What skills a programmer may improve or acquire to switch to project management?
In the current scenario, digital project management is a developing field, so many companies require a good project manager (PM) who can understand project management and project management methodologies to implement them in their business. In case you are a programmer, and you have the appropriate knowledge to work with digital tools, external clients, teams, and facing deadlines. It means you can be an amazing project manager for your organization. A huge number of people are choosing the programming field as their career, so you have to look for a different way of becoming successful than others. There can be the other reason that maybe you have tired of debugging code or optimizing user experience (UX), and you want a different type of challenge. So you can become a great project manager because you have the right skills and deep software knowledge. There are strong exchangeable skills that you, as a programmer, can give to the field. We have some recommendations to leap from the programming field to the PM field comfortably. But first, let's discuss the importance of project management so that you can understand everything about this field.

Importance of Project Management
Project management handles and controls a project from beginning to end through managing everything by brainstorming ideas for delivering appropriate outcomes. Some of your primary concerns may include managing problem-solving, agile workflow, reporting and analytics, optimizing UX, selecting and developing project management tools for teams or new hires, website coding, continuous integration, integrating feedback, and many more. It does not matter what type of project you are managing, project methodologies are essential for you to have the best results.

IT Specialization in the Project Management
As a programmer, probably you are a specialist in fields like digital projects, tools or software, and coding, which is beneficial for to work as a PM. You probably know various software and hardware which are valuable for companies. Anyone can become PM because PMs require communications, humanities, psychology studies and retail management, but anyone can't design software or apps, landing pages for ads, and code a website from scratch. So you can be a project manager who can take on complexities of these tasks. Financial or IT industries pay more for overall project management services. It means any programmer can have an edge in the IT project management as per the salary agreements and expectations. Most of the IT project managers (ITPMs) need to understand at least the basics of web design and development, which is also expertized by a programmer.

Required skills to become a programmer to Project manager
As we have already discussed, programmers have all of the required skills to become a PM, so here is a complete list of required skills to become a PM from a programmer.

Website Coding
Your ability for reading and writing code can be useful for anyone to hire an appropriate DPM/PM. In case your managed project is not website-specific, then having someone on board who understands HTML5/CSS3 for the minor adjustments is valuable nowadays. Being capable of imagining and designing a website is a simple example of how you understand the types of production cycles, which will be helpful in project management as well.

Product-Test-Optimize Feedback Loop
You can be a project manager at the development of the new application or for marketing initiatives of consumer goods. So, either, you are going to follow exact basic steps (i.e. Produce, Test, Optimize and Repeat) to achieve results. These basic steps combine and create a cycle that programmers understand completely. When transitioning to the DPM position, try to highlight examples of where you exceeded in the process such as lead time optimization or a sharp eye for the debugging.

Understanding User Needs or UX
As a programmer, you are required to choose what your audience requirements are, make it, the beta test for feedback, then rebuild respectively. Having the vision and resources for knowing what different users require, when they want it, and under which conditions is the basis of project management. You need to ask yourself:
What does the audience demand?
How do we improve?
How do we get there?
Emphasize your experience with this method as something that innately gives you PM-ready.

Knowledge With Dashboards or Alerting Systems
Dashboards and alerting systems are another strength to you as a programmer. Still, not all companies are as familiar with the transformative process of work business. Even experience with essential workflow assistants such as Slack, Trello and Asana are going for making you look like a project manager superior to most employers.

Data Analytics
Performing analytics, compiling or organizing data, connecting progress made for targeting measurables. You will be performing a lot of above as the DPM/PM. It is a key way that you measure success in the PM world. Customers will want to view results and understand the essential nature of analytics, and the various techniques for harvesting data will keep them happy.

Project management Methodologies
Various organizational or workflow methodologies of project management can be delivered from software development. It means you are familiar with the various steps in a process, even if the customer and product are unknown to you. Knowledge of the workflow frameworks is an essential part of the programmer and PM, so SCRUM, XP, iterative development, Kanban, feature-driven development, and the combination of those techniques/technologies required in project management.

How to become Programmer to Project manager
Programmers can become great PMs, but you need to convince the employers to get the job of PM. So here are some ways to get the job in the project management field:
Get an official certificate in project management
It is not important, but it is good to represent your project management experience. It is beneficial for you to get the job through. Certification and apart from it, you can job easily due to the experience of the certification.
Always learn
You can follow various project management blogs and learn new coding language and workflow methodology, which can help you for future PM opportunities. You need a passion project so that you can test out and sharpen skills you can’t obtain in your 9-to-5 job. It would help if you kept up with improvements in those areas you are already familiar with. Potential employers will appreciate the project manager who takes the responsibility of training and training upon themselves.

Obtain a speciality
For becoming a different and best project manager, you need to pick one strong skill and one simple skill and show it to the employers to stand out in the industry. In almost every PM interview, employers will ask you about your speciality and skills so that you can become better than every other else.

Market yourself as the DPM or an ITPM
Always remember a thing that 'never underestimate yourself'. Your job title is more related with "programmer" but it doesn't mean your cover letter or résumé, and personal branding must not add "project manager" in every grade. So you can highlight yourself as PM or provide the information about the skills related to PM.

Improve your interview skills
It doesn't matter that you are going for the interview of programming, project management, or a programming project management, you need to sharpen the art of the interview. It supports you with any intended career shift, but it also helps you to improve a range of skills which will be useful to you at some point
Be involved in the industry
You have to be involved in your industry for showing that you are paying attention to the incoming trends. Engage with programming influencers at social media for showing your involvement with knowledge leadership and innovation. All of this raises you from an ordinary employee to the person of interest. So always remember that PMs are required to be leading on the curve, not trying to catch up.

Smooth your soft skills
Various programming and IT work is deemed a hard skill such as knowing different languages (C#, C++, Java, and HTML5), but don't ignore your soft skills such as creativity, communication and leadership. Failing time to invest in soft skill development is the most common error programmers make, so having the ideal combination of both skills can result in a great project manager. It will make you an amazing programmer and project manager if you choose to develop all of your skills.

Conclusion
In this article, we have provided complete information regarding the ways of switching from programmer to project management. So as we know that digital project management is a developing field, so many companies require a good project manager (PM) who can understand project management and project management methodologies to implement them in their business. In case you are a programmer, and you have the appropriate knowledge to work with digital tools, external clients, teams, and facing deadlines.

If you want this topic to get to front page, organize it very well and add pictures .


Make the subtitles bold.

Even me, I couldn't read it.