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by mistermann
3245 days ago
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> That said, if programming is losing its luster, but you still enjoy software -- try product/project management. Good pay, and it's a very social job where your tech skills will be valued. Do you have an opinion on how much of product management is politics and posturing, and how much is actually building good products? For example, one doesn't have to look very far to find substandard software and features on hundreds of highly trafficked sites or commercial products, yet I'm under the impression that getting a job where one would have the authority to fix these things would be next to impossible. (And yes, I absolutely understand that decisions are, or at least should be, first and foremost economic decisions, and subject to competing priorities. For example, just look at the positive cultural change Microsoft has undergone relatively recently, they are a good example of a company who has changed in respect to what I'm talking about.) |
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My guess is that a lot of this depends on the organization, and product/projects.
But as an opinion...
The politics/posturing & social aspects of the job are integral to shipping products, making positive incremental changes, and "getting things done".
As a PM, I definitely was not the boss. (Even though the success of the project was ultimately my responsibility.)
This meant I had to lead, persuade, and _negotiate_ very effectively -- always arguing what's best for the product, or the end-user.
So I guess I'd say that these sorts of politics aren't separate from building a good product. They're sort of the process for getting things done.
But again, that's limited & personal experience. My companies were relatively small (20 - 50 people). In essence, I was figuring things out as I went along. (These were small businesses, and we all were.) Big organizations with lots of really established process may be different.