On March 21st, I started my new journey as a Technology Program Manager at Visa.
When I first graduated from Stanford, I wanted to be a project manager. I am organized and disciplined, I enjoy cross-functional collaboration, and I love to bring a group of people together to accomplish something big. Many people who worked with me at Stanford said I would make a great project manager. However, when I was job hunting, I barely found any entry-level project manager openings. Back then, in order to diversify my risk, I applied to almost every type of job I was qualified for: management consulting, patent agent, scientific consulting, R&D scientist…etc. I ended up choosing management consulting because it is challenging, fast-paced, and cross-functional. Furthermore, I could learn about business strategies, client management, data analysis, as well as project management.
When I started in management consulting, I really enjoyed my job, and I thought I would do management consulting long-term. In 2019, four years after my company was acquired by Mastercard, a full-scale integration finally took place, and my career prospects changed significantly. Being a management consultant in a big company like Mastercard means a slower pace and slower career progression, but the project types and functional departments are much more diverse. After some reflection, I decided to give project management another try. At first, I attempted to apply to some project manager openings, but perhaps due to the lack of directly relevant industry experience, I never heard back from anyone. Then I tried to learn from my last successful career transition: in order to move from chemistry research to management consulting, I participated in many case competitions starting from my third year in grad school. I took on all kinds of pro bono consulting projects, and I spent a lot of time practicing case interviews. Although the formal recruiting process was not long, I prepared for almost two years leading up to the interviews. I don’t know how switching fields goes for other people (sometimes it seems so enviably effortless), but for me, it is never easy. Therefore, I made myself a step-by-step plan: build project management experience in my current role, get professional certifications, and then become a professional project manager through either an internal transfer or switching companies.
This plan was much vaguer than any other career development plans I made for myself when I was in school. Back then, in order to achieve certain goals, it was relatively straightforward for me to plan what courses to take, what fellowships to apply to, and what extracurricular activities to participate in. I could make structured plans with clear timelines every quarter, and it was easy to execute and track. However, for my plan to become a professional project manager, there wasn’t a certain timeline because many things were out of my control, and progress was often hard to track. I was somewhat lost at the beginning and often played it by ear. Furthermore, due to the lack of a clear timeline and progress bar, whenever I got overwhelmed at work or hit a bottleneck, I often felt frustrated because I hadn’t reached my final goal. I tended to overlook the progress I made according to my plan because it was difficult to track. Thankfully, although I repeatedly forgot that such a plan exists, I have been subconsciously moving in the direction I wanted to be in. Steve and many of my friends also reminded me of my plan from time to time so that I wouldn’t go off track completely.
Starting in 2020, I have been proactively taking on more and more project management responsibilities on all my consulting projects to build up relevant experience. At the beginning of last year, I took on a project with Citibank as a Scrum Master. Although I was still part of Mastercard Advisors (Mastercard’s consulting arm), I was able to do project management work full-time. At Citi, I learned a lot of project management skills, especially the Agile Methodology, which is very popular in the technology industry. I really enjoyed working with colleagues from over ten different functional groups, as well as taking a project from the beginning to the end with my teammates. My client really appreciated my contributions, and I became more certain about my goal to be a professional project manager.
As for getting professional certifications, it has a relatively high return on investment for me, thanks to the extensive test-taking training I got from the Taiwanese education system. (Now that I am thirty and many years out of school, I am not sure if I should be proud or embarrassed that taking exams is still one of my strengths.) Before I officially took on the Citi project, in order to demonstrate credibility in front of my client, I got a Professional Scrum Master certification after a two-day boot camp and a week of studying. Towards the end of last year, I spent about two months studying and doing tons of practice exams after work, and I got the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification at the beginning of this year. After taking all these exams, I concluded that in terms of practicality, professional certifications are far less useful than real-life experience. However, as I studied and prepared for the exams, I was able to learn systematically, benchmark my knowledge and experience against industry standards, and find knowledge gaps to fill. Otherwise, it is so easy to get out of touch with the latest industry standards if I just stay comfortably in the same role at the same company.
I am very excited about my new role at Visa. Not only will I officially transition from a management consultant to a program manager, but I will be managing M&A technology integration programs, which will be more complex and challenging than any other projects I led in the past. Further, as someone who has gone through an M&A integration as an acquired employee, I take particular interest in ensuring a smooth integration for acquired entities. For companies with a very robust business model like Visa, acquisition is an important strategy for them to grow and diversify. Therefore, I will also have the opportunity to be at the forefront of growth and change in a big corporate. The most important thing I learned from my past few transitions is that the world is changing rapidly, and the only way to keep up is to keep learning. Therefore, in my new journey, I expect myself to not only perform well, but also continue to learn, grow, and develop new skills. I hope I will continue to make my life fulfilling, and become a more capable person.
(For some reason, I all of a sudden thought of what Jia Ling said to her dying mother in Hi, Mom, “I am about to succeed,” yet you are gone. Dear mom, god knows how much I wish you can see what I have accomplished. You are the one who gave me dignity and principles, so when I am treated disrespectfully or unfairly, I can stand my ground firmly and not compromise. It is also you who showed me the power of knowledge and gave me the ability to keep learning. This ability in turn gave me the freedom to make my own choices. Do you remember the last pair of shoes we bought together? I wore them at my civil ceremony, my wedding, and my first day at Visa’s headquarter. I hope I can continue to wear them as I go through different milestones, as if you were walking with me along my life journey.)
