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Possibly for very technical products, an engineer could be more impactful than a PM - since engineers could be their customer. In most all other regards, I can

by czbond 7y ago

Possibly for very technical products, an engineer could be more impactful than a PM - since engineers could be their customer. In most all other regards, I can't fathom how a proper engineer makes a better PM. I would suggest either: your personal product engineering skills might be higher than average, or the quality of PM's you have worked with is lower than average. Engineers typically are more interested in: frameworks, languages, algorithms, performance, technology of the day, etc - rather than the customer experience, messaging, ease of use, and business value brought to a customer. Context: CompSci background, built lots of products, founder through Series C companies.

darkerside 7y ago
> I would suggest either: your personal product engineering skills might be higher than average, or the quality of PM's you have worked with is lower than average Another possibility is we're honest with ourselves is that the PM has a skill that you do not, and therefore you do not recognize the skill in action, and perhaps don't have the business acumen to understand the positive results it brings about. For example, a decision that seems short term may be made because of the opportunity cost that buys progress in another area.
sdiupIGPWEfh 7y ago
> Engineers typically are more interested in: frameworks, languages, algorithms, performance, technology of the day, etc. As a software engineer myself, I think I'd go mad if I had to work with fellow engineers who were that stereotypically one-dimensional. Frankly, even the nerdiest of kids whom I went to college with that chose to present themselves as such had broader interests than that. I got into this field myself because I liked solving problems and was half-decent at doing so with math and computers, which hardly excludes caring about customer experience, messaging, ease of use, and business value. If I'm choosing to work at companies with products aligned to my interests and values, and if my day-to-day work actually matters to the success of the product, why would I not care about customer experience, etc.? The success of the product or project will ultimately reflect on me, so frankly, I'm going to have strong opinions about what work the PMs are trying to push on the team (maybe not literally push, but at least pressure) and how that work is then communicated back to the customers and stakeholders. The engineers who don't learn to give a crap about all that are setting themselves up as sheep.

by czbond 7y ago

darkerside 7y ago

> I would suggest either: your personal product engineering skills might be higher than average, or the quality of PM's you have worked with is lower than average Another possibility is we're honest with ourselves is that the PM has a skill that you do not, and therefore you do not recognize the skill in action, and perhaps don't have the business acumen to understand the positive results it brings about. For example, a decision that seems short term may be made because of the opportunity cost that buys progress in another area.

sdiupIGPWEfh 7y ago

> Engineers typically are more interested in: frameworks, languages, algorithms, performance, technology of the day, etc. As a software engineer myself, I think I'd go mad if I had to work with fellow engineers who were that stereotypically one-dimensional. Frankly, even the nerdiest of kids whom I went to college with that chose to present themselves as such had broader interests than that. I got into this field myself because I liked solving problems and was half-decent at doing so with math and computers, which hardly excludes caring about customer experience, messaging, ease of use, and business value. If I'm choosing to work at companies with products aligned to my interests and values, and if my day-to-day work actually matters to the success of the product, why would I not care about customer experience, etc.? The success of the product or project will ultimately reflect on me, so frankly, I'm going to have strong opinions about what work the PMs are trying to push on the team (maybe not literally push, but at least pressure) and how that work is then communicated back to the customers and stakeholders. The engineers who don't learn to give a crap about all that are setting themselves up as sheep.