How I became a project manager in a Facebook application development company

I was working as a junior marketing executive in one of the leading Facebook application development company. In the last couple of years, we have developed more than 56 Facebook applications and received tremendous response from the audience for Facebook apps.

Our story begins with a dialogue which leads into an ambition plus a resignation. The dialogue stated was about building something new. The quote was referred to us by our CEO in a general meeting, which sparked an ambition in our Project Manager’s soul, which later on turned into his resignation. The resignation was received with mixed emotions, because like every other Project Manager, we have a love-hate relationship with him.

So, he went after a couple of days and we (our team) became digital orphans in our company. None of the project managers owned us and we wandered from one team to another to seek help, direction or guidance. It would be unfair to say that we didn’t receive proper guidance during that period, however, it was duly subdued by the fact that we required a dedicated leader, while our mentors were already occupied with their own teams.

The requirements for the post of Facebook app developer was not that simple, especially if one of the top Facebook application development company is looking for a project manager. We were relatively new for Facebook applications development and could not handle the pressure of managing several Facebook app development projects on our own.

After a period of uncertainty, our company hired a senior project manager who possessed vast experience in Facebook app development. He has worked with several Facebook application development companies, thus matching the requirements of our company.

John (our new project manager) started with some basic Facebook app development projects, and helped us achieve our peak performance by teaching us ways to divide our time between development and learning. Developing a Facebook app is like creating a piece of art. It must appease the aesthetics of your fans, otherwise it would fail miserably.

Before John, we were only developing the apps, that is, writing the code. He asked us to participate in design creation too, so that we exactly know the purpose of each element of the Facebook app, that way we learned a lot about user experience (UX) and user interface (UI). Our project manager also taught us how to work with the Facebook development team. He showed us how we can help each other while working on a same project. We learned to help other team members with their weaknesses and learn something new in the process of helping them.

A couple of months after, when I was leading my own team, all these things helped me a lot. It was a wonderful experience I received during my Facebook development years. Facebook application development companies are normally well equipped with several project managers, however, they always appreciate mentors like John.