I think PMs get a bad rap mostly because it can be less obvious when someone is bad. If you're a bad programmer and produce nothing, it'll (usually) quickly be

I think PMs get a bad rap mostly because it can be less obvious when someone is bad. If you're a bad programmer and produce nothing, it'll (usually) quickly be discovered (though not always) even if you're good at talking. It's also easy to spot check in the interview before you hire them. If you're a bad PM, but good at talking - it's easier to pass the interview and it can be harder to know they're bad and fire them. Great PMs support their teams and make things better for the engineers they work with (especially by avoiding people working on stuff that doesn't matter). Bad ones make their teams miserable and add negative value. The role can also vary depending on the company (sometimes it includes product design work and sometimes it doesn't). The best PMs I know are also really good at debugging/troubleshooting and have a technical background (I think necessary to be really great).