Dear Bob ... I have recently been placed in the enviable (or so I thought) position of having to decided between 2 job offers. One is a Project Manager position at a top 200 US VAR. The other is a Technology Manager position at a different, large corporation. My conundrum is which to accept... the PM position is very interesting as it would be a 'pure PM' position with little to no Dear Bob …I have recently been placed in the enviable (or so I thought) position of having to decided between 2 job offers. One is a Project Manager position at a top 200 US VAR. The other is a Technology Manager position at a different, large corporation.My conundrum is which to accept… the PM position is very interesting as it would be a ‘pure PM’ position with little to no hands-on technology use. This position also has a slight salary advantage for me (taking into account benefits, etc). On the other hand, the Technology Manager position is definitely hands on with respect to technology, and includes project management. The salary is just fine, especially taking benefits, bonuses, commute time, etc into account. Essentially, the salary/benefit decision is a wash, and it comes down to which will I be happiest doing (I enjoy both the hands on tech and the PM), and which will move me towards my goal of a CTO/CIO? Will the PM limit this goal?Thanks,Indecisive. Dear Indecisive …I can answer a lot of questions, but I can’t answer yours: You’re the only person who can decide what you’ll be happiest doing. If you’re having too hard a time answering that one, let me suggest you ask yourself a slightly different question: Never mind the title – what kind of IT department do you want to lead, and what kind of leader do you want to be for it, once you’re ready to take that step?If you prefer smaller organizations and a hands-on leadership style, go for the Technology Manager position. It will preserve your technical credentials while also improving your leadership experience. That’s just the ticket for smaller companies that need lean IT operations with leaders whose roles include making key technical, and especially architectural decisions. If, on the other hand, you’re looking to lead a larger IT shop you should probably go for the pure PM situation. At a certain size, the IT leader ends up delegating just about all of the hands-on and even most of the architectural decisions to subordinates. The leader’s role is to set direction, orchestrate consensus, establish goals and priorities, and create a culture of discipline.Stuff like that. You still have to understand technology in a role like this, but in a very different way – in terms of capabilities and opportunities, not in terms of coding, system administration and finding bad cables.Since you have ambitions beyond what you’re doing right now, that’s how I’d suggest you make this decision. And may I just say: I hope you always have such difficult problems!– Bob ——– Technology Industry