What is technical project management?

What is the best way to approach a career transition from a Network/System Administrator role to a Technical Project Management role?

• What skills and qualities would a hiring manager want to see in a candidate making such a transition?

• Answer:

  There's an old adage that to get a job you have to have experience, and to get experience you have the job. There are shortcuts, though, and here are a couple: 1 - Get something like PMP certification (here's an example of one program http://www.cel.sfsu.edu/project/certificate.cfm ) so that you have creditable domain experience. 2 - Get project management experience. Volunteer for projects at work, and if that's not an option (though it's far and away the best option), you could also do something like work at a tech non-profit volunteering as a project manager. I think that's it: domain expertise (PMP) and experience (playing a project management lead role). Good luck.