How being a PM lifted my family out of poverty

Take this moment to thank my first manager. She changed my entire career and helped my realise true potential. I come from a tier 2 college. Come from a very lower middle class family, thanks to my parents who ensured I got everything for my education without worrying about anything. Topped my 10th board and then fumbled in 12th. Joined a tier 2 private college. Did engineering got placed somehow and then found the manager who changed my life and realised how much importance a manager has. She scolded me but helped me with my mistakes learned everything from her. Started at a salary of 5 lpa then in just 6 years of my journey I have reached a base salary of 80lpa as a director of product management. Although I left the first company after 3.5 years but whatever I learned from her has shaped me to what I am. I truly believe and hard work in initial part of my career and I believe without hardwork one cannot achieve top 1% things... My mantra is to give my 100% and even more in the initial part of career then enjoy everything. Today I am able to provide everything to my family. I have enough time, money and health to support myself and my family. Just a gratitude post. Hard work always pays off. My work ex will be 6 years in April btw...

I joined Walmart because the competitors are incompetent, and I knew Walmart could outperform them even on a bad day. However, Walmart still needs a real leader. Most are yes-men here, who agree or disagree for the sake of progression.

Hi folks, looking seriously for a job switch as a PM primarily in the fintech space. Highlights about myself: -> I have ~ 3.5 years of work ex. -> Entrepreneurial stint in the wealth management space where we were trying to build an AI assistant to automate everyone' s personal finance. -> MBA From ISB post closing the startup due to regulatory slowdown -> Wanted to get a PM role in the campus placement but, due to market conditions, got a job as program manager in a lending startup. I had high hopes from it but it turned out to be utter disappointment on many levels. I know the market is not great right now but I am optimistic that it's not that bad. Any help or referral would be really appreciated :)

Hey folks, I have been working as an Associate Product Manager full time for the last 1+ year, and everyday I feel that I am not doing something impactful although I do have a lot of work on a daily basis. Initially, in my first year of college I explored growth roles and out of fomo being a BTech student tried exploring, tech by doing DSA, Android Development and FE too. Honestly, I was too naive to decide where I should go and coincidentally I got to know about PM and there you go, I went on to do 2 years of PM internships and now 1+ year full-time role. I thought, everything would be fine with time but I guess, I have spoken enough lie to myself and now I should move on. I have started learning FE from theodinproject.com and I believe, I will be back on track in the next 2 months. I just want some suggestions/help from seniors here, on what should be my strategy to get into FE roles? It would be super helpful for me. Thanks in advance 🙌

Hey folks, I have been working as an Associate Product Manager full time for the last 1+ year, and everyday I feel that I am not doing something impactful although I do have a lot of work on a daily basis. Initially, in my first year of college I explored growth roles and out of fomo being a BTech student tried exploring, tech by doing DSA, Android Development and FE too. Honestly, I was too naive to decide where I should go and coincidentally I got to know about PM and there you go, I went on to do 2 years of PM internships and now 1+ year full-time role. I thought, everything would be fine with time but I guess, I have spoken enough lie to myself and now I should move on. I have started learning FE from theodinproject.com and I believe, I will be back on track in the next 2 months. I just want some suggestions/help from seniors here, on what should be my strategy to get into FE roles? It would be super helpful for me. Thanks in advance 🙌

I know Grapevine is full of young and ambitious people that either planning to get into Product or are already working as a PM. I don’t aim to discourage any of you. Moreover, if you need tips to break into Product I would be happy to help you. I personally feel that knowing what you are doing is going to doom is better than normalizing it. So I will convey my experience in simple words, how I hated every single day of it, why did I still stick around for 4 years, why product decisions are random political bullshit, why you should not let anything that happens get under your skin and affect your morale. Finally, few words for sociopathic Head of Products. Lesson #1: Go through all stages of grief at once. Accept that product culture is broken and accept that it will not get better. Finally, you can’t fix it or improve it. Lesson #2: Ratings are political bullshit. I can tell you the years I was rated worse I was probably working harder and better at my job. It just depends on the results you get in the last month before ratings and whether your DOP is vocal for you. Lesson #3: Last piece of advice: do not let your Product years lower your self esteem or sense of self worth. Also, some words for sociopathic Head of Products. F’ you.

Sharing some reflections on this: 1. Product is not a function with a large hierarchy / multiple levels in the ladder. Managerial responsibility comes in very late in the product career and the spans are typically small (relative to other functions like engineering, sales, operations). This also means a steeper funnel to the top and only a handful VP Product roles in the industry. 2. Product is centered around technology and digital consumer trends, both of which are fast changing. This requires constant unlearning and relearning. But more critically, this also means that previous knowledge/experience hits a plateau on marginal value beyond a basic threshold (where you have developed some essential product semse and skills). 3. Product managers are also much higher-paid vs other functional peers, at comparable years of experience. This means that a PM gets to a very high salary (say, 1+ crore) by the age of 40 (15-20y into their career). Tech functions in non-tech companies (like FMCG, banking) cannot offer that kind of pay, meaning salary growth beyond a point is limited to tech-first companies / limiting addressable market for lateral moves. All of these considererd, how should PMs think about the longevity of their careers? Unlike traditional roles, this does not seem like a "retire at 60" job. What would be the realistic age one should plan for, at which career growth and salary growth will stagnate? What are ways in which a 80%ile PM can extend their career (eg: also taking up engineering management or P&L responsibility or growth function etc., to increase scope)? PS: this post is not for the top 5-10% PMs. They will always find roles at VP level etc, this is for the 50-90%ile bucket of PM talent.

As I'm entering a new stage of life, I'm starting to reevaluate my career priorities. In my 20s, I was all about climbing the ladder and chasing prestige. Now, I'm more focused on finding work that aligns with my values and allows for a balanced lifestyle. Have any of you gone through a similar shift? How did it change your career trajectory? And how do you define success for yourself now versus when you first started out?