Career change from Product Mgmt
I’ve been a PM for 12 years now. I’ve successfully launched Products that impacted millions of users in a positive way over the years, coached and inspired several scrum teams built on the foundation of Trust and relationships. I’m at a point where I feel exhausted at the end of the day - customer research and feedback, vision, requirements, product design, stakeholder expectations, team leadership, aligning cross functional teams, building relationships, being patient with demanding Engineers who want everything handed to them, project roadmaps, measuring impact/analytics, deadlines and on top of all that investigating production issues, internal politics, team dynamics/issues.. it never ends. Its been a great ride but now in late 30s, don’t think I want to do this for rest of my life. People think PM role is some fancy easy glorious job where you are the CEO of your product but in reality its dog shit thankless job where you get hit or yelled at from all sides for the most miniscule ridiculous things. Its the most under-appreciated role in Tech. I’m thinking of changing career paths to: - Product Strategy - Business unit? OR stay in Product but move up to people manager from IC. Does life get better as a manager of PMs? I want to get out of day-to-day trenches with scrum teams and focus on leading at a higher level. Wanted to get feedback from other PMs who are in similar situation. TC: $250k YOE: 12 as PM Thanks.
Agreed 100%. FB, exploring the option to move to a startup with more growth and more importantly freedom. But yeah needs a pay cut. Why not explore the option of people management within Product ?
I can. But the opportunities to become people managers don’t come by and if they do, they require prior people management experience. Only way to break into that is to be at the right place at the right time TBH
Does MBA help you become a PM manager in anyway?
I was a PM manager, shifted IC recently. There are pros and cons. Pros: You can spend more time on strategy, roadmaps, dealing with execs etc. Your team can manage the day to day execution like running scrums, managing schedule etc. Cons: you have to manage a team that you may have not hired, so you have to deal with people issues, lack of control over quality of deliverables etc. It just takes a little bit of time to get used to. Given a choice, I will move back to being a Manager.
This is true about people issues from a team you haven’t hired and quality of the product. I also think that your relationship with your partner in Engineering is the most essential in launching successful Products. If PM and Engineering leads are not on same page, it’s the worst situation to be in.
This is so true.
Agreed... 😰
Ever considered Netflix? PMs get a lot of respect and pay.
I haven’t tried Netflix, I believe you have Dir of Product innovation role which is IC. But can you share what day-to-day is like? And do you have project managers in scrum teams?
I don't know the answers to those questions. I'm not a PM. I just work with a number of PMs. I will say Netflix is the best job I've ever had. Others don't necessarily find it the right fit, but might be worth exploring.
2 years PM, 8 YOE total. OP is spot on. It’s fun but demanding, and often 60-70 hrs/wk. Definitely becomes your life. It’s too meat grinder TBH. Am curious the replies for a better role, even if downshifting
Sounds like there is a universal agreement here on the plights of being a Product Manager especially in tech. As problem solvers, what are the solutions to this disdain on the product role which is increasingly becoming the norm? OP is right on the money, not forgetting that PMs are the first to let go should there be a lay off. I’m actually thinking of moving back to engineering or Data science
Anyone else who have made a career change from Product to a business / General Manager career path?
Everyone thinks the other position is better. Every position is thankless. PMs complaining it's a thankless job? That's the PM for most devs
Also curious to hear from Hardware PMs if their experience is any different - PMs for iPhone, Watch, Nest, Google Home, Facebook Portal, PMs in Autonomous Vehicles space etc.
8 years as a PM. And cannot agree more. Everyone thinks this is a glamorous job. In reality, it is 80% being a punching bag and 20% all the cool shit in the job description (or is it 90/10)? Interested in the answer to this question as well. I’ve also thought about pursuing PM in smaller startups with a potential to grow into any role based on performance. Will be a pay cut, but might be more fun
I’ve been at startups, its hit or miss. It was very chaotic from my experience. Do FB PMs have project/program manager support? I feel that def helps.
Kinda do. Depends on the team