Ask HN: Breaking into tech project management from different field?

[conner_h5]

Hello everyone. I am a newly certified CAPM holder & I am looking for both experience & insight on what makes a good PM in tech.

I am currently an assistant PM for a Roofing & Siding company, & I understand there is an enormous difference in the two industries. I know the basics of agile, Jira, etc, but still need useful info from the experts out there. Any and All info on the nature of tech PMs, what makes a good PM, & best practices overall for when I do find a role would be helpful.

Lastly, if anyone knows of any PM opportunities (including free volunteering), please let me know! I'm always open to try & soak up as much experience/knowledge as possible to help me in my future endeavors. Thanks for reading!

[baranmelik]

Hi, I have a background in strategy and finance and used to work at an agriculture firm. I joined a very technical AI startup as a COO last year and I still have a ton to learn about the industry. And it's different from a PM role but a few things that have been helpful for me:

-Learning the jargon: Youtube videos from developer/creators in the field help a lot. -Forums (you're already here; so, great!) -Asking our developers to explain me thing like a child+getting their opinion on almost everything -LLMs help a ton (you can even send screenshots of code and ask what it means/does)

[conner_h5]

Awesome. Thanks for this. I’m pretty good at being inquisitive when it comes to the unknowns so I’m hopeful this’ll come easy to me. I have no shame asking what can be perceived as silly questions so I’ll try to use it to my advantage. Thanks again!

[jessehorne]

Hey!

I can speak to this a little bit as far as advice goes, as a software eng. I think a good PM is someone that works with us, advocates for our opinions, assuming they are good, and so on. Really good / quality communication between a PM and their eng's will go a long way. Being flexible and available will go a long way. I think you'll pick up on this pretty quick.

I think you should go beyond the basics of jira and probably learn other tools too at some point and aim to be a master of those. If for no other reason that you can be there as a resource if eng's need questions answered about it. It feels like every year I have to learn a new tool or get confused after some update depending on what we're using. This advice may be foo bar.

Someone else may mention this but in short, being somewhat technically knowledgeable will help a lot with understanding terms, conversely having to explain them, etc. Not all eng's are great at explaining to non-technical folks things they really need to understand sometimes. I think a PM can step in, in those instances, if done correctly.

Best of luck. Are you sending apps in currently?

[conner_h5]

I’m forever learning how to be more flexible & being the communicator between parties so I’m glad this’ll transfer over. I definitely need to pick up on tech, language, etc. It’s good to know tools but I really do need to touch up on technical details. Im putting in apps on indeed & LinkedIn but no luck yet. I’ll get there eventually though!