Duties and responsibilities of the program manager:

Program anger has important part in finishing the project and the prime duty of the program manger is to optimize, plan and manage the project. The common duties and responsibilities that are to be performed by the program manger are enumerated below.

• They are responsible for developing complex projects and must be involved with every aspect of the project that includes testing, communication, coding, designing, testing, integrating and delivering of the project.
• They need to plan and schedule the project goals and estimate the budget required for the project.
• They gather the specifications and plan the development process.
• They need to indentify the risks involved with the project and solve them efficiently.
• They need to perform evaluation and assess the performance of the employees during the period of the project development.
• They oversee the project development team and solve the disputes that rise among the members in the group.
• They are responsible to develop several reference tools and risk management strategies.
• He should maintain the technical documentation related to the project.
• They need to make sure that the standard procedures are followed in all the phases throughout software development cycle.
• They need to monitor the interfaces between the projects.
• They are responsible to communicate with all the stakeholders visiting the company and gather specifications from them.
• They need to prepare reports about the program and submit the report to the program director.
• They need to take care of the quality assurance and quality control procedures to ensure that the outcome of the project is good.
• They need to motivate the program team and make them to complete the task assigned within the stipulated time.
• They must ensure that no employee in the company violates the company rules and regulations.
• He keeps track of the program progress and updates it regularly to the program director or company head.
• Make sure that the program is done as per the clients specifications and if not, then track back the entire program and make modifications to get in to expected view.
• They provide direction and offer training to the project development team.
• They even perform some additional duties when assigned by the higher officials.
• They need to segregate the project and distribute it to the experts in respective fields.
• They are responsible to conduct seminar and give presentations after the completion of the project and explaining the working of the project to the client as well as the employees in the organization.

Skills required for the program manager:

• The program manager needs to have good people skills to confer with the take holders and deliver the gather specifications to the program development team.
• They must possess high level technical skills and have good ideas about the technologies that are emerging in to the market.
• They need to have good comprehension skills to understand the client’s needs and deliver them to the senior management staff.
• They should have good organization and customer service skills to respond to the customer queries.
• Possess good leader ship skills to manage the team and make them to reach the company goals as well as their individual goals.
• They must be capable to work under stress full conditions and lead the team to do the work.
• As time is very important in program development, it is essential to have good time managing skills.
• Possess knowledge about various technologies that are used to develop the application.

Educational requirements for a program manager

• The program manger needs to be well educated and make effective use of the concepts that he studies to complete the project within the delivery date.
• For an individual in order to become a program manager, it is essential to complete B.Tech /B.E from any accredited college with specialization in any field.
• The candidates with engineering diploma and specialized in industrial or production field can have chance to get recruited as program manager.
• The candidate with master’s degree has higher probability over the candidates who have done with their graduation course.
• The candidate can also complete masters in business administration course and it is helpful to reach managerial positions in the company.
• Based on the industry for which the person is planning to work, the job training course can be chosen by the individuals and there are countless institutions that offer training to the individuals at initial stages.
• Many companies hire the individuals who have 5-6 years of experience in handling complex projects.
• Some companies recruit the candidate with experience in project management or they must have worked a part of project management in their previous work setting.

About program manager:

The program manger is essential for every company as they coordinate with group of people to complete the set of projects that are assigned by the company management. They need to plan and manage the complex programs and projects. They need to monitor the people and make them work efficiently to complete the project within the deadline. They are responsible to manage the whole project development team that comprise software development staff, designing staff, testing staff, business analysts and project management staff. The role of program manager changes with the type of the business establishment. Previously, the program managers were only employed by the IT sectors but now their services are extended even to the banking sectors and retail business etc. They must be technically strong to develop the software applications because software applications are often termed as programs. So the program manger must know about the several phases involved in software development life cycle. They prepare schedule and look after the budget required for the development of the project. They develop the proposal required for the project and submit it to the client. The proposal consists of project plan, specifications and financial terms related to the project and cost of the project.

