Career Overlap Transition record
RecordMove

ICT operations manager to ICT project manager

An ICT operations manager already meets 27% of what the ICT project manager role asks for. The move turns on 19 required skills not yet in the profile.

Fig. 1 · Skill transfer ESCO v1.2.1 · directional
From ICT operations manager
27 % overlap
Distant match
To ICT project manager
19 You already bring
19 Still to learn
71 Skills in the target role2
Learning distance A rebuild

79.1/ 100

1 How much of what an ICT project manager is expected to do is already part of an ICT operations manager’s work. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs, because moving into a speciality is not the same problem as moving out of one. 2 Every skill the ICT project manager role is recorded as needing, required and optional together. What these numbers mean.

Why

Why this move works

An ICT project manager role treats 7 of its required skills as things an ICT operations manager already does. You would walk in with these on day one.

  • define technology strategy
  • manage budgets
  • manage staff
  • perform project management
  • provide cost benefit analysis reports
  • recruit employees

What stands in the way is 19 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.

Table 2

Table 2 · What you already bring

Of the 19 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. An ICT project manager role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of an ICT operations manager background worth leading with.

Skill the target role also needs Area
  • already held develop information standards management skills
  • already held crowdsourcing strategy business, administration and law
  • already held insourcing strategy business, administration and law
  • already held outsourcing strategy business, administration and law
  • already held use ICT ticketing system working with computers
  • already held implement ICT risk management information skills

All 19 carried skills, including the 7 the ICT project manager role treats as required.

Table 3

Table 3 · What you may need to learn

The 52 missing skills fall into 7 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered in the order worth working in. Areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the optional ones. Nothing here is a verdict on you: it is a list of what this particular job asks for that your current one does not.

Skill to pick up Tier
01 information skills 6 required, 2 supplementary
  • still to learn manage project information required
  • still to learn analyse business plans required
  • still to learn estimate duration of work required
  • still to learn identify legal requirements required
  • still to learn perform resource planning required
  • still to learn perform risk analysis required
  • optional, not held execute ICT audits optional
  • optional, not held maintain a central project repository optional
02 business, administration and law 4 required, 6 supplementary
  • still to learn ICT project management required
  • still to learn ICT project management methodologies required
  • still to learn internal risk management policy required
  • still to learn quality standards required
  • optional, not held Agile project management optional
  • optional, not held Process-based management optional
  • optional, not held lean project management optional
  • optional, not held legal requirements of ICT products optional
  • optional, not held project configuration management optional
  • optional, not held quality assurance methodologies optional
03 communication, collaboration and creativity 4 required, 3 supplementary
  • still to learn apply conflict management required
  • still to learn build business relationships required
  • still to learn coach employees required
  • still to learn define roadmap for blockchain in applications required
  • optional, not held create solutions to problems optional
  • optional, not held draft project documentation optional
  • optional, not held manage localisation optional
04 management skills 3 required, 4 supplementary
  • still to learn manage ICT project required
  • still to learn create project specifications required
  • still to learn manage project changes required
  • optional, not held apply change management optional
  • optional, not held carry out project activities optional
  • optional, not held define technical requirements optional
  • optional, not held organise project meetings optional
05 information and communication technologies (icts) 1 required, 16 supplementary
  • still to learn blockchain mining principles required
  • optional, not held Agile development optional
  • optional, not held DevOps optional
  • optional, not held ICT system user requirements optional
  • optional, not held Open source model optional
  • optional, not held Outsourcing model optional
  • optional, not held Prototyping development optional
  • optional, not held Rapid application development optional
  • optional, not held Spiral development optional
  • optional, not held Waterfall development optional
  • optional, not held hybrid model optional
  • optional, not held incremental development optional
  • optional, not held iterative development optional
  • optional, not held object-oriented modelling optional
  • optional, not held service-oriented modelling optional
  • optional, not held software architecture models optional
  • optional, not held software design methodologies optional
06 working with computers 1 required, 1 supplementary
  • still to learn develop blockchain technology required
  • optional, not held use e-procurement optional

1 further area in the appendix

Table 4

Table 4 · Where to start

The 3 entries an ICT project manager role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.

Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.

