FloatingBanana
FloatingBanana

Role transition and lows due to that 🙄

I'm a lead engineer at a small-mid Indian Saas company. Been at the company for more than 6 years (total yoe 8+) and used to like the company and culture, alway top performer. Had been managing my team really well, mentoring them.. juggling multiple projects, reducing tech debt, improving developer experience.. and I enjoyed it.

Now the company is trying to transition my role to more of a technical product manager where I have to think about how to improve the product, new features, take customer feedback, understand business analytics, usage, adoption, iteratively improve and deliver value.

I'm not sure if I'm ready for this role. I hate this MBA shizz.

What should I do? Try to like this, work on it and ace it? or let my management know that this is not what I signed up for..

I feel low at work because I'm not able to meet my expectations (let alone my manager's)

15mo ago
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MagicalQuokka
MagicalQuokka

Personally, I would take this opportunity up - if I can still lead a team to build and ship the features and do some IC work myself.

Reason: The industry is slowly transitioning towards senior+ engineers taking up more product responsibilities and generating direct business impact with what they ship.

ZippyMochi
ZippyMochi

Agreed. If I had to hire a PM , there's no way I would get one without technical expertise. You are in a good position poised for growth.

FluffyQuokka
FluffyQuokka
Dunzo15mo

As u grow senior, the role of a software developer includes things like product thinking, project management etc. Engg leadership (or senior roles) involve deciding what to work on based on business and other metrics, not just coding. So even if u change companies u may still face this issue there after a few years.

SparklyWalrus
SparklyWalrus

If you are happy with your company otherwise try taking up this work genuinely. If you still hate it in let’s say 2-3 months then talk to your manager.

Think about it this way - if you switch you’ll have to think of culture, making your place all over again. Good chance you will have additional responsibilities there too and maybe not the best culture.

Try it sincerely here but ya make sure you get paid for the new work. If it doesnt work then talk to your manager and if that fails too then yup switch.

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