The Hottest Jobs in Information Technology : Offshore Project Manager
It is interesting to see CIO Magazine rank “Offshore Project Manager” among the hottest Jobs in Information Technology. The author describes the offshore PM's job as “A U.S.-based manager who plans, oversees and coordinates projects with offshore components. The manager, who may work for either a domestic company or an offshore one with a stateside presence, ensures that offshore vendors meet project requirements. As more businesses outsource work overseas, these managers are in high demand.”
I had blogged earlier about the attributes that Offshore Project Managers should possess…and of course focus extensively on the topic in my book [Offshoring IT Services]. The reason why an Offshore Project Manager's job is hot is not hard to see. As the CIO magazine article, quoting a consultant Eugene Kublanov states “There aren’t many folks that can meet the job’s profile, which is why they’re highly coveted”
There is definitely a strong trend towards leveraging the Emerging Global Labor Market For instance, the recent report by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) focuses on how Software companies are increasing offshoring work.
A News.com article focusing on this report states “While responses were confidential, the survey was sent to software companies on SIIA's membership list, which includes Sun Microsystems, Oracle and IBM. Executives from 114 companies responded to the survey.” It is interesting how 68 of the 114 companies responding to the survey have offshore operations.
What does it mean to those of us in the IT industry? If you are a Project Manager, get Offshoring experience. And if you are just starting off – regardless of whether you are in the east or west -- make sure you get the right global experience.
Comments
Since I am an offshore Project Manager myself, it is nice to know that the profession has grown in stature. Outsourcing is increasingly being trusted and becoming respectable in the mainstream.
Posted by: Krishna Kumar | January 20, 2007 11:26 PM
In the last one month alone, Google Alerts has dropped six job openings for buy-side outsourcing Project Managers in my Inbox. This is quite a development because until recently it was hard to come up with job specs for such a post in spite of tedious Google searches.
Posted by: Juhi Bhambal | January 22, 2007 03:51 AM
It is good to know that offshore Project Managers are in demand now. I refused couple opportunities that came in my way because of previous experience of managing one such project. I felt it is not worth the extra hours I had to put in and hardships I had to undergo, sacrificing family time (life). Do many others think like me? Is this another reason why it is so hot?
Posted by: Srinivasalu Ambati | January 25, 2007 06:27 AM
Hi Srinivasalu,
I agree that a proper work-life balance is an important criteria to look for in a job. While I totally empathize with your viewpoint, I don’t agree with all of it.
Obviously there is more to it than meets the eye and there are probably several factors that may have contributed to your experience in managing the offshore project.
I would pose a query back: it is the responsibility of managers to ensure the right work-life balance for themselves and their team members. In my observations, I have seen schedules going awry and team burnout when unrealistic expectations are placed on a project: from a time, cost and effort standpoint. This is especially true of organizations embarking on vendor-sourcing for the first time, more so for those going offshore with unrealistic expectations [one can only see offshoring= $$$ in the eyes of the management, right?]
Food for thought: discounting cultural background or organizational dynamics, how many middle-managers can confidently say NO to their stakeholders, when faced with unrealistic schedules: time, cost and effort?
Posted by: Mohan | January 25, 2007 01:58 PM
I agree with Mohan. In my opinion, middle managers don't want to say NO if things are clearly not possible in the time schedule. They might have pressure from sr. management. Even if a co. asks estimate to develop search engine as competition to google, I think many vendors will quote THE LOWEST price JUST to grabbbbbbbb business without EVEN analyzing technical feasibility!
Posted by: A | May 16, 2007 10:31 AM
Another thing about software development is that every project seems to reinvent the wheel. Most teams and most developers/professionals don't approach software development in a reusable, componentized development approach and want to be involved in the use of so called "cutting edge technology" just because it is the buzzword while it is not really required on the project. Hence, projects are overly complicated and overshoot the budgeted resources.
Posted by: srini | August 10, 2008 11:12 PM
Dear Srini
Great comment and I couldn’t agree with you more.
However, the question still remains: why is this so? Is it something to do with the 'software culture'? As we mature and grow in the industry, we try and bring in best-practices and reuse strategies... but then newer folks enter the industry and wish to undergo through the cognitive and experiential learning cycles?
Posted by: Mohan Babu K | August 11, 2008 04:14 AM