Any developers here who realized the importance/value/contribution of PMs? If yes, how so?

Let's face it. In some company (read mine) they are the gatekeepers of all things roadmap, obviousness, communication between engineers and business. While in some companies they are nothing but a left over thought acting no more than a typical Program Manager (Google and how Engineers have more say and power in roadmaps). What are your thoughts on your PM?

Background: I work in a D2C consumer product startup, we have an in-house website and a growing tech team of 7 people. The whole business team is 100+. I'm a '23 grad from a tier 1 engineering college. I joined the company back in September when the job market was at the bottom and I had to take a 40% pay cut (21LPA to 12LPA) (while switching (the last company ran out of funding). I was at a higher than avg base in my previous role but the current role is 20% below the average. (15LPA) The company is in a growth stage and lots of processes are yet to be defined which leads to a lot of chaos but I get a lot of freedom as well. My manager is aware of the whole situation and we had also negotiated a 6-month review for ESOP allotment. My monthly reviews have been going well and we have shipped some good improvements and features over the last few months.

Engineers saying pms shouldn't exist should for once get what they want. Most engineers I know get anxious enough to take leaves once a customer shouts at them lol

Assume you're currently enjoying your role as a jack of all trades. If your manager come and tell you that you need to choose whether you need to be a - Software Engineer - Product Manager - Program Manager - Analyst - Product Operations Manager Which one would you choose? And why? Note: You're currently contributing to all of this in someway or the other, and the manager wants to ensure that you are also having a good career growth within the company, or you should be ready if you're looking for an external job. The manager and the team is 100% in on supporting you on any of the above choice. [These are not random options, but came up because of the exposure to these domains and the related results delivered]

Curious if there are any PMs who started their careers as product designers or sth similar. If yes, would love to know your story. If someone around is has a similar story, would love to hear that as well!

What the devil is PMs business in search solutioning man? They talk to engineers from another team to understand the solution and then explain that solution to another set of engineer/ds team and brainstorm on what the solution should be. The disconnect is massive in this communication gap. Why d fck should PMs discuss a search solution? Their job was done if they connected 2 engineer /DS team. Don't get me wrong, they are putting in hard work to build something, but the disconnect is massive. 2 engineers or Data Scientists can identify the problem in a jhalak. God these PMs sitting in between communication makes things go in useless circles and is a massive unnecessary kachara. All because you are trying to earn ur food in a place u barely belong. Fckin mess

Consultant, Investment Banking went from sought after careers to fads post 2008 crisis when the world realized that these folks are crooks due to their role in propogating the Great Financial Crisis. Given the backlash tech companies has been getting and global layoffs, will Product Manager also become a passing fad?