How I went from 50k to 290K in TC as a Project Manager in 4 years

Oracle
hm724

Go to company page Oracle

hm724
Jan 25, 2020 42 Comments

Hey everyone,

I’m currently a Technical Project Manager at Oracle that’s focused specifically on IT infrastructure/cloud. I’ve been super lucky and blessed to be able to say that within 4 years from starting as a non-technical project coordinator I’ve went from making 50k to now getting an offer of 290K (TC) from Facebook as a Program Manager (data center infrastructure). I didn’t start as an engineer or developer, and I learned all my technical skills through certifications and experience.

Here’s the timeline of how this all went down:

[2015 – 2016]
– Project Coordinator at small startup (50k Salary)
– IT Project Manager at same startup (65k salary)

[2017]
– Changed companies to small consulting firm - IT Project Manager (80k Salary)

[2018]
– Moved to Oracle as a Technical Project Manager (115k Salary)

[2019]
– Given raise at Oracle (121k Salary)
– Offer at Facebook for Program Manager in Bay Area (TC 290K)

Because of the success I’ve seen, I wanted to share some insights to the other Project Managers/Program Managers in this community in regards to moving up in salary and being competitive as a PM:

1. Technical Skills - (for people who didn't start as engineers)

My advice here is that if you are an IT Project Manager, specific to either cloud/infrastructure or software development, take the time to focus on one of those paths, stick to it, and learn as many technical skills as you can either through certifications or formal education. This also helps build credibility with your teams and engineers in the workplace. The more you know, the more valuable you are. The more valuable you are, the more you can negotiate pay :)


2. Keep Moving jobs + Learn to Interview reeaaaallly well

[Keep moving jobs] – The fastest way to see an increase in salary is to keep moving jobs, and negotiating higher pay with a new position. I would not leave earlier than a year or a year and a half, since it might put up a red flag to potential employers.

[Learn to interview well] - I recommend trying to interview as much as you can and always keep your eye out in the market for jobs you can apply for. To prepare for interviews, go through your experience and build and memorize at least 15-20 stories that you can talk about in an interview using the STAR format (situation, task, action, result). These stories should cover your experiences such as your successful projects, challenges with project teams, a failed project, etc.

3. Set goals and don’t give up

When I started in this career, my goal always was to work as a Project Manager /Program Manager within one of the “FAANG” companies. I wanted to be able to continue to learn and grow through working within one of these prestigious companies.

Prior to getting an offer from Facebook, I had interviewed there 3 other times for other positions, and was rejected every time. One instance, I actually went on site, spent the whole day interviewing with 7 people, and then eventually got a rejection a week later. Prior to Facebook, I also interviewed at Amazon 4 times, got rejected every-time, and never was invited on site. Whenever I got knocked down, I was upset for a couple of days, then just got back up and tried to figure out where I went wrong.

Looking back, it's been a crazy road so far, but I hope this inspires people to keep moving forward if they have a goal.

Thanks for reading this, and good luck :)

#projectmanager

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TOP 42 Comments
  • Amazon
    ATT89

    Go to company page Amazon

    ATT89
    Just a note to everyone riding the wave up switching jobs: this only works in a hot IT market. The next downturn will result in many people out on the street and comp packages reverting back to base + crashing stock. I have been in the IT industry 30 years and have seen a few of them... advice over the past 4 years does not extrapolate far...
    Jan 25, 2020 1
  • Ur story is truly inspiring. But i hate program managers. They are useless in software companies
    Jan 25, 2020 9
    • Reliable Software / Eng
      Ok!!

      Reliable Software Eng

      Ok!!
      What do engineering managers do?
      Jan 28, 2020
    • Play politics, get fat paycheck inFAANG without doing leetcode, decide good engineers fortune at the time of salary revision amd power to fire anyone anytime
      Jan 28, 2020
  • SAP / Project
    Cubes

    Go to company page SAP Project

    Cubes
    How did you go about building technical skills as a non technical person?
    Jan 25, 2020 3
    • Dell
      LUHV04

      Go to company page Dell

      LUHV04
      Can you share those here so everyone benefits ?
      Jan 26, 2020
    • Oracle
      hm724

      Go to company page Oracle

      hm724
      OP
      Sure - for any of the certs , I start with watching the videos through whatever platform they have the best instructors. For AWS - A Cloud Guru is really popular. For Cisco - I liked Jeremy C. from CBTnuggets. Once you watch all the videos, take good notes, and try to make flashcards or whatever you need to reinforce the concepts. A lot of the basic certs, esp the architect ones, have tons of memorization. Aside from that, you need to get your hands dirty a bit and try going through some of the labs they offer. Once you do that, spend the bulk of your time answering questions and getting familiar with what you'll see during the test. The overall process takes some time, but once carve out a little time everyday and you're consistent, you'll def pass. And if you don't pass, just try again :)
      Jan 27, 2020
  • New
    oxOJ80

    Go to company page New

    oxOJ80
    I’m currently an IT project manager looking to make that 2017 to 2018 leap you made, from 80k to 115k. Which certifications did you feel were most valuable? I’m getting my PMP this week, finishing my Masters in information systems this Summer, and I was thinking of getting some AWS certs in between.
    Jan 27, 2020 2
    • Oracle
      hm724

      Go to company page Oracle

      hm724
      OP
      Nice! You're definitely on the right track. I also have the AWS solutions architect associate cert, and it totally opened up doors for me. If you're looking at the AWS cert that's def a great way to make yourself more valuable. I would for sure pass that test, then see if you can either ask for a raise at your current company or go elsewhere. I started getting interviews from amazon after getting that cert. You can also try working in consulting firms that do cloud migrations , or find companies that are hosting on AWS internally. Depending on your YOE, you should be able to get to 115k. Hope this helps ! DM me if you need more info.
      Jan 27, 2020
    • New
      oxOJ80

      Go to company page New

      oxOJ80
      Thanks for the advice! My company is also building up a cloud team so I may stay internal, there’s lots of opportunity.
      Jan 28, 2020
  • Google
    suplement

    Go to company page Google

    suplement
    Wow. That's a huge step forward. What would you be doing as a PM at FB and what is your education background?
    Feb 8, 2020 1