Associate Project Manager

Project based work can severely divide one's attention between various tasks and clients. It prevents one from being able to committ 100% of your effort and energy to a client though they expect 100% from you. Don't be fooled that though one's primary responsibility is to manage and coordinate a production team for the project, not everyone reports to you. In fact, it is very much the opposite. Being a project manager involves having many many bosses, whether they are internal, different partnering companies, or clients, one will often find themself at everyone else's mercy but their own.

The worst part about being a project manager is the lack of internal support. Project managers need to be highly self-sufficient, as one cannot rely on a team environment for support, guidance, mentoring, or in general to fall back on. Project Managers are responsible for the entire project, but also held entirely responsible for the entire project. In essence, no one's got your back if you were to turn around.

The pace can be very overwhelming as one must juggle several projects at once, each having its own complexities. At times, each project can amount to being its own job, and during busy times, project timelines can overlap.

Moreover, this job is highly logistical and task-oriented. Rarely does it incorporate broad-sweeping strategy, instead alot of the work is not very intellectually challenging. This job has more to do with nitpickiness, organization, and completing endless To Do lists.

If you plan on being a project manager, say goodbye to 40 hour weeks and be prepared to expense dinners nightly. But if the job sounds interesting to you, and poses to you an intriguing challenge, then feel free to search for project management jobs. I, personally, do not recommend it.