Technical Product Managers (TPMs) are a precious and valuable asset for any company. I know it because I do it :-) No, really. If you have a good tech backgroun

Technical Product Managers (TPMs) are a precious and valuable asset for any company. I know it because I do it :-) No, really. If you have a good tech background, with a significat expirience from development aspects, it cannot be compared by any mean to a regual product manager. I talk to the biz people the ones with the suits, and I talk to DBAs and developers on a daily basis. I am like a bridge between the two worlds. A good advise for one who wants to do the transition would be to just to dare to dream. Suggest products, get involved in all stages of the product's lifecycle. Be proactive, and after a while go and ask to be a PM. It's not a promotion as PM are not superior to devs (except from me). It's like a new role in your career, much different from a programmer. In addition I would strongly suggest to build something on your own. Just do it, and you will learn a lot about specifying a product, about marketing, about managing the project of your own. If you come with this on your record, you are like 100 times in a better position. Forget about MBA. It is useless and just dumb to do it. Go get some good books from Amazon, read 37signals series and other books which Amazon will recommend you in this area. God forbid the missed souls of the MBAs, but there is a reason Google don't hire them.