[edoceo]

I think that if you can master the art of Lean Customer Development/Understanding you'll be OK regardless of degree or coding ability. Might be an easier transition than to a coder/engineer, especially given background in marketing.

As an engineer pairing with business types is an easy find.

Those two need the third leg of customer zealot who talks to customers every day and yells at Biz and Tech about what the customers want. Many Lean books talk about this role. Many say that the Tech and Biz need to "get out of the office" and I agree. But after some time the company needs this Customer Expert to be the internal voice.

How you can prove that you are this person I don't know. I've heard the claim before but never seen the evidence. Evidence I think is things like recorded customer interviews, complete customer stories, built persona and things like this. A moderately successful team with you in that role may serve as a good demonstration too.

HTH

[mrbriskly]

Sounds like Steve Blank's advice. Thanks for the heads up.