The reason I was interested in project management was I found in Hong Kong the product management role is not that abundant. And it seems to be more concentrated in retail and banking industry. So I start to think what are the areas I can transit into where my experience in the product management can play to its advantage.
I looked into user experience, where my knowledge in functional requirement and business strategy helps bridge design with monetization, this industry seems a rather young industry but it is also a high growing space.
The other space I looked into is project management. As Hong Kong is a place where limited product is developed while a lot of products gets used, customized and integrated. Project management seems a good area to go.
A simple search on 2 major job search sites in Hong Kong is enough to show the result:
| Monster | JobDB | |
| Project Manager | 932 | 687 |
| Product Manager | 79 | 313 |
| User Experience | 86 | 46 |
There are a lot of demand on the market for Project Manger.
When I first analyze the job description, I found most of them require a computer science or information technology degree, some even bachelor degree. So as i read the job description for the first 20 that belongs to “Associate” level, I start to doubt if i can get a job even if I take a master degree.
I thought to give up for a second. I mean, based on the job description on the web, I can’t even get an interview opportunity, let alone a job offer. I may get a junior role but sincerely I don’t think it is a very smart move.
I have failed once on the product manager route for the fact that product manager only exist in big company and it depends on budget and product initiative; project managers are the same.
So I gave up. In 2017 I will not care about project management skills. I will focus on UX and product management skills.
I hope my analysis help you to see your job search from the HR's perspective, many of them have a checklist and they will directly discard the CV that does not fit the bill. Of course, many headhunters claim to be able to help you bypass this checklist. The truth is, they make money from any hire, why should they be helping you who does not fit instead of another person that fit the criteria. Of course, in the case you are their last candidate or this person is your close friend, that can be true.
This article may not be exactly what you look for, you want to see why you should choose project management as your career right. Well, if you want to live in Hong Kong, are computer science by education, very happy to work in chaos most of the time, don’t mind delay, don’t want hands-on, don’t mind most of what you do does not have a visible deliverable, project manager is the perfect job for you.