PMs with a technical background

One knows when IT people are bullshitting you

Based on the company and the team you chose to be PM, the tech skills can be a treasure. 1) You understand how a product is built; you have empathy 2) you know the tech; you can look for possibilities 3) you understand the development life cycle; it’s a process Now as a PM challenge would be to slowly shift the mind set from HOW to What and Why. Clearly some companies are more tech savvy than others. But key is to play by strengths and learn to make business and product a success.

Been a SwE for 5y, pm for 5y. Tons of benefit, Skills I gained as an SwE that I use as a PM - 1. Analytical and programmatic thinking, 2. writing feature specs that have more details that engineers can benefit from, 3. I can make more informed product decisions keeping both the customer and the system in sight 4. Ability to get a deeper understanding of customer issues/needs, e.g. - knowing when a Customer is unhappy because they want more features versus an adoption issue. 5. I can run basic data mining queries for user analytics myself without relying on engineers

Knowing what is possible and having credibility with your engineers is key. I do think there are tradeoffs with being too technically focused, but that's more of a mindset critique than diminishing the value of technical chops as a PM. PMs wear many hats as product executers and are better at being a decathlete if they have the mind (if not training) of an engineer.

I second everything that everyone else has said but there are 2 tiny things that make a difference. One your software dev cycle is faster and you are in greater sync with your eng team because decision making is faster. If everyone is on the same page with how to build you can make faster go/no go or change decisions. And you don't need engineers in meetings to explain technical details thereby freeing up their time. Two if you are at a company where the PMs aren't technical you get to build the best products.