Switching from PM to Engineer

Hey Grapeviners, I need some serious help. Bit about myself - just graduated this month and working as an APM at a seed stage startup. I have 1.5 years of product experience and 3 years of overall experience. Lately, not sure why but I am loving what engineers do. Closely working with them, and I guess it's nostalgic for myself. Because I did coding for 6 months and moved on for some reason. So, I understand how tech actually works. Have got good feedback regarding this. At the same time, I am not really finding the true value of what I am doing everyday. Feels a void inside. Also, I am not able to discuss all these things in person with someone, because I fear that they will judge me after doing internships for 3 years, I still haven't figured out my career. Such a loser I am. I have been thinking about starting coding again and maybe switching to a coding job in the next 6 months maybe. But again it would be tough for me as I only got weekends for me to learn all this stuff. What do you all experienced folks suggest? What should I do? Please comment if you can help🙏

I am a software engineer with 3 years of experience .For the first two initial years I was working as a QA in one of the good product companies with a very sorted work life balance . I had recently switched to a BE role in a startup I am very much lagging behind here because of my QA background ,the people here are very much talented and are great problem solvers .How do I reach that level ? I have been struggling to keep up with the pace here and finding it difficult to approach the tasks,even though i have been giving so much of time to work . And the TL in my team have a certain amount of expectations and hence they don't help according to that .(which i feel is fair) How should I approach this and level up here Anyone with a similar background and story please share your experience :) Any advice would really help

Hey Grapeviners, I need your wisdom! I'm currently in an engineering team at my company, but I feel like a fish out of water (no learning at all). I’m constantly scratching my head trying to understand tasks and communications. It’s like everyone’s speaking in code – literally and figuratively! My real passion? Data analytics. I dream of diving into data pools, not wrestling with the programming geeks. I've told my manager about my analytics ambitions, but I'm still stuck in my current role, learning things I know I won't use as an analyst. It doesn't even interest me to do a simple google search about the stuff they are using. I want to talk to my manager about: My struggles with the current role. My career aspirations and where i want to go Moving to a data-focused team. Still helping out with my current duties during the transition. Has anyone been in a similar boat? How did you navigate the waters? Any tips on how to have this conversation without rocking the boat too much? Thanks a ton for your help! Cheers ☺

Hi! Can you please suggest websites or apps to get mentorship or exposure. I'll go first - ADPList.

I'm relatively early in my career, and has been working as a Program Manager (it doesn't mean that I have anyone reporting to me). I love what I do. The pay is also decent. I also like software engineering (app development mainly). I used to code regularly and has got some apps on the Play Store as well (hobby projects, not big). I'm confused whether I should continue as a Program Manager (going down the managerial route) or switch to a Software Engineering role. I feel like I should get some software engineering experience before being in a role working closely with Software Engineers. But, another thought is why move away from something that I love doing. I'm a bit scared on taking a decision (grass would always be greener on the other side). I don't know anyone like me in the same route. Note: I work at a fortune 50 organisation, awesome team/manager, and all of them are completely supportive of whatever decision I make. My manager is happy to help me grow in any direction (both at the same time as well), but spending energy on one would yield better results. Age: <25 Education: B.Tech (no MBA) Exp: ~ 2 years Note: I would definitely love to be a good manager down the lane (always liked working with people). (I don't want to make this into a thread to fight on coding v/s non coding roles)

I'm in serious trouble. I was an sde for 3+ years. Didn't like it, thought it's not meant for me and wanted a different job. Came across Product management, which piqued my interest. Somehow found a contract job at a startup and did it for a year. While it's not a traditional PM, it was more of a project manager. The contract ended, now I'm unemployed. Applied for jobs, no luck. Now I'm questioning my career choices, should I stick with PM or should I go back to being a techie. I definitely don't want to go back to coding, but I'm thinking of doing something like IAM/okta/cyberark stuff. Experienced folks, please help. I literally don't know where am I headed in life

Currently have 10years of experience and am at cross roads of next steps in career. Need help from senior folks here to know pros and cons on either directions I have a chance to move up the ladder Want to know career opportunities say next 10-20 years and pay as well. As for me, love hands on tech but scared how long can I sustain the mojo. People management wise not bad but need to learn many steps in there to become great. If it’s of any help current TC: 60L

I am 3 years into my career and I have deep passion for Software engineering. I genuinely like it. I want to become a better engineer by going deep. But since the time of my internships in college, I have always been fascinated by startups and want to have one of my own. Now I have an idea(again very passionate about) and I’m working on it but my dilemma is that if I run a startup, it’s going to take me away from my other interest of engineering. Any thoughts?