RecordMove

ICT presales engineer to ICT product manager

An ICT presales engineer already meets 20% of what the ICT product manager role asks for. The move turns on 17 required skills not yet in the profile.

Fig. 1 · Skill transfer ESCO v1.2.1 · directional

From ICT presales engineer

Distant match

To ICT product manager

7 You already bring

17 Still to learn

50 Skills in the target role2

Learning distance A rebuild

81.9/ 100

adjacentmoderatesubstantialcareer change

1 How much of what an ICT product manager is expected to do is already part of an ICT presales engineer’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 product manager role is recorded as needing, required and optional together. What these numbers mean.

Why

Why this move works

An ICT product manager role treats 6 of its required skills as things an ICT presales engineer already does. You would walk in with these on day one.

ICT market
ICT system user requirements
define technical requirements
define technology strategy
perform market research
product comprehension

What stands in the way is 17 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 7 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. An ICT product manager role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of an ICT presales engineer background worth leading with.

Skill the target role also needs Area

already held ICT sales methodologies business, administration and law
already held ICT market business, administration and law
already held ICT system user requirements information and communication technologies (icts)
already held define technology strategy management skills
already held define technical requirements management skills
already held perform market research information skills

All 7 carried skills, including the 6 the ICT product manager role treats as required.

Table 3

Table 3 · What you may need to learn

The 43 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 management skills 6 required

still to learn assess ICT knowledge required
still to learn perform product planning required
still to learn create project specifications required
still to learn manage budgets required
still to learn manage schedule of tasks required
still to learn plan product management required

02 information skills 4 required

still to learn conduct impact evaluation of ICT processes on business required
still to learn monitor technology trends required
still to learn perform risk analysis required
still to learn provide cost benefit analysis reports required

03 information and communication technologies (icts) 3 required, 16 supplementary

still to learn ICT software specifications required
still to learn ICT hardware specifications required
still to learn systems development life-cycle required

optional, not held Agile development optional
optional, not held DevOps optional
optional, not held ICT process quality models 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 service-oriented modelling optional
optional, not held software design methodologies optional
optional, not held trading software optional
optional, not held digital systems optional

04 business, administration and law 2 required, 6 supplementary

still to learn cost management required
still to learn advertising techniques required

optional, not held ICT project management optional
optional, not held ICT quality policy optional
optional, not held ICT security legislation optional
optional, not held business process modelling optional
optional, not held innovation processes optional
optional, not held quality standards optional

05 communication, collaboration and creativity 1 required, 2 supplementary

still to learn manage contracts required

optional, not held interact with users to gather requirements optional
optional, not held manage localisation optional

06 engineering, manufacturing and construction 1 required, 1 supplementary

still to learn ICT infrastructure required

optional, not held engineering processes optional

1 further area in the appendix

Table 4

Table 4 · Where to start

The 3 entries an ICT product 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 7 skills that carry over

Skill Type

already held ICT market knowledge
already held ICT system user requirements knowledge
already held define technical requirements skill
already held define technology strategy skill
already held perform market research skill
already held product comprehension knowledge
already held ICT sales methodologies knowledge

The 1 learning area not shown above

Skill to pick up Tier

07 working with computers 1 supplementary

optional, not held perform online data analysis optional

26 supplementary skills, helpful but not required

Skill to pick up Tier

optional, not held Agile development optional
optional, not held DevOps optional
optional, not held ICT process quality models optional
optional, not held ICT project management optional
optional, not held ICT quality policy optional
optional, not held ICT security legislation 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 business process modelling optional
optional, not held engineering processes optional
optional, not held hybrid model optional
optional, not held incremental development optional
optional, not held innovation processes optional
optional, not held interact with users to gather requirements optional
optional, not held iterative development optional
optional, not held service-oriented modelling optional
optional, not held software design methodologies optional
optional, not held trading software optional
optional, not held digital systems optional
optional, not held manage localisation optional
optional, not held perform online data analysis optional
optional, not held quality standards optional

28 held skills the ICT product manager role does not ask for

Skill Type

not needed by the target role SAS language knowledge
not needed by the target role apply conflict management skill
not needed by the target role apply statistical analysis techniques skill
not needed by the target role business intelligence knowledge
not needed by the target role comply with legal regulations skill
not needed by the target role coordinate technological activities skill
not needed by the target role customer segmentation knowledge
not needed by the target role deliver a sales pitch skill
not needed by the target role develop account strategy skill
not needed by the target role develop revenue generation strategies skill
not needed by the target role digital marketing techniques knowledge
not needed by the target role emergent technologies 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 identify customer's needs skill
not needed by the target role identify training needs skill
not needed by the target role implement marketing strategies skill
not needed by the target role keep up to date on product knowledge skill
not needed by the target role market pricing knowledge
not needed by the target role perform project management skill
not needed by the target role prepare scientific reports skill
not needed by the target role produce sales reports skill
not needed by the target role set sales goals 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 statistical analysis system software knowledge
not needed by the target role supervise sales activities skill
not needed by the target role use different communication channels skill

29 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 infrastructure required
still to learn ICT software specifications required
still to learn cost management required
still to learn ICT hardware specifications required
still to learn advertising techniques required
still to learn systems development life-cycle required
optional, not held Agile development optional
optional, not held DevOps optional
optional, not held ICT process quality models optional
optional, not held ICT project management optional
optional, not held ICT quality policy optional
optional, not held ICT security legislation 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 business process modelling optional
optional, not held engineering processes optional
optional, not held hybrid model optional
optional, not held incremental development optional
optional, not held innovation processes optional
optional, not held iterative development optional
optional, not held service-oriented modelling optional
optional, not held software design methodologies optional
optional, not held trading software optional
optional, not held digital systems optional
optional, not held quality standards optional

Index

Other moves recorded from ICT presales engineer

Full index of moves from ICT presales engineer

FAQ

Common questions about this move

Can an ICT presales engineer become an ICT product manager?

Yes, and it is a career change move. An ICT presales engineer already covers 20% of what an ICT product manager is expected to do: 7 skills carry over, 6 of which the ICT product manager role treats as required.

What skills does an ICT presales engineer need to become an ICT product manager?

17 required skills are missing, plus 26 optional ones. They fall into 7 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, led by management skills. The single most important is ICT infrastructure.

How hard is the move from ICT presales engineer to ICT product manager?

Its learning distance is 81.9 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.