Ask HN: Should I go for senior developer, product manager, or something else?

1 points by ramphastidae 8y ago ↗ HN

I spent my first four years out of college as a product manager. Then I left that to learn development, working as a full-stack freelancer for four years, where I built many products for startups and eventually built my own product that was acquired by a big company. After that, I spent four years as a developer at the big company but am moving on to the next thing.

The problem is that I don't know what I should do next.

I am a pretty good product manager — I know how to facilitate across an organization, have a good sense for design, and am good with people (but it's been eight years since I've been in that role).

I am a pretty good web developer — I can work with the front-end, back-end and set up infrastructure (but I wouldn't call myself an expert or a computer scientist).

I am an OK but honestly inexperienced entrepreneur — I ran my freelancing business relatively well and went through an acquisition but I wouldn't call myself an experienced business person.

I am now in my 30s, at a point where I want stability (I don't want to start a new business) and to maximize my earning potential. I'm social and drawn to leadership, I like working with people. I'm a solid developer but don't consider myself top-tier, and sometimes feel overwhelmed when it's how I spend all my time. I hate politics and don't have engineering management experience. I don't really have CS skills but I haven't found them necessary for most of my web development, to be honest.

What kind of a role do you think is best for me? Would I make the most as a developer or product manager? How would my choice affect my career trajectory? I realize it's a question only I can answer but I'd appreciate your perspective.

1 comment

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Bizarro 8y ago ↗

Just make sure it's really a product manager position and not a project manager position if you decide to go in that direction. A product manager (IMO) "owns" the product, where a project manager tends to wander around trying to facilitate things or implement some kind of agile, scrum, or other methodology...constantly messing around with burn-down charts and such.

I don't have anything against real project manager positions, but most companies I've dealt with just don't properly utilize the role. The companies I've dealt with tend to have project managers embedded in too small of a team or teams to really add any value.

In the long run a product manager is a good career choice if you can get in with the right place, they're going in the right direction, and they're developing the right products.

But I don't see how you escape politics in a real product manager position. If this is "your" product that is being developed (you essentially own it), then you're going to have to sell your vision and to get the resources you need/want. You'll probably also ruffle some feathers in the process.