Tired of being a product manager, thinking of going back to development roles.

Worked for a not particularly prestigious company as a developer for a few years before doing an MBA and moving into product management. Tier 1 institutes all the way through. I've been a product manager for 3 years now, in some pretty reputed companies. At this point, I feel like the product management role is just not for me - I do not get job satisfaction out of it. The work is not particularly interesting or challenging, and talking to people all day feels like a chore. Its no fun to be creating random reports for leadership based on wherever the winds of the day blow. Plus tbh, I could be making far more money if I had remained a developer. Just cannot see myself doing this kind of work 10 years down the line. Thinking of applying for some dev roles - it'll take some practice, but I could probably crack senior developer interviews. What does the community think? Is there stigma for people who ditch product roles for development roles? Are there people who even do this? Am I being realistic about this?

Jordon Lee

Stealth

a year ago

Its generalist vs specialist role. PM is generalist, Dev is specialist. The things is there no deep work in pm role if you are in a useless department where real value is very less.. Find those deep work outside if you want to continue in pm.

Jordon Everett

Stealth

a year ago

Where exactly does this deep work exist? I started my PM career in a B2C kind of role, it was high intensity, I got to drive some key metrics, but I felt my personal contribution was near zero - it was the kind of work anyone could have done. Then I moved to a high tech kind of place with different hopes, its pretty similar here as well - I am doing a good job driving revenue and other metrics, but its just extremely unfulfilling work writing yet another PRD for stuff that seems obvious but you have to spend hours analysing anyway.

Blair Vernon

Stealth

a year ago

Similar background, been a developer for some years before doing MBA. Both tier 1, now a PM. But isn't this a problem being a developer too? I mean there is no ground breaking work there as well and also, a constant pressure of learning new tech over years

Isaiah Nadeen

Stealth

a year ago

The basics are true, but as a dev, you get your endorphine rush from finishing your code, and seeing it work out there. And once it is out there, it is done. As a PM, it is a never-ending process of working your ass off to feel that you have achieved nothing that interesting.

Coy Taye

Stealth

a year ago

I'm just on my first PM internship but was under the assumption that the more experience you get, the more indispensable you become. That there will always be well funded startups looking to pay top dollar for experienced PM's (not sure if more than EM/CTO but still quite a lot).

Jordon Nadeen

Stealth

a year ago

That is just an impression - PMs are far more replacable than good developers.

Isaiah Taye

Cred

a year ago

Agree to the money making part of it, developers freelance much more than pm folks could ever think off, whilst having higher salaries as devs. But at the end, you have to think what makes you feel accomplished, you'd be better at handling an entire business if you stay a pm, opportunities are few, or you might have to start something of your own, but that's the goal one can work towards.