PM role is not recommended unless you want to become a business owner. For employees becoming specialists is way to success.

Software Engineer

You have less probability of working on "world class product" in big tech than startups

Software Developer

I know the title might seem weird. But here’s my dilemma  Working as an SDE with 3 YOE in an product based company remotely. Have some developer + PM experience in a small startup before I never to...

I know the title might seem weird. But here’s my dilemma 
Working as an SDE with 3 YOE in an product based company remotely. Have some developer + PM experience in a small startup before
I never took DSA seriously and just learnt the basics a long time ago. I was appreciated at the startup about how I did PM work even though I wasn’t one officially. Shipped a couple of MVPs on my own as a side gig(had around 100-200 users) 

 I miss some big tech experience definitely. So should I grind DSA and look for big SDE switch even though I don’t like it much or move to product ( the pay might be affected) or do an MBA and then do product (for strong credentials/chances)? I feel maybe I am scared to do DSA/System design since I don’t find total interest in it. 

If DSA, any suggestion on a very good course, paid/free doesn’t matter.

My final goal - build great products and learn everything about what it takes to build them.
Thanks

Study DSA in depth to build world class products or become a PM?

Study DSA in depth to build world class products or become a PM?- Grapevine

Welcome to Software Engineers's Private Community

Hey guys, just need your advice I have been 5 years of experience at startups and have open source contributions too and now I want to switch to some good product based companies including FAANG with some good WLB.

I am well versed with topics but I am not very sincere with doing DSA and leetcode regularly. I haven’t practiced daily and now I am looking to do it, but I lack motivation and get frustrated easily.

I am thinking to do a DSA course on weekends, will that be good? Any advice is recommended.

PS: The switch is for WLB

Advice Needed For DSA Course

Welcome to IT Company Discussion's Private Community

I am a JAVA backend dev, currently in TCS with 5.5 yrs of exp. I want to switch to a Product now. My dev skills are good. I have worked in few projects. With this many years of exp, the expectations are too high now, System Design, Kafka, Jenkins, Docker and DSA on top of that. I don't know how to start, once I start preparing DSA I feel like I am missing on reading system design and other stuff. Also, I don't feel confident about my DSA skills. Are there any devs here who were very bad in DSA but are very confident now. Please share your experiences in comments. Since I already have so many years of exp, this is my last chance to switch to a good product company. Please guide.

DSA Hell

I am a student doing my internship at a startup in Bangalore. I get paid very less. I want to join a product based company. I didn't do much of either competitive programming or DSA. Currently i am learning DSA and planning to start Competitive programming to crack product companies. But i am confused is this right or should I follow some other paths?? 


Can anyone help me with this🥲

Confused of what to do

Welcome to Product Managers's Private Community

I hope this post finds y'all well.

so I'm currently working as a SDET 2 in a product base startup and my total experience is 4 years and 10 months.
now I'm seeking a PM certification course from a reputed institute of India.

1) I want genuine opinions ( preferably from other PMs) as to whether it is the right move to switch from engineering to PM.
will it be worth the hassle ? 

2) also my current job is remote so are there decent remote PM opportunities or the role demands you to be in the office more 
( this Is an important factor) 

3) while making the switch would I have to compromise on the package since it's a role switch ? 
how much hike can I expect 
like I'm making X right now 20/30% on that ? 

would really appreciate genuine opinions.

SDET trying to become PM

Software Test- QA

Saw some misguided student post about PM internships. This is for anyone considering a PM internship.

DONT.

A fresher should not be going into Product Management. Focus on building hard skills first. You need an edge/alpha in your career strategy while reducing risk.

Atleast work for 1 year in the industry in a hard skill role. Then, think about transitioning.

This does two things.

1. You have a core differentiator compared to other candidates: Engg/ Design/ Sales/ Data Science/ Analytics.

Having a PM internship is not a good enough differentiator. No company would hire a Product Management intern over someone with hard skills in another domain. 

