RecordMove

ICT product manager to ICT presales engineer

An ICT product manager already meets 28% of what the ICT presales engineer role asks for. The move turns on 8 required skills not yet in the profile.

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

From ICT product manager

Distant match

To ICT presales engineer

7 You already bring

8 Still to learn

35 Skills in the target role2

Learning distance Substantial retraining

69.4/ 100

adjacentmoderatesubstantialcareer change

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

Why

Why this move works

An ICT presales engineer role treats 5 of its required skills as things an ICT product manager already does. You would walk in with these on day one.

ICT sales methodologies
define technical requirements
define technology strategy
perform market research
product comprehension

What stands in the way is 8 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 presales engineer role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of an ICT product manager 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 5 the ICT presales engineer role treats as required.

Table 3

Table 3 · What you may need to learn

The 28 missing skills fall into 8 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 communication, collaboration and creativity 3 required, 3 supplementary

still to learn identify customer's needs required
still to learn apply conflict management required
still to learn prepare scientific reports required

optional, not held deliver a sales pitch optional
optional, not held implement marketing strategies optional
optional, not held use different communication channels optional

02 business, administration and law 2 required, 3 supplementary

still to learn business intelligence required
still to learn customer segmentation required

optional, not held digital marketing techniques optional
optional, not held hardware components suppliers optional
optional, not held market pricing optional

03 management skills 1 required, 6 supplementary

still to learn develop revenue generation strategies required

optional, not held coordinate technological activities optional
optional, not held set sales goals optional
optional, not held supervise sales activities optional
optional, not held develop account strategy optional
optional, not held identify training needs optional
optional, not held perform project management optional

04 information skills 1 required, 2 supplementary

still to learn keep up to date on product knowledge required

optional, not held produce sales reports optional
optional, not held apply statistical analysis techniques optional

05 assisting and caring 1 required

still to learn comply with legal regulations required

06 information and communication technologies (icts) 4 supplementary

optional, not held SAS language optional
optional, not held software components libraries optional
optional, not held software components suppliers optional
optional, not held hardware components optional

2 further areas in the appendix

Table 4

Table 4 · Where to start

The 3 entries an ICT presales engineer 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 sales methodologies 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 market knowledge
already held ICT system user requirements knowledge

The 2 learning areas not shown above

Skill to pick up Tier

07 engineering, manufacturing and construction 1 supplementary

optional, not held emergent technologies optional

08 natural sciences, mathematics and statistics 1 supplementary

optional, not held statistical analysis system software optional

20 supplementary skills, helpful but not required

Skill to pick up Tier

optional, not held SAS language optional
optional, not held coordinate technological activities optional
optional, not held deliver a sales pitch optional
optional, not held digital marketing techniques optional
optional, not held hardware components suppliers optional
optional, not held market pricing optional
optional, not held produce sales reports optional
optional, not held set sales goals optional
optional, not held software components libraries optional
optional, not held software components suppliers optional
optional, not held supervise sales activities optional
optional, not held apply statistical analysis techniques optional
optional, not held develop account strategy optional
optional, not held emergent technologies optional
optional, not held hardware components optional
optional, not held identify training needs optional
optional, not held implement marketing strategies optional
optional, not held perform project management optional
optional, not held statistical analysis system software optional
optional, not held use different communication channels optional

43 held skills the ICT presales engineer role does not ask for

Skill Type

not needed by the target role Agile development knowledge
not needed by the target role DevOps knowledge
not needed by the target role ICT hardware specifications knowledge
not needed by the target role ICT infrastructure knowledge
not needed by the target role ICT process quality models knowledge
not needed by the target role ICT project management knowledge
not needed by the target role ICT quality policy knowledge
not needed by the target role ICT security legislation knowledge
not needed by the target role ICT software specifications knowledge
not needed by the target role Open source model knowledge
not needed by the target role Outsourcing model knowledge
not needed by the target role Prototyping development knowledge
not needed by the target role Rapid application development knowledge
not needed by the target role Spiral development knowledge
not needed by the target role Waterfall development knowledge
not needed by the target role advertising techniques knowledge
not needed by the target role assess ICT knowledge skill
not needed by the target role business process modelling knowledge
not needed by the target role conduct impact evaluation of ICT processes on business skill
not needed by the target role cost management knowledge
not needed by the target role create project specifications skill
not needed by the target role digital systems knowledge
not needed by the target role engineering processes knowledge
not needed by the target role hybrid model knowledge
not needed by the target role incremental development knowledge
not needed by the target role innovation processes knowledge
not needed by the target role interact with users to gather requirements skill
not needed by the target role iterative development knowledge
not needed by the target role manage budgets skill
not needed by the target role manage contracts skill
not needed by the target role manage localisation skill
not needed by the target role manage schedule of tasks skill
not needed by the target role monitor technology trends skill
not needed by the target role perform online data analysis skill
not needed by the target role perform product planning skill
not needed by the target role perform risk analysis skill
not needed by the target role plan product management skill
not needed by the target role provide cost benefit analysis reports skill
not needed by the target role quality standards knowledge
not needed by the target role service-oriented modelling knowledge

3 further entries not listed here

11 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 business intelligence required
still to learn customer segmentation required
optional, not held SAS language optional
optional, not held digital marketing techniques optional
optional, not held hardware components suppliers optional
optional, not held market pricing optional
optional, not held software components libraries optional
optional, not held software components suppliers optional
optional, not held emergent technologies optional
optional, not held hardware components optional
optional, not held statistical analysis system software optional

Index

Other moves recorded from ICT product manager

Full index of moves from ICT product manager

FAQ

Common questions about this move

Can an ICT product manager become an ICT presales engineer?

Yes, and it is a substantial move. An ICT product manager already covers 28% of what an ICT presales engineer is expected to do: 7 skills carry over, 5 of which the ICT presales engineer role treats as required.

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

8 required skills are missing, plus 20 optional ones. They fall into 8 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, led by communication, collaboration and creativity. The single most important is develop revenue generation strategies.

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

Its learning distance is 69.4 out of 100, which is the substantial 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.