Did I do the right thing? Project management to Hands on

[C0ffin D0dger]

imadethisforu said:

Hello guys,

I've been lurking this site for ages(years!) and know many of you are "knowledgeable" to give me advise.

I've recently moved from being a project engineer to service engineer role I'm not sure if I shot myself in the foot or not..

brief recap

3 yrs Engineering Apprenticeship
2 yrs Service Technician
3 yrs Project Engineer
Now a Service Engineer

Reasons I moved from the PM role (underpaid, too much micro managing, no foreseeable progression)

However in this role I had complete freedom to choose what projects to do, what time I got in what time I left , (40hr work week I could literally do everything with my eyes closed, but I was slowly getting depressed seeing no progression.

My new role (different company) offered 66% pay rise, however now I work shifts days / nights. the management is brilliant. I actually enjoy coming to work. I was asked " Don't you think this is a step down? During the interview.

That question still lingers in my mind did I take a step down?


both companies are large( 10k+ employees) industry leaders.

Edited by imadethisforu on Tuesday 13th December 10:54

I can't see how this would be a step down if it came with a 66% pay rise, surely that in itself implies the need for increased competence and responsibility. Admittedly some of that pay rise is for working shifts but it's still quite a bit.

Personally I've always distanced myself from any sort of managerial role or project engineering, I'm sure there are some folk that enjoy it but it's not my cup of tea. Luckily I work for a company where technical ability is very much recognised and there is a career path in place to support it. I'm very much hands on but get pretty good reward for my work. So I wouldn't worry about it. Sounds like things are going well, you have a job you enjoy and the monetary side of it is also good, just keep up the good work!

[Vaud]

This country is pretty bad at "talking down" key roles and forcing people to be "managers" to progress.

Take a different industry. IBM.

They had a big problem many few years ago - losing top technical people as their promotion path was centered around management/exec/sales/delivery.

So they created the "guru" role - which allowed a path for people who were brilliant in their field to progress and be recognised as technically brilliant.

[Monkeylegend]

imadethisforu said:

My new role (different company) offered 66% pay rise, however now I work shifts days / nights. the management is brilliant. I actually enjoy coming to work.

Edited by imadethisforu on Tuesday 13th December 10:54

Does it matter? Surely this is more important than perceived status?

[Ms R.Saucy]

Vaud said:

This country is pretty bad at "talking down" key roles and forcing people to be "managers" to progress.

Take a different industry. IBM.

They had a big problem many few years ago - losing top technical people as their promotion path was centered around management/exec/sales/delivery.

So they created the "guru" role - which allowed a path for people who were brilliant in their field to progress and be recognised as technically brilliant.

also the band 8 'Consultant' roles for none medical health professionals which allowed progression beyond the practitioner/ specialist role woithouit having to give up all patient contact ... ( thanks to the self licking lollipop of re-registration for none medicla HCPs apart from Midwives that doesn;t actually require you to do the job to maintain your registration just be in a job that supposedly requires registration ... )