Product is different. In SDE, it makes sense to have multiple internships as it gives confidence to the recruiter that you’ll be able to do your job.

In PM, no recruiter worth their salt will consider a PM internship contributing to you being a successful PM. Your internship doesn’t contribute anything meaningful to its ability to communicate your skill.

2. You realise if you’re getting into a field because it’s a fad or you’re genuinely interested in it.

I’ve seen many such freshers switch into product and get into suboptimal orgs. Don’t. Do your career a favour and work on your hard skills. That alone will contribute a lot more to your Product Skills than some poor internship.

As a GPM at Gojek, I will never hire anyone who has done a PM internship unless they have a solid track record in a hard skill based role.

You can only be a good “enabler“ if you can empathise with a “builder”. 

Can you be a PM out of college, YES? Should you? NO.

You’ll realise this later in your career. First gain experiences building/enabling real products, you’ll thank yourself for that when it helps you build better Products. 

Also, stop listening to these charlatans who masquerade as Product Gurus. They are out to make a quick buck. Don’t do these Product Courses. It’s all a farce. First, get some experience and then you’ll know

Why you shouldn’t do PM internships?

Product Manager

I graduated in 2023 and currently I am working as a back-end developer (node js)  in iot based start-up. My CTC is 5.8 Lpa and it is a WFH job.

I have some free time in a day and want to prepare for the product based company. I couldn't figure out what I should start with?
Should I grind leetcode or codeforces? 

Apart from this, what additional things should I prepare for product based companies?
Any resources I should go through?

My target is to switch in the next 6 months with some decent pay.

DSA vs CP

Backend engineer

I work in one of Big 4 companies as a front-end developer. I am currently learning the backend as my project doesn't have any FE work. There are lots of politics now in my team as compared to the previous year, i was denied a well-deserved promotion for some weird reasons, and the hike was low too. Decided to do bare minimum work now and focus on studying for switch.

Could anyone please help on how to get started on preparation for DSA and what other things to focus on to secure a product based company?

YOE -6
Skills - PHP, React JS, JAVA. Have working experience on Automation testing as well.

Switch to Product Company

Frontend Engineer

Planning to Switch to Product based company

Switch to Product company

Had started my career as a android developer for 2 years. Was fairly good at it. Went for a MBA from IIM K and joined a fintech startup as a PM. Around 5yoe PM now

Keep regretting on and off how life could have been as a developer. 
1. Crazy salary- esp after covid. Almost every org ways way more to a dev than a PM
2. Lot of options in job market - Unlike PM where demand is far less than supply
3. Specialised role - unlike PM where there is literally no entry barrier
4. Hard skill - unlike PM where everyone keeps questioning the need of the role
5. Chiller life - unlike PM where failures are yours but success is team’s

Does anyone else feel the same?

Sde to PM. Regrets

I am a software engineer with 2+years of experience at a product based company. My current CTC is around 10 lpa which I feel is below market standards. Also my wlb is terrible and growth at my current organisation has become stagnant. I mostly work on bug fixes and some minor feature enhancements.
What are the skills that are required to switch to a product based company as soon as possible with at least 15-17 lpa ? Currently I am not aiming for big tech ( FAANG) type companies as I know these will require thorough DSA , System design preparations which is not possible with my current job.

Need Guidance

I am an engineer working in Deloitte. Overall Exp 6.5yrs. My tech stack include Python, Data Science & AI-ML and GCP. I wanted to give it a try for product based company. I am not sure from where should I start? 

Just a little bit of guidance will really going to mean a lot to me. I come from a civil engineer background and I have reached Deloitte through lot of struggles. But I think I can reach further with some help.

Need a dronacharya in this kalyug 🙂

Thanks in advance.

Need a sincere suggestion from folks working in product based companies

Data engineer

I'm currently an APM (1 yoe). Even though the pay, wlb is much above industry standards I feel an itch to work and build in an IC role before eventually turning to PMing. 

