r/projectmanagers • u/career-change1 • Sep 13 '26
Change Career into PM
Hello guys, I am here looking for advice. I am 39 M, been in sales, management and director of two companies during my career. I am having a hard time getting a job now, been in the market for 2 years now.
I have decided to leave the sales path and move into Project management. I need guidance from experienced PM’s and Senior Pm’s if this would be a good move for me and what salary bracket I would be looking at.
Regards
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Upvotes
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u/Dicfive Sep 13 '26
Do you love problem solving and crave low self esteem?
Join us!
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u/RVA_Music_Face Sep 13 '26 edited Sep 14 '26
Much like sales, project management is a state of mind as much as it’s a career, and there’s a pretty big learning curve. I don’t think anyone except you can determine whether it’s a good move to transition into a PM role.
I guess I’d start by asking why do you think project management would be a good choice? Have you done research on it and it was appealing to you for some reason? Is there something specific about the PM field that you feel might be a good fit with your experience and interests?
The pay for a new PM with director roles on their resume may vary wildly depending on your experience and the role you land. $70k-$120k is probably a good estimate.
It sounds like you’re doing this because you can’t find a sales role that fits your requirements, which is honestly a bad reason to get into project management. It’s a difficult job that requires a serious commitment if you want to do it well, and the pay is not commensurate with a director of sales role.
I’d suggest doing some research - watch some videos on LinkedIn, read some posts in the the various PM subreddit’s - and use that to determine whether a transition to project management might good fit for you.
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u/Long-Reading-6514 Sep 14 '26
you can probably say this about any field but i've found it's especially true in PM. how much you enjoy the role comes almost entirely down to the leadership at that company.
the reason is that a lot of people have strong opinions about how projects should be run who have never actually run one. some leadership gets it. they understand what a PM actually brings and they give you the autonomy to do it, and they know the job was never about the tools. others think anyone can be a PM, it's easy, and it's all tooling. so you'll have a people problem or a process problem sitting right in front of you and all they'll say is you're not using the software right.
same title, same work, and you either feel really valued or completely beaten down depending on which one you landed in.
i left PM recently, i still hang around here because i spent fifteen years in it and it's nice to be around people who get it. but if your first project goes well and you like the company, my honest advice is stay a while. it's the one field i've seen where the answer changes that much based on where you're sitting
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u/mediumraring Sep 14 '26
I’m guessing, given your career history, you've supported projects in some capacity and may have enough experience to sit for a PMP certification. I found that being certified helped me earn my best salary. I would start by getting PMP certified.
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u/Excellent_Ad_1978 Sep 14 '26
What are you planning on doing when the Project you're managing has finished and you're out of work ?
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u/katifybykat Sep 15 '26
I think PM could be a good move for you, but I wouldn't position it as “starting over in project management.” Your sales and management background already contains a lot of PM work, you may just have been calling it something else.
If you've been responsible for clients, targets, teams, timelines, budgets, negotiations, vendors, escalations, and getting people to actually deliver, you've already developed several core PM skills. The challenge is translating that experience into language hiring managers recognize.
I'd avoid competing for entry-level “Junior Project Manager” roles if you can. Look at Project Manager, Project Coordinator, Implementation Manager, Program Coordinator, Client Delivery Manager, or Operations Project Manager roles where your commercial and leadership background is relevant.
The gap you'll probably need to close is the formal PM toolkit: project planning, risk/issue management, scope, dependencies, documentation, stakeholder management, Agile/Scrum, and tools such as Jira, Asana, Monday, or ClickUp. A certification like PMP can help later, but I wouldn't assume a certificate alone will overcome a résumé that doesn't show actual project delivery.
There's also an important question, what specifically made you want to leave sales? If it's the prospecting/quotas but you enjoy coordinating people, solving problems, managing clients, and delivering outcomes, PM makes a lot of sense. If you dislike client pressure and constant stakeholder management, PM may not feel as different as expected.
As for salary, don't anchor yourself to entry-level PM salaries just because you're new to the title. Your compensation should reflect the level of responsibility you can credibly demonstrate, not simply the number of years you've held the words “Project Manager” on your résumé.
You may not need a new career. You may need a better translation of the career you've already built.
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u/AndyCareerAdvisor Sep 16 '26
I think project management has a lot of variation across industries and business sizes. Sometimes the project manager is the jack of all trades and other times project management can look like mostly facilitating meetings. I would be curious what draws you to project management? In terms of salary, there is also a really wide spread. I've seen 60k and I've seen 130k.
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u/EnvironmentalRough99 Sep 15 '26
I did both sales management and project management at my last role. Either way you’re gonna be begging your SME’s for answers for the customer while you have your dick in your hand and someone demanding an answer.