\+Background:

I’m 33 and have a degree in Electrical Engineering. My career so far has mostly been in manufacturing, operations, and production support (previously at Lockheed, Medtronic, currently at Abbott). With test roles from Boeing and Raytheon (both lay offs).

​To be completely honest, I am burnt out on the manufacturing floor and lab environments. I hate the physical restrictions (cleanrooms, not being able to have my water or meals at my desk to track my macros), and I carry a lot of daily anxiety about accidentally breaking expensive hardware or test equipment. I also don’t feel like I have the deep technical design chops for heavy R&D or Project Engineering roles. I've never been the technical visionary inventing solutions; I've mostly just executed what was handed to me.

\+​The Opportunity:

I have an interview this coming Tuesday for a Project Management Specialist (IPT Lead) position at Boeing in their space systems division. The role is heavily focused on schedule management, running Integrated Product Team (IPT) reviews, tracking action items, and presenting status updates to leadership.

​I actually have some experience with this from my time at Lockheed, where I hosted IPT reviews and managed production bottlenecks, but I've never held the official "Project Manager" title.

\+​My Hesitations:

\+​The Stress Swap: I am trying to figure out if the administrative stress of PM (herding cats, dealing with delayed schedules, presenting bad news to directors) is better or worse than the physical anxiety of the lab.

\+​OCD & Structure: I have a strong need for structure and predictability. I feel like PM can be chaotic because of unpredictable human variables, though I’m hoping managing it all through rigid trackers and spreadsheets will help me cope.

\+​Past Trauma: I got put on a PIP years ago at Lockheed because of a supplier delay that was out of my control, and it left a bad taste in my mouth regarding being held responsible for things other people fail to deliver.

\+​Systems Engineering: I’m also considering trying to pivot into Systems Engineering (managing requirements, DOORS) because it seems even more rule-based and objective, but I don't have an interview for that right now.

\+​My Ask:

For those who have made the jump from hands-on engineering to Project Management, is the trade-off worth it to get a desk job? Is dealing with schedule slips ("red font" on a tracker) easier to leave at work at 5:00 PM than a broken device on a test bench? Should I go all-in on this Boeing interview, or hold out to try and break into Systems Engineering?  If how how can I best prepare since the recruiter isnt really willing to help as ive never done a non technical interview before.  I still have a Northrop hiring event for this 9/1 that could lead to other opportunities and waiting to hear back from a Boeing space test design role as well.  

EE looking to escape the manufacturing floor. Have an interview for a Boeing Project Manager (IPT Lead) role. Should I make the jump?