What a Technical Manager Does and Why it’s a Compelling Career Choice

Photo Courtesy: Infusionsoft Marketing Automation of Mesa, Arizona

The business world offers a number of unique and interesting positions that few people are aware of, and some of the best career choices can be found within those niches. Everyone is familiar with what managers do, but there’s a subcategory of careers within that type of work that requires more skill than typical managerial positions.

Technically-oriented jobs offer greater financial and psychological rewards than similar positions that require less expertise, and while this kind of thing might not sound exciting or glamorous, there’s always a demand for people who are intimately familiar with the inner workings of a particular field.

What a Technical Manager Does

A technical manager has to do more than just manage people; he has to know more about his field than the people working under him, and he has to see a project from its beginning to its end. Technical managers are responsible for:

• Providing technical direction during the design phase of new projects.
• Determining how much work will be involved in seeing things through to completion.
• Training staff who need to become acclimated to the technical aspects of a particular job.
• Implementing and reviewing the standards and practices that workers need to follow.
• Prioritizing technical issues as they arise.

Technical managers are the power behind the throne; they are the ones who ensure that everyone devotes their talents to the most useful thing that they can do in each moment. It’s because of their guidance that projects get completed on time, and good technical managers can enable a team of well-trained workers to drastically increase their focus and efficiency.

What Technical Managers Earn

Those who pursue this line of work have incredibly busy schedules, but they are more than adequately compensated for the time and effort they put into it. Technical managers can make six figures per year, and the low-end of the pay scale is between $70,000 and $80,000. It’s also a career that’s in high demand; very few companies will move forward with big projects without a competent technical director on staff. It’s more than just an easy way to find a job in the current economy; it’s a secure career choice that may last into retirement.

Technical Management Requires Creativity and Critical Thought

Those who want to keep their minds sharp need careers that challenge them, and few things will keep someone on his toes like technical management. Not only does it require him to constantly brush up on the latest advances and techniques but he will also have to find solutions to problems that not everyone is equipped to solve.

Technical management is a unique mix of intellectually challenging work with a strong social element; someone has to be good at dealing with computers as well as people in order to do it successfully, and he has to be extremely adaptable if he wants to stay in his position beyond the five-year mark.

Technical management is one of the best careers that a lot of people might not know about, and it’s a field that anyone with drive and determination can break into. The experience that someone gains along the way can also open the door to new opportunities that might not be available otherwise; people who make good technical managers will never find themselves without work for very long. So, it’s safe to say that technical management is one of the best career options available in the 2010s.

Beth Reid writes for several higher ed blogs. Several universities offer MBA degrees including onlinemba.ohio.edu and www.unc.edu.