Appendix

Appendix · The rest of the record

All 19 skills that carry over
Skill Type
  • already held define technology strategy skill
  • already held manage budgets skill
  • already held manage staff skill
  • already held perform project management skill
  • already held provide cost benefit analysis reports skill
  • already held recruit employees skill
  • already held train employees skill
  • already held ICT process quality models knowledge
  • already held apply organisational techniques skill
  • already held crowdsourcing strategy knowledge
  • already held develop information standards skill
  • already held digital systems knowledge
  • already held implement ICT risk management skill
  • already held insourcing strategy knowledge
  • already held maintain relationship with suppliers skill
  • already held outsourcing strategy knowledge
  • already held perform procurement processes skill
  • already held systems development life-cycle knowledge
  • already held use ICT ticketing system skill
The 1 learning area not shown above
Skill to pick up Tier
07 social sciences, journalism and information 1 supplementary
  • optional, not held document management optional
33 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
Skill to pick up Tier
  • optional, not held Agile development optional
  • optional, not held Agile project management optional
  • optional, not held DevOps optional
  • optional, not held ICT system user requirements optional
  • optional, not held Open source model optional
  • optional, not held Outsourcing model optional
  • optional, not held Process-based management optional
  • optional, not held Prototyping development optional
  • optional, not held Rapid application development optional
  • optional, not held Spiral development optional
  • optional, not held Waterfall development optional
  • optional, not held document management optional
  • optional, not held execute ICT audits optional
  • optional, not held hybrid model optional
  • optional, not held incremental development optional
  • optional, not held iterative development optional
  • optional, not held lean project management optional
  • optional, not held object-oriented modelling optional
  • optional, not held service-oriented modelling optional
  • optional, not held software architecture models optional
  • optional, not held software design methodologies optional
  • optional, not held use e-procurement optional
  • optional, not held apply change management optional
  • optional, not held carry out project activities optional
  • optional, not held create solutions to problems optional
  • optional, not held define technical requirements optional
  • optional, not held draft project documentation optional
  • optional, not held legal requirements of ICT products optional
  • optional, not held maintain a central project repository optional
  • optional, not held manage localisation optional
  • optional, not held organise project meetings optional
  • optional, not held project configuration management optional
  • optional, not held quality assurance methodologies optional
22 held skills the ICT project manager role does not ask for
Skill Type
  • not needed by the target role attend to ICT systems quality skill
  • not needed by the target role comply with legal regulations skill
  • not needed by the target role contract law knowledge
  • not needed by the target role coordinate technological activities skill
  • not needed by the target role core banking software knowledge
  • not needed by the target role design process skill
  • not needed by the target role develop ICT workflow skill
  • not needed by the target role engineering processes knowledge
  • not needed by the target role hardware components knowledge
  • not needed by the target role hardware components suppliers knowledge
  • not needed by the target role implement ICT security policies skill
  • not needed by the target role implement a virtual private network skill
  • not needed by the target role improve business processes skill
  • not needed by the target role innovation processes knowledge
  • not needed by the target role manage changes in ICT system skill
  • not needed by the target role manage contracts skill
  • not needed by the target role operations management knowledge
  • not needed by the target role oversee quality control skill
  • not needed by the target role software components libraries knowledge
  • not needed by the target role software components suppliers knowledge
  • not needed by the target role track key performance indicators skill
  • not needed by the target role use different communication channels skill
28 gaps that are knowledge rather than practice

Knowledge gaps usually close through study. Practical skill gaps usually need something you can point at.

Skill to pick up Tier
  • still to learn ICT project management required
  • still to learn ICT project management methodologies required
  • still to learn blockchain mining principles required
  • still to learn internal risk management policy required
  • still to learn quality standards required
  • optional, not held Agile development optional
  • optional, not held Agile project management optional
  • optional, not held DevOps optional
  • optional, not held ICT system user requirements optional
  • optional, not held Open source model optional
  • optional, not held Outsourcing model optional
  • optional, not held Process-based management optional
  • optional, not held Prototyping development optional
  • optional, not held Rapid application development optional
  • optional, not held Spiral development optional
  • optional, not held Waterfall development optional
  • optional, not held document management optional
  • optional, not held hybrid model optional
  • optional, not held incremental development optional
  • optional, not held iterative development optional
  • optional, not held lean project management optional
  • optional, not held object-oriented modelling optional
  • optional, not held service-oriented modelling optional
  • optional, not held software architecture models optional
  • optional, not held software design methodologies optional
  • optional, not held legal requirements of ICT products optional
  • optional, not held project configuration management optional
  • optional, not held quality assurance methodologies optional
Index

Other moves recorded from ICT operations manager

Full index of moves from ICT operations manager

FAQ

Common questions about this move

Can an ICT operations manager become an ICT project manager?

Yes, and it is a career change move. An ICT operations manager already covers 27% of what an ICT project manager is expected to do: 19 skills carry over, 7 of which the ICT project manager role treats as required.

What skills does an ICT operations manager need to become an ICT project manager?

19 required skills are missing, plus 33 optional ones. They fall into 7 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, led by information skills. The single most important is ICT project management.

How hard is the move from ICT operations manager to ICT project manager?

Its learning distance is 79.1 out of 100, which is the career change band. That accounts for both how much is missing and how specialised those skills are.

Note

How this record was compiled

Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.