One year. I’ve been impersonating an ed tech project manager for one full year.

About a month ago, I celebrated my one-year anniversary in my new career. As an ed tech project management impersonator.

One year of fumbling my way through projects I didn’t understand. In a language I didn’t know. In a culture that I don’t fit into.

It has been a whirlwind.

I spent months earning my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. Still felt like an imposter.

Received a promotion eight months into my role. Still felt like an imposter.

Learned a new language. Still… an imposter.

(The language is corporate, btw. And I’m only mildly proficient. But I can use words like lead gen and new logos in meetings now. And mostly know what I mean.)

Completed several successful projects. IM-POS-TER.

One year into this career, I still felt like an imposter.

But.

One year. And one month into this career. I suddenly feel like…a project manager.

Like, a legitimate one.

I don’t know how it all magically clicked into place. Or where thirteen months falls on the learning curve. But once I was able to stop feeling distracted by words I didn’t understand and people whose roles made no sense to me, I was able to focus on that actual act of managing a project. Identifying stakeholders. Creating a plan. Developing schedules and communication the right information to the right people.

It’s still not easy.

I’m not actually designed for project management.

I will always, whenever possible, choose to do it myself. I will avoid asking for help at all costs. Because I do not like to inconvenience people.

I certainly don’t like to pester people to do the things I asked them to do.

But.

I am also perfect for project management.

Because I do not like to inconvenience people. Which makes people oddly willing to be inconvenienced.

Project management is a lot of things, but mostly it’s just knowing how to work with people. And how to lead them.

Those are things I know.

And while I do still have to Google words after meetings most days, I have learned my company enough to know who to inconvenience. And that is 90% of the battle.

Leaving public education for a corporate career was terrifying. And it has been a wildly emotional year filled with nonstop feelings of insecurity.

But it has been absolutely worth it.

And now, if the sun would just chill a little bit, I might get to go back to adventuring. Because I can’t write if I can’t adventure.