How is a program manager certified?

• There are numerous certification programs available for program managers at starting level to enhance their skills.
• The certified six sigma black belt and certified six sigma green belt certifications course help the candidate to learn several managerial techniques and implement them in project management.
• The certification courses like Program Management Professional (PgMP) and Project Management Professional (PMP) are the basic certification course offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI) and it is mandatory for every candidate to complete these courses willing to get recruited as program manager.
• The Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) is the course offered by the Microsoft organization and this course briefs about the basic concepts and terms associate with the project.

Salary and remuneration for a program manager

The salary of the program anger keeps varying with the experience, location, industry type, employer type and specialization. The median salary of the program manger is $122,000 per annum. They are usually paid on hourly basis, consultant basis or based on the project time.

• Years of Experience

• For the program manager with experience of less than one year, the salary can range in between $ 45,023 and $ 87,200 and the hourly salary is between $ 8.00 and $ 34.23.
• For the program manger with experience between one to four years, the salary range is between $ 53,212 and $ 109,122 and the hourly wage range is between $ 16.28 and $ 53.22.
• The individual with experience of five to nine years can make salary range between $ 68,022 and $ 118,135 and the hourly wage range is between $ 34.52 and $ 65.00.
• For the candidate with experience between ten to nineteen years, the salary range is between $ 71,101 and $ 122,742 and the hourly wage range is between $ 43.90 and $ 73.10.
• The program manager with experience of twenty years or more can make   salary range between $ 89,701 and $ 148,452 and the hourly wage range is between $ 58.51 and $ 84.50.

• Industry

• The Program manager earns an annual salary range between $ 64,973 and $ 137,160 when recruited by the company that offer IT services.
• The program manager working for an IT consulting industry makes an annual salary range between $ 82,646 and $ 121,117.
• Program manager working in health care industry earns an annual salary range between $ 76,151 and $ 125,117.
• The Program manager working in a company that provides financial services earn an annual salary range between $ 84,697 and $ 148,317.
• Program manager working for a company that operate computer software /applications earns an annual salary range between $ 91,394 and $ 164,359.
• Program manager working in Manufacturing and Distribution earns an annual salary range between $ 69,045 and $ 125,920.

• Employer Type

• A Program manager when he is employed by a company earns an annual salary in the range between $ 75,686 and $ 152,297.
• A Program manager when employed by a private or practice firm earns a salary in the range between $ 67,382 and $ 134,825 per annum.
• The Program manager when employed by a non-profit organization can make an annual salary in the range between $ 72,573 and $ 158,429.
• A Program manager when he is on a contract can typically earn salary range between $ 78,400 and $ 160,000 per annum.
• A Program manager when employed by other organizations can earn an annual salary in the range between $ 73,272 and $ 155,504.
• A Program manager when recruited company that is operated by the government of either state or local can earn an annual salary in the range between $ 75,000 and $ 164,166.
• A Program manager can make salary range between $ 60,669 and $ 143,524 per annum when recruited by a hospital.

• Skills and Speciality

• A Program manager when he knows about project management amongst his other qualifications can make an annual salary between $ 65,349 and $ 122,262.
• A Program manager when gets specialized in the program management or project management can make a salary range between $ 73,483 and $ 120,504 per annum.
• A Program manager when gets expertise in customer relationship management amongst his other educational qualifications, the annual salary range is between $ 65,581 and $ 133,451.
• A Program manager when he gets specialized in the network architecture or design amongst his other qualifications, the salary range is between $ 74,328 and $ 128,879 per annum.
• A Program manager when gets expertise in business development amongst his other qualifications, the annual salary range is between $ 84,212 and $ 138,205.
• A Program manager when he has complete idea about the Microsoft applications amongst his other qualifications the annual salary range is between $ 88,660 and $ 122,272.
• A Program manager when he knows about strategic Project Management can typically makes an annual salary range is between $ 72,313 and $ 127,456.