FB platform vs product PMs

Jun 8, 2021 8 Comments

I see many FB PM openings for platform PM. The roles typically talk about owning an internal platform or products for internal customers. How are these PM roles compared to external facing PM roles? How is the growth in such roles? Can one move between internal and external easily?

Any insights will be useful.

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TOP 8 Comments
  • Facebook / Product
    Bechdel

    Go to company page Facebook Product

    Bechdel
    Platform != internal tool

    You can own a platform that’s extremely important for FB B2C products (ex: a horizontal graph ranking platform that multiple products use). Although your ‘customers’ are FB teams, this wouldn’t be considered an internal tool

    An internal tool is product that’s used to increase productivity of FB employees (ex: an internally built task tracking tool or dashboarding tool).

    Consumer facing products are the ones you’re familiar with (newsfeed, post composer tool, stories, privacy menu, etc).

    Upward mobility in an org is measured by opportunity for impact. In general, there’s fewer opportunities for big impact in Internal Tools bc that stuff can’t change all the time so things move more slowly (wlb is better). Growth trajectory should be similar between platform teams and product teams and will be team dependent.

    Moving between teams at FB is not hard and most people move teams every few years for a new challenge
    Jun 9, 2021 0
  • Facebook / Eng
    yajoot

    Go to company page Facebook Eng

    yajoot
    It’s a terrible spot to own one of those as a PM.
    Jun 8, 2021 1
  • American Express
    hiremenow!

    Go to company page American Express

    BIO
    All things product :)
    hiremenow!
    Internal products will not be B2C but they’ll play a crucial role in enhancing the productivity of internal teams at Facebook
    Your customers could range from marketing to sde’s
    Jun 8, 2021 3
    • American Express
      hiremenow!

      Go to company page American Express

      BIO
      All things product :)
      hiremenow!
      Idk about within Facebook but yes they do hold value in the industry in general.
      Jun 8, 2021
    • American Express
      hiremenow!

      Go to company page American Express

      BIO
      All things product :)
      hiremenow!
      The growth rate wouldn’t be as high IMO but I could be wrong. This ks because the key stakeholders will not impact your brand image or overall product adoption as much as the individual customers at the B2C end who also drive the growth of the company
      But I’m open to seeing what others have to say too about this
      Jun 8, 2021
  • PayPal
    poro123

    Go to company page PayPal

    poro123
    Not sure about FB but in general a platform PM can own a B2C offering.
    Jun 9, 2021 0