11–20 of 35 posts
Ugh. Don't do it. Someone find me an article on how to go from PM back to dev.
Ugh. Don't do it. Someone find me an article on how to go from PM back to dev.
(from dev to PHB)
These articles are almost as bad as the "how to become a CEO." First answer, why? Because of the desire for power over others? Weak, lame, not in the spirit of being a hacker. Flat management everyone, screw the PMs. Where's the book on how to bury your PM 6 feet deep?
Obviously the day-to-day work of a PM is pretty different from that of a dev and the transition is not something that all devs would like or should even aspire to. For those who want to know more about what PMs are supposed to do (and no, it is not just project management :-) check out my blog on this topic - http://avilay.wordpress.com/2013/07/03/what-does-a-pm-do/
I used to be a dev who transitioned to a PM and now am the CTO in my own startup. My main reason for becoming a PM was to get more customer contact and be in a position to make customer-focused product decisions. Someone mentioned that PMs make more money than devs, this is incorrect at least in most top tech companies. Compensation bands for PMs and Devs are the same. Obviously the day-to-day work of a PM is pretty…
Article fails to explain why a dev would desire to become a PM. My best guess is an entry point to a management career in shops run by non-devs. Edit: I imagine that's perfectly natural - when I was in backoffice IT I strongly desired to transition into project management so that I could transition into people management so that I could make meaningful decisions and get credit for them. It's probably the same in prod…
"Article fails to explain why a dev would desire to become a PM." (in most companies) more money, power, autonomy. Except in very early stage startups, it is the rare developer who has more of any of this than even the lowliest PM. e.g: I think Vic Gundotra makes more money, and has more power at Google than most (all?) engineers there.
I also think that engineers would be paid much better than product managers in such an organization, given the higher demand for engineering skills (there should be more engineers than product managers on any given team) and a smaller pool of potential hires.
Take some management classes. I'm not saying you have to take an MBA, but being able to code and being able to manage people are not the same talent. In many situations, they're quite the opposite. And you had to show off your coding cred before being hired for it. The same should apply for management.
I'm not disagreeing, but can you explain under which situations coding and managing are on the opposite parts of the spectrum?
Article fails to explain why a dev would desire to become a PM. My best guess is an entry point to a management career in shops run by non-devs. Edit: I imagine that's perfectly natural - when I was in backoffice IT I strongly desired to transition into project management so that I could transition into people management so that I could make meaningful decisions and get credit for them. It's probably the same in prod…
Ugh. Don't do it. Someone find me an article on how to go from PM back to dev.
Are you really stuck in meetings and infantile email disputes as long as it looks like from a devs POV? This is coming from personal observation of my work environment, not any sort of dig at you.
I've always assumed that a single PM is good, but as soon as you put two together, work grinds to a halt.
note: our PM's make about 30k more than the highest paid dev.