network support specialist, and Technical Support I positions. Some positions require 2–4-year university degrees or at least 1-year of post-secondary study.

Working Conditions

Technical program managers can usually work from home. Some hold meetings over Zoom, Skype, or other services. Some Technical Program Manager positions are entirely remote. Others offer flex-time, allowing employees to work from home several days each week. Certain projects may require on-site inspections or evaluations.

Technical Program Manager Resume Tips

Candidates for Technical Program Manager jobs will need to communicate both technical ability and management skills. They should start the resume with a clear objective or skills summary. List significant relevant skills in a section near the top. Provide clear explanations of how these skills benefitted past employers.

Technical Program Manager Interview Questions

Why it works: The Technical Program Manager leads teams of workers to complete important projects. Candidates should display an effective style of management that motivates and inspires the team, rather than overpowers them. The strongest applicants will show leadership styles that combine enthusiasm, dedication, and consistency.

Why volunteer to be a TPM?

Volunteer to be a TPM for a small project within your company to understand the various aspects that entail in successfully completing a project end to end.

What is a TPM?

Technical Program Manager (TPM) is a Program Manager with “technical” domain experience. The roles and responsibilities of a TPM differ from one company to the other. In general though, in addition to being a Program Manager, at a minimum the T- in the TPM should be able to:

Why do teams ask meaningful questions in meetings?

Ask meaningful questions in meetings so that the teams consider both short term and long term impact.

What is a TPM role?

The TPM role usually comes about when a company starts needing structure and discipline within its IT ranks and responsibilities. As such, they’re rare to find in small- to mid-size companies and, as such, salaries reflect the demands—and location—of the job.

What is a TPM in IT?

The job of a technical program manager (TPM) is one of the expanding roles in companies today as businesses become more digital. Generally speaking, TPMs help drive company strategy, align teams, collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders, and deliver on multiple complex projects. It all requires a tricky balance of credentials.

What is soft skills?

Soft-skills work: Act as a communications liaison between technical and non-technical colleagues. Develop and maintain productive internal relationships. Facilitate cross-collaboration and understanding between IT and other departments. Generate targeted reports for different internal and/or external audiences.

Do I need an MBA to become a TPM?

Despite the need for a broad understanding of business, it’s not likely that every organization would require a TPM candidate to have an MBA. Still, an MBA or a Master of Science in information technology is often preferred, as is PgMP® or PMI-ACP certification by the Project Management Institute.

Who is Dharma Mehta?

Dharma Mehta, director of Program Management at Roku, has more than 10 years of professional experience at prestigious companies including Amazon, PayPal, and Accenture, solving complex processes and technology problems with simplified solutions. His expertise includes technology portfolio/program/project management, driving software product development, advertising technology, and platform business, strategic planning, building high-performance teams, and transforming software experience for developers and end customers. He is particularly effective at optimizing the performance of people, processes, and technology to deliver improved business outcomes. For more information, email [email protected] or connect on LinkedIn.

What Is a Technical Program Manager?

A technical program manager oversees a company’s technical projects, such as implementing new network systems or developing new products. Job duties include supervising development teams, assessing work schedules, assessing productivity, and addressing any quality assurance issues that arise during production.

How to Become a Technical Program Manager

A technical program manager needs a bachelor’s degree in business administration or management, although some people in this career start with a technical background related to a company’s specific products.

Technical Program Manager Job Description Sample

With this Technical Program Manager job description sample, you can get a good idea of what employers are looking for when hiring for this position. Remember, every employer is different and each will have unique qualifications when they hire for a Technical Program Manager role.