I'm currently an Associate Product Manager but out of all my responsibilities, I enjoy the UX-like ones (research, interviewing users, synthesis, prototyping, reiteration). I have 2.5 years of work experience total (2016 college graduate). I was wondering if anyone has made this kind of switch? I also work for a tiny, <10-person startup so my role involves more of dabbling in everything and helping wherever needed so it's difficult to tell whether my strengths lie in Product Management vs. Design. This may just be in my head but 'design' sounds less prestigious and competitive than 'product management'. Do designers hit a ceiling more so than PMs given it's a less strategic / business-critical role? I would love some thoughts around here. Thanks so much!
I think the ceiling is substantially high enough in both cases that it’s borderline insignificant. The comp is pretty much the exact same and there are plenty of design positions going to the director and VP level. So if you enjoy the design work more, definitely several paths to the same level of financial success. But sure, if you want to be the CEO, PM may be a more effective route.
PMs typically make more than designers of same YOE. I’d argue the delta is often a significant one.
I think it varies company to company and individual marketability. I know SWEs and PMs that make less than me as a designer at my current level and I know some that make more. Overall, I’ve found myself in the upper to middle of the pack per each ENG pay level.
Yes, design hits a ceiling. Designers who can “think like product managers” are often valued, but the risk there is that you wind up being not seen as a really strong designer and not regarded as a full-on PM, either. In startups and consultancies, that delineation won’t matter and you can have a fabulous career bridging both worlds. That’s what I did for years. The moment I went corporate, most people I encountered needed one or the other. At Amazon, I was given the choice to go PM route. At Oracle, there aren’t enough PM’s so I wind up doing both jobs and find it exhausting. Unless you have really strong visual design skills, I’d advise staying with product management. Your ability to research, interview, iterate on ideas will serve you nicely. If you switch over to design, you’ll be seen as a designer first and judged accordingly. And there’s still a lot of different opinions about what makes for a “good UX designer.” Same can be said of product management, but...PM can ascend, as noted by others.
Design definitely hits a ceiling faster than Product. This is emphasized by the relative need for product vs design in an organization. We, for example, have a 10:1 PM-to-Designer ratio, and just one Design manager vs 8-10 in Product.
Stay as a PM. Culture in the design community is a bit more fun and less uptight but even more competitive and a bit fluffy. Pragmatism in design is hard to find but less valued than art direction skills. If you move you’ll get frustrated - unless you’re burned out by product.
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yes, design hits a ceiling faster. PM has a much higher ceiling. both Google and Microsoft CEOs were PMs at one point. you could branch into bigger companies with more user facing PM roles