Examining the Career Paths of a TPM

In this chapter, we’ll look into the paths someone might take to become a Technical Program Manager, followed by an overview of the different career paths that are available to a TPM. Because the tech industry is large, the paths described here represent a generalized view of these career paths based on the interviews that were conducted and the job descriptions that were examined for this course.

We’ll also get a close look at two professional TPM journeys that showcase the different paths we can take, which will reinforce that no two journeys are the same, nor are they ever straight paths.

We’ll explore the available career paths by doing the following:

• Examining the career paths of a TPM

• Exploring the Individual Contributor (IC) path

• Exploring the people manager path

Let’s dive right in! ...