I don't know about you guys but over the last 2 years, I saw A LOT of people with classic commerce, marketing or management training and experience switch to a product management position. Either within the companies they work at or by doing a 1-3 month bootcamp and be hired for a new position.
I am the only one to notice this? Is this a good thing?
Ask HN: Is everyone becoming a Product Manager these days?
1–10 of 84 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is everyone becoming a Product Manager these days?
#2I switched from being a professor of software engineering to being a PM in early 2022. I didn't know it was trendy though!
Re: Ask HN: Is everyone becoming a Product Manager these days?
#3The Big Con[0] book touches on this subject.
Essentially, non technical people who want to insert themselves into technical projects account for many of the new PMs we see, at least in consulting, nowadays.
Re: Ask HN: Is everyone becoming a Product Manager these days?
#4[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Is everyone becoming a Product Manager these days?
#5Managing people is where the real money is vs. say, straight programming
Re: Ask HN: Is everyone becoming a Product Manager these days?
#6My current company has a lot of domain experts from a specific industry that became product managers. It's been a mixed bag of results. They're obviously very knowledgable about the market we serve, but completely naive to the process of making software products. Clarity and appropriate levels of detail in requirements definitions and creating coherent "products" vs. clumps of features are the biggest challenges.
Fortunately, all are willing to learn and work together to figure it out.
Re: Ask HN: Is everyone becoming a Product Manager these days?
#7Managing people is where the real money is vs. say, straight programming
Those who can, code; those who can't, tell people what to code.
Re: Ask HN: Is everyone becoming a Product Manager these days?
#8the position definitely exploded in recent years, but a lot of the cuts in the last few months have been these types of roles as well. Facebook called out non-technical managers pretty directly with Zuckerberg saying even managers should be writing code and I think other companies are realizing that many PMs are net negatives. At the end of the day it's a luxury position, the role in a smaller startup would be handled by a founder or an engineer who likes talking to customers
Re: Ask HN: Is everyone becoming a Product Manager these days?
#9Product Manager sounds like a made up generic job title that covers everything from A-Q in the alphabet.
Re: Ask HN: Is everyone becoming a Product Manager these days?
#10I became a product manager by accident while working as a lead designer. I developed a fondness for taking ownership of the product. At that time, I was also an engineer. Presently, I work as a CTO, and I have noticed that many product managers lack the necessary skills in engineering or design. Individuals from backgrounds such as Business Analysis, Marketing, or other managerial roles often excel as CEOs of a product.