三月二十一日是我在 Visa 擔任技術項目經理的第一天，我展開了一段新旅程。
研究所剛畢業時，我其實就很想做項目管理。我組織性強、有紀律、喜歡跨領域的工作、更喜歡帶領著一群人一起做一件大事。許多在史丹佛和我共事過的人都說我很適合擔任項目經理，但是求職時，卻少有入門級的項目經理職缺。當時為了分散風險，我申請了所有我能勝任的工作：管理顧問、專利代理人、科學諮詢、研發人員……等等。最後選擇了管理顧問，因為這是一份挑戰性高、節奏快、跨領域的工作，我有機會深入學習商業策略、客戶管理、數據分析，也能接觸項目管理。
剛開始從事管理顧問時，我非常喜歡我的工作，甚至想過乾脆一條路走到底。2019年，公司在被萬事達卡買下四年後，終於開始進行大規模的整併，我的職涯前景也發生了重大的改變。在萬事達卡這種大公司裡做管理顧問，步調和升遷都比以前緩慢不少，但是公司的專案類型和職能部門卻更加多元。幾經思考後，我決定重新嘗試項目管理。一開始，我試水溫似地申請了一些項目經理的職缺，但或許是因為缺乏直接相關的職場經歷，所有的申請都如石沉大海。於是我想起了我上次成功轉換跑道的經驗—為了從化學研究改行到管理顧問，我從研三就開始參加大大小小的商業個案競賽、接各式各樣的諮詢專案、打磨案例面試的技巧。雖然正式面試和求職的過程不長，但是背後卻是將近兩年的鋪墊。我不知道其他人的改行過程如何，但對我來說，改行絕非一蹴可幾，所以我為自己制定了一個循序漸進的計畫：在現在的職位累積相關經驗、考專業證照、透過內轉或是跳槽正式成為一名專業的項目經理。
這個計畫比我以前在學校幫自己制定的任何發展規劃都模糊。在學校時，為了達成特定的目標，我每個學期要上什麼課、做什麼研究專題、申請什麼獎學金、參加什麼課外活動，從架構到時程都非常清楚，好執行也好追蹤。但是成為項目經理的計畫既沒有確切的時程（因為很多事不在我的掌握之中），也沒有匯報的對象。我一開始有些茫無頭緒，頗有幾分兵來將擋、水來土掩的意味，而且因為沒有明確的時間線，我在工作忙碌或是遇到瓶頸時，常常因為尚未達到最終目標而氣餒，卻忽略了自己跟據計畫所取得的階段性進展。好在雖然我經常忘記有這麼一個計畫存在，過去兩年多，我似乎還是下意識地遵循著我的轉行大計，老公和好友們也時不時地提醒我，讓我不至於偏離既定的方向。
從2020年起，我就主動在我所有的諮詢專案中攬下更多項目管理的責任、累積相關經驗。去年年初，我接下了一個花旗銀行的項目擔任 Scrum Master，雖然還是隸屬於萬事達卡的管理顧問部門，但是總算正式邁入了項目管理的大門。我在花旗學習了許多項目管理的技能，尤其是在科技業很熱門的敏捷方法。我喜歡在花旗同時和十幾個不同部門的同事合作、也喜歡和我的組員們一起把一個項目從頭到尾地做完。我的客戶非常肯定我的貢獻，我也更加確定我想成為項目經理的目標。
至於考專業證照，或許是經歷過台灣教育體系的千錘百鍊，對我來說投資報酬率頗高。（我都三十歲、離開學校好多年了，讀書考試居然還算是我的強項，真不知道該高興還是慚愧。）在正式接下花旗的項目之前，為了在客戶面前建立良好的信譽，我花了兩天參加了一個培訓營、唸了一個禮拜的書，然後考到了一張 Scrum Master 的專業證照。去年年底，我花了兩個多月的時間，在工作之餘唸書、做海量的題庫，在今年年初通過了國際專案管理師 (PMP) 的資格考。考了一圈下來發現就實用性而言，證照遠不如實戰經驗來得有用，但是在準備考試的過程中，我能夠有系統性的學習，也能將我的知識和經驗跟行業標準進行對比、找到需要補強的地方，否則在同一個公司的泡泡裡待久了，一不小心就跟外界脫節了。
我對我在 Visa 的新工作充滿期待，除了正式從管理顧問轉職到項目管理之外，我負責的項目是併購技術整合，比我以前做過的項目更複雜更具挑戰性，而且身為曾經被併購過的員工，我對整合的重要性有著切身的體會。對 Visa 這種核心業務穩健的公司而言，併購是他們成長和多角化經營的重要策略，所以我也有機會跟著新同事一起開疆拓土。從過去幾次轉換跑道的經驗中，我學到最重要的事就是世界瞬息萬變，只有持續不斷地學習才能與時俱進。所以在這段新旅程裡，我除了期許自己能好好表現之外，也希望自己能持續不斷的學習成長、培養更多技能，讓我的生活更加充實，也讓自己成為更優秀能幹的人。
（不知為何，我突然想到了《你好，李煥英》中，賈玲對她瀕死的母親說的那一句：「我馬上就有出息了，」但是妳卻走了。媽媽，我好希望妳能看見我打了一場漂亮的仗。是妳給了我一身錚錚傲骨，讓我在不受尊重、被不公平對待時依然能挺直脊樑，絕不妥協；也是妳身體力行地向我示範了什麼是學無止境，讓我有了不斷學習的能力，也正是這種能力，給了我選擇的自由。妳還記得我們一起買的最後一雙鞋嗎？我穿著它登記結婚、舉辦婚禮、第一天到 Visa 的總部上班。希望我能繼續穿著它走過人生的各個里程碑，就好像妳也陪著我走我的人生路一樣。）
