How to Become an IT Manager

How to Become an IT Manager in 4 Simple Steps

IT management is an exciting and rewarding field. If you love working with computers and have a talent for leadership, this could be the perfect field for you. The following four steps are a great guide to help you start your journey in IT management.

1. Hit the Books. Becoming an IT Manager Requires an Education!

The first step in becoming an IT manager is to get your education. A degree in management with a focus in IT skills could be a great place to start. Make sure your education gives you experience not only in operating and managing the technology you want to work with, but also in leading teams and projects. It's important to remember that an IT manager does more than simply managing the IT department; they will also be responsible for working with people elsewhere in the company, explaining how a project will help the company, and effectively communicating their results.

While you work to achieve your degree, it is very important that you keep a good record of major projects that you accomplish. This way if the opportunity arises to interview for a position as an IT manager, it will be a great strength to show your interviewer examples of projects you've completed. This portfolio will be a strong testament to your skills and your quality as a potential manager.

2. Working in IT Management First Means Getting Your Foot in the Door.

You may be able to find a job as an IT manager directly after attaining your degree, in which case, Congratulations! Many people, however, will have to start at a lower position, working as a member of an IT team. Once you've taken the best position you can find, work hard to develop a good reputation within the company as a leader and a team player. Keep yourself open to any opportunities you can find to take on added responsibilities, especially if those allow you to lead projects. 

3. Expand Your Experience . . . Even Outside of the IT Department!

Not all opportunities to work your way into management will be directly related to IT. If you find that your company offers lunch meetings or provides seminars, for example, take advantage of these. Even if the subject of the seminar or lunch is not something directly related to IT, or something you're interested in at all, go to them.

This could have two major advantages for you. First, you will gain knowledge of a broader set of skills. Having a wider base of knowledge could help boost your credentials and give you a better position from which to advance into management. Second, you never know who else will be attending these seminars. In the course of a lunch program about global marketing, for example, you may have the opportunity to sit next to a VP in your company. A small connection now could give you a tremendous advantage later.

4. Engage With Your Company. Learn Its Goals.

Knowing how your company works will be critical to your success as an IT manager. There are two major components to accomplishing this: personalities and processes. Pay attention to the personalities of the people around you, take notice of what motivates certain members of your team. Learn the goals of the people above you in the organization, what kind of projects they like to see accomplished. 

It is equally important that you are fluent in all the procedures your company uses in projects, from budgeting, to planning a new project, to communicating your changes to other departments. If you want to be seen as management material, you need to be seen as already prepared to take your skills in IT and apply them to the company as a whole.

Start on the Path to Becoming an IT Manager Today!

If all this has you excited about a future as an IT manager, you could take the first step by contacting ECPI University today for more information about earning your Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in IT Management. With our year-round schedule, you could earn your degree in as little as 2.5 years. Take the first step today--it could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!

Learn more about ECPI's College of Business TODAY!

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