So here are my options:
1. Data Engineering
2. Data Science 
3. Software development

SDE to PM would be pretty standard with a wide range of options available but wanted to get opinions on what niche PM roles do DE and DS open?

Upskilling as a PM

Hi all

I, just graduated from undergrad and started to work as an associate product manager at a YC company. 

Having worked as a PM for a the last 3 months, it’s not something that excites me and I don’t feel like I’m actually building something. The pay is pretty decent (14 base, 4L ESOPs) but money is not an important thing for me right now. 

I seriously want to switch careers to software engineering where I get the feeling of actually building (+the feeling of being an engineer). I want to quit my job and go all in to code for 6 months and see how it goes (as mentioned, money is not an issue as my parents can take care of me for a while + they’re pretty supportive). 

Can you please give your two cents on this topic? I’m pretty confused but I want to be an engineer.

Switch to an SDE from a PM

Hello guys, I did alot of DSA in my college time (Tier 3 college), I got the highest marks in my DSA sem exams in my class and my professor was impressed with me, I gave leetcode contests, learned DSA from YT and so on. 

I got placed in a decent company with a 7.5 LPA package (while my best friend, who hardly knew DSA got a SDET role in a startup with 40 LPA), now after 2 years my pacakge is 10 LPA, I want to switch to a better company with good pay, I restarted practising DSA again but everytime I get stuck in some question and not able to solve it, it feels like I am wasting my time.

While in my job, I learned Angular, TypeScript and frontend dev (which interests me more than DSA, but I am too lazy to make my own side projects)

what should I do? should I stick on to DSA even though sometimes I just feel like I am wasting my time solving some random question which doesn’t justify anything about me? or beat my laziness and make some side projects with the frontend skills that I have?

any advice would help me. Thanks in advance.

I feel lost

Hey grapeviners, I am a software engineer and earning pretty good, but I have always dreamt of becoming a product manager. I don't hold any MBA. So How do I transition from a software engineer to a product manager.

Software Engineer to a Product Manager

Hello Folks,

I'm currently working at Google, and I'm considering quitting for an MBA (expecting admits to IIM-A/B/C) to break into Product Management.

Honestly, I'm interested in it for industry exposure, the chance to climb the ladder quickly, and, let's be real, the fat paychecks.

I am currently not really earning at the level I should be, even at Google. Could someone with experience share some genuine insights?

Study DSA in depth to build world class products or become a PM?

Discover More

Software Engineers on

by Jordon Lee

Stealth

Advice Needed For DSA Course

IT Company Discussion on

by Kalan Carmden

TCS

DSA Hell

Software Engineers on

by Kalan Carmden

Student

Confused of what to do

Product Managers on

by Kendall Hyrum

Smallcase

SDET trying to become PM

Product Managers on

by Kalan Hyrum

Gojek

Why you shouldn’t do PM internships?

Software Engineers on

by Jordon Taye

Stealth

DSA vs CP

Software Engineers on

by Jordon Lee

Deloitte

Switch to Product Company

Software Engineers on

by Kendall Nadeen

Deloitte

Planning to Switch to Product based company

Big 4 on

by Coy Lee

Deloitte

Switch to Product company

Product Managers on

by Blair Lee

Juspay

Sde to PM. Regrets

Software Engineers on

by Jordon Hyrum

Others

Need Guidance

FAANG on

by Aaron Carmden

Deloitte

Need a sincere suggestion from folks working in product based companies

Product Managers on

by Dezi Nadeen

Stealth

Upskilling as a PM

Product Managers on

by Coy Olive

Student

Switch to an SDE from a PM

Software Engineers on

by Kalan Everett

Chubb

I feel lost

Product Managers on

by Coy Taye

Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

Software Engineer to a Product Manager

Product Managers on

by Coy Vernon

Stealth

Prod Man(after MBA) vs Google