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Product Manager

Software developers vs product managers in terms of compensation, who is gonna earn more in long term or where the ceiling of income is higher , what is the opportunities for product managers waiti...

Welcome to Product Managers's Private Community

Software developers vs product managers in terms of compensation, who is gonna earn more in long term or where the ceiling of income is higher , what is the opportunities for product managers waiting in near future with the tech landscape changing rapidly and advancements in AI ? Is it dim or bright

SWEs vs PMs

SWEs vs PMs- Grapevine

Welcome to Software Engineers's Private Community

I have overall 4 YOE in software engineering space now and have been considering long term view of my career and what my future would look like.

Is MBA a better choice for long term growth and trajectory, I have been working primary in frontend software engineering space and still find it exciting and challenging due to new changes and updates coming everyday.

But is product management better for the long term, what is the career graph for frontend engineers after maybe 10-12 YOE ?

Also how does AI impact both roles in the long term ? Any past software engineers turned PMs what are your thoughts?

Frontend SDE vs MBA

Software Engineer

Today a poll was conducted in my WhatsApp group for people who are planning for ms by the fall 2025 at US that wha roles are they targeting post their masters and majority of them are voted for product management so I want to ask is the product management is becoming new norm or it's just fomo among engineering grads like it was for software development 2-4 yrs back. Also what's the future of PMs in terms of salary, growth with advancement in AI tools

The PM trend

For most part of last decade, product managers commanded a healthy premium in compensation over their business counterparts. This is largely how tech companies globally have operated, and what we have mirrored. But as the Indian tech ecosystem has matured over the last few years, a couple of the underlying assumptions have changed:

One, ten years back, there was an explosion of startups and they were all in the market for "experienced product managers", and in a still nascent tech industry, such talent was in scarcity - thus triggering a premium positioning. Now, arguably, the equation has reversed: there are far more people entering the trade / in the profession with <5 years experience, than there are open roles in the market. And more critically, the growth rate of "product positions" has stagnated: particularly since product is a high-leverage function and does not scale linearly with company growth (but instead only with growth in # of companies).

Two, most Indian startups / tech companies are not product-led unlike Silicon Valley ventures. Instead, a vast majority are operating businesses. These companies tend to have dedicated business teams who take up primary ownership of the business goals and thus, call the shots. In such setups, product managers play second fiddle as a bridge function to tech. Worse, product managers who scaled in such environments, they end up playing that part too: too focused on tech / design execution with not as much depth on the business understanding. In post-covid boom, we got the tailwind of being an engineering-adjacency in a techno-optimistic market. Now the same tides have turned and as a "generalist tech function", we are under scrutiny for wage-bill pressure.

Do you foresee a correction in PM salaries? How soon (1y / 3y / 5y), and to what extent (10% / 20% / 30%) will the market correct itself?

Is PM salary due for a correction?

Investor

Met a PM from IIT / IIM with 4 years of experience. He is working at a  well know soonicorn at a salary of 17  lakhs per year . He used to draw 30 lakhs per year in his last role before we was laid off . Interesting Times ahead

PM Salaries Have Crashed.

A minute of silence to all the grapevine polls where salary expectations are so high 😁

Growth Manager

Product Owner

1. They are the most overpaid people in India.
2. They have no work life balance and they don't even know what it means.
3. They think they are the best at everything, but they can't do anything right.
4. They are always complaining about their job and how much they hate it.
5. They are never satisfied with their salary or benefits package.
6. They are always looking for new jobs because they think they deserve better than what they currently have.

Would you like to add anything else here?

Software Engineers as seen by a Product Manager...

PM as seen by Engineers: 
 1. Doesn't do anything other than throwing random jargons 
 2. Can't explain what they do other than say how they are not Program manager or something else

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.

Longevity of a product career

Will commend you on a very well written and well articulated post. 
  
 Options for the future will be apparent at ~40.  Most peak roles will be achieved between 45-50. 
  
 Possible exits: 
  
 1. Running Category roles at companies which have a broad canvas, multiple product categories. 
 2. Deputing for and eventually running a P&L or a LoB. 
 3. Sales or more critically Customer Success.  Don't shy away from revenue responsibilities. 
  
 Engineering is a sharp left turn imo.  It's not an overlapping skillset at best and don't see how that is part of a PMs likely roadmap.

Sales Manager

I have been lately curious about the two PMs (Product Manager vs Program Manager).
If anyone can help with answer to these questions that would be great

Does your company have both roles?
If yes, are salaries for both on par.
If not, who gets more salary

Product Manager vs Program Manager

It’s clear that companies won’t need engineers 10 years from now. 

They’ll just need people who know what to make. Who to sell to. How to sell to. At what price. 

This will be the great commoditization of Software development

Take it or leave it.

[Hot Take] AI will make SWEs redundant, PMs and Marketers will become the most important job

This is an L take for someone who works at Google
It is supremely obvious that SWEs are about to enter the golden era of Software Engineering. We are easily foreseeing 2x-2.5x improvement in developer productivity rate. You should go touch some grass or else you will end up becoming PM guru who shills substandard-courses to poor kids.

Product Marketing Manager

Money in engineering vs product

Senior Product Manager

Hi,

8 YOE, Security engineer trying to switch to PM role. Studied everything related to PM. Joined cohort based course who promised interviews but nothing came. Currently writing cold emails.

I am expert at cyber security who can understand code, write scripts, do front end dev, can design

What should I do to land a PM role?

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