What software industry position is right for an ex-consultant?

August 24, 2010 2:24 PM

What software company positions would best use my management consulting skillset?

__The context__

I'm a geek: I was a CS major, wrote software professionally for a few years, follow developments in the field from UX, to the internals of Unix system calls, to the cost structure of chip fabs.

I spent five years as a management consultant at a respected firm, helping clients decide which customers to target, with which products, and what the key risks were. I spent the last few years as a project manager. I was considered very successful.

Lessons I learned here: I thrive given some structure and interesting questions to answer. I am good at building rapport with people and working in teams, even in difficult situations.

I spent the last couple years at a non-profit overseas, doing operational management: starting businesses, hiring people, supervising them. At one point I was supervising about fifty people. I learned that I'm not great at operational management, at least in that context (a job that was not intellectually challenging, managing low-wage staff.) I didn't screw it up, but I didn't hit a home run, either.

Lessons I learned here: I am not a natural entrepreneur. I know, I know, real men ship, you're either a maker or a parasite. My boss wanted to be able to point me in a direction and have me work solo, build and iterate until I had a successful business; I'm not cut out for that. I need more structure and I need the work to be intellectually engaging.

__My question__

I am passionate about software and want to re-enter the industry, though not as an engineer. Most people are pushing me toward product management; indeed most people tell me there isn't really another option.

However I'm worried that I wouldn't have enough structure as a product manager, that it would resemble my non-profit experience. I'm wondering if there are positions that look more like my management consulting experience.

So my question: what is a good entry path for me into the industry? Where can I lead a team to solve interesting problems?

I am almost indifferent to salary and title.

I have already applied for a couple strategy and planning positions at large software/Internet companies, but those positions, especially at good companies, are thin on the ground.

Thanks for your time for this over-long question.

posted by anonymous to Work & Money (7 answers total)

Scrum master.
posted by tippiedog at 3:11 PM on August 24, 2010

btw, I'm the question-asker here. Looking over the question now I see no reason to keep it anonymous.

thanks, tippledog. I had assumed that being away from engineering so long disqualified me from engineering management. Or maybe I shouldn't assume you mean scrum for software development.
posted by lbergstr at 3:51 PM on August 24, 2010

It seems to me that you'd enjoy being a project manager for a startup, but I don't know that the risk involved would appeal to you. I imagine it would be more like your management consulting (interesting people, ambitious projects) rather than your non-profit experience (minimum-pay workers, operations). I know you said you aren't a natural entrepreneur ... I think there's a certain amount of self-starting necessary at all levels of a startup, but if you end up as an early employee, the founders are going to be the ones making the key decisions. If you want to find out more about this, the PM I think most highly of is Cindy Alvarez, over at KISSMetrics. She blogs here.
posted by Alt F4 at 4:57 PM on August 24, 2010

In my experience there is a strong need for people who can bridge the gap between traditional gantt-chart style project manager and technical lead. In short, a guide who understands what is being developed at a more than superficial level and is willing to shield the team from administrative things that might otherwise bog the process down. Scrum master is an excellent example of this type of position.

Someone who is reasonably egoless, capable of having a discussion about things like concurrency issues or (O) notation, and willing to do the project management side of the job that many hard core technologists consider unpleasant is like gold to me.

As as side note, you might want to consider positions at companies that aren't "ship a product" software companies and yet have a strong development culture, solve difficult problems, and value quality. I am a former developer turned fairly senior manager at one, and can give you examples of others - mefi mail me if you want to know more.
posted by true at 5:41 PM on August 24, 2010

In a nutshell, you told us that you are a seasoned, senior manager with some technical chops, but have been out of the software biz for a long time. If I was hiring you, my dilemma would be the first project or product to put you on, recognizing that it will be some on-the-job training for you. In my current world, the legos-blocks of software teams are developers, DBAs, testers, BAs, PMs, and technical leads/architects. The two roles that would look like a best first fit for you would be a business analyst role or a project manager -- leaning on your experience from your management consulting gig and your early days as a developer. Once you were current and had gone through a project life-cycle or two, I imagine a lot of doors for other roles would open up based on your recent experience doing operational management.
posted by kovacs at 6:09 PM on August 24, 2010

I have added project manager and business analyst to my list of possible positions. This sounds fun to me:

having a discussion about things like concurrency issues or (O) notation, and willing to do the project management side of the job

What I would worry about with a project manager role is not having any input into the product design (frustration with this is why I left engineering in the first place.) I'm guessing though that good ideas will be listened to at companies with good cultures.

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful answers.
posted by lbergstr at 6:21 PM on August 24, 2010

lbergstr, sorry for the terse response yesterday. I didn't have time for a longer response.

I had assumed that being away from engineering so long disqualified me from engineering management. Or maybe I shouldn't assume you mean scrum for software development.

I did indeed mean scrum for software development. I consider a scrum master closer to a project manager than 'engineering management,' so your concerns about lack of recent technical experience/knowledge wouldn't be as big a concern, as kovacs added.

Good luck!
posted by tippiedog at 12:55 PM on August 25, 2010