does this sound like a bad career choice

In My Humble Opinion
1

Hey guys,

I recently accepted a role as an interactive project manager for a web/marketing agency, and have had experience in project management, graphic design, and development in the past.

I really like some parts of project management (ideation, requirements writing, etc), but I also really love the graphic design work I do.

The firm that hired me said I can mix the two roles and do some design and development as I will be assigning the work, but do you think for someone who wants graphic design to still be a core part of their experience, this is a bad career move? I also do freelance design on the side, so I am never really not ever doing design in addition to pm work.

2

No, management experience always looks good on the CV. Since you will still be doing a lot of what you love, it kind of seems like a win/win to me.

3

Project management is an excellent skill to have - while it’s not truly “management” you do have to consider the resources and options available.

It’s something that you can translate into different fields if necessary later in your career, so I absolutely say go for it.

4

Why would it be a bad move?

I’ve been in a couple of projects in which the project manager wasn’t “consulting,” but it’s been rare and it’s happened only in projects in which the different parts of the project were all very large and required several full time people; I’ve never met a “leading programmer” who didn’t do some of the programming. It may be rarer in the US, but in Europe it isn’t uncommon to meet people who had leadership roles in some projects and who later had non-leadership roles in others.

Are you worried that if you become a project manager you won’t later be able to get jobs as a designer?

PS: Project management can very much be management in the sense of picking your team, being the person who evaluates their performance, setting salaries, deciding vacations, convincing The People With The Money that you really need what you’ve budgeted for (or that you need more)… there is a difference between “managing a project in a non-project industry” (in which the members of the team may be there part-time and not be your reports) and doing so in a project-based industry (where the project manager is also the manager of the team-members).

5

Hey Nava,

Yeah that was my concern. I guess I am just afraid that even if I am still doing graphic design as part of this role and freelance that it might be harder do less pm and more design in the future if it makes sense.

6

If nothing else, consider it a resume builder. You’re getting management experience while, still doing some design work. In the future, you may find other opportunities to combine those skills in various ways.

7

yeah thanks, I’ve just never heard of a graphic designer that also does pm in the same position, but I imagine it happens.