[ralmidani]

Not related to number of PMs, but rather the type that I prefer to work with:

I’ve worked at 4 different companies in the industry, ranging from < 40 person startups all the way up to JP Morgan Chase.

I reject the idea that “technical” folks are smarter than “non-technical” folks - in fact, as an engineer I often get caught in the weeds and lose sight of the big picture, and need a PM to help pull me out.

However, in my experience, the easiest PMs to work with as an engineer are ones who have at least __some__ actual exposure to code. Nothing fancy, it could have been building a website with HTML and CSS many years ago, writing some ad hoc SQL queries, or taking a Python class while doing a Master’s degree. __something__ that helps a PM understand that writing code is neither an exact science nor outright wizardry.

These PMs tend to advocate for the engineers they work with, or at least try to strike a balance between business demands and engineering realities. Those who get into PM with zero technical exposure tend to be more “business-oriented”, which may be exactly what a business needs at a given time, but not all the time, and as an engineer I would rather work with someone who has a better understanding of my perspective as well.

[ericmay]

Now if only companies (like JPM where I’ve worked also) actually recruited and hired PMs with those technical skills instead of whatever bizarre criteria they use.

No I’m not salty at all :p