
How to go from Dev to PM - rekatz
http://blog.geekli.st/post/69127121125/how-to-go-from-dev-to-pm-a-guest-blog-post-by-gayle
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dpritchett
Article fails to explain why a dev would desire to become a PM. My best guess
is an entry point to a management career in shops run by non-devs.

Edit: I imagine that's perfectly natural - when I was in backoffice IT I
strongly desired to transition into project management so that I could
transition into people management so that I could make meaningful decisions
and get credit for them. It's probably the same in product companies except
low-level devs will want to manage products so they can manage divisions so
they can run big-name tech companies. Currently I'm working as a consulting
dev in a small dev consultancy and I don't feel the same pull in that
direction that I used to. I think maybe all we really need is to be taken
seriously and to have some meaningful work.

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plinkplonk
"Article fails to explain why a dev would desire to become a PM."

(in most companies) more money, power, autonomy. Except in very early stage
startups, it is the rare developer who has more of any of this than even the
lowliest PM. e.g: I think Vic Gundotra makes more money, and has more power at
Google than most (all?) engineers there.

~~~
sbc4590
I'm not sure this is true, at least in the current climate. At our (Series B)
startup, PMs make about half what engineers do.

~~~
ivanplenty
Not to discount your experience, but at the large enterprises (Amazon,
Microsoft, Google, etc.), Program Managers make the same money as Software
Developers at equivalent titles. Program Managers are not JIRA monkeys (I love
JIRA, by the way), but generally have coded in the past and have a better grip
on reality than some MBA candidates.

The tradeoff is this:

1) PMs get broader visibility across the org, which tends to result in faster
promotions into management for "good" PMs.

2) PMs atrophy technical skills and become more dependent on the larger
organization (they acquire more firm-specific skills in econ talk) than do
equivalent developers.

So, sometimes if you like your company and want to advance quicker, you will
be willing to trade away some industry or general skills for firm-specific
skills to get faster promotions or more power.

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avilay
I used to be a dev who transitioned to a PM and now am the CTO in my own
startup. My main reason for becoming a PM was to get more customer contact and
be in a position to make customer-focused product decisions. Someone mentioned
that PMs make more money than devs, this is incorrect at least in most top
tech companies. Compensation bands for PMs and Devs are the same.

Obviously the day-to-day work of a PM is pretty different from that of a dev
and the transition is not something that all devs would like or should even
aspire to. For those who want to know more about what PMs are supposed to do
(and no, it is not just project management :-) check out my blog on this topic
- [http://avilay.wordpress.com/2013/07/03/what-does-a-pm-
do/](http://avilay.wordpress.com/2013/07/03/what-does-a-pm-do/)

~~~
rekatz
great point avilay. thank you for helping clarify the difference between the
two PM's. product vs project. i think this is an important differentiation and
one which, when clarified, could help more developers excel in their careers
without losing their coding edge.

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ryandvm
Ugh. Don't do it. Someone find me an article on how to go from PM back to dev.

~~~
goldenkey
Most PMs don't have the chops and just enjoy a job thats less grunt-worky.
They usually don't have a choice. I seriously doubt anyone with real
programming chops would be happy being an overseer rather than an architect.

~~~
nandemo
I've worked with several PMs who had technical chops.

Note that not everyone who has the chops necessarily love programming. Also,
as others pointed out, in many companies a PM earns more than any technical
person.

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dinkumthinkum
No offense ... But this proposition doesn't sound very appealing at all ... I
love how with hard work and determination, mastering technical knowledge, you
too can become a middling middle managing bean counter too ... :) Perhaps that
is a bit harsh but ... I dunno.

~~~
DrStalker
A good PM is an great asset that adds huge value to a company. Most are
middling middle managing bean counters.

Advice on how to make sure you become the former and not the later would be
more useful than this blog post.

~~~
hobs
I think the real problem is the company you work for as a PM. What kind of
projects you are working on, who is actually holding the purse strings, who
the clients are (internally or externally) etc. I know project managers who
are boss hog and ones who are little more than account managers with a title.
TINSTAAFL.

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goldenkey
These articles are almost as bad as the "how to become a CEO." First answer,
why? Because of the desire for power over others? Weak, lame, not in the
spirit of being a hacker. Flat management everyone, screw the PMs. Where's the
book on how to bury your PM 6 feet deep?

~~~
sp332
I worked for a company with 250 people and only 4 "layers" from top to bottom.
My project still had team leaders and a project manager, and believe me all of
them would rather have been coding than managing.

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lolwutf
Take some management classes.

I'm not saying you have to take an MBA, but being able to code and being able
to manage people are not the same talent. In many situations, they're quite
the opposite.

And you had to show off your coding cred before being hired for it. The same
_should_ apply for management.

~~~
pavel_lishin
I'm not disagreeing, but can you explain under which situations coding and
managing are on the opposite parts of the spectrum?

~~~
fleitz
Pretty much all aspects.

Have you ever sworn at your computer?

As a result of swearing at your computer did it refuse to work for you the
next day?

Have you ever had to bring your computer into an office sit it down and ask it
to come in earlier even though you don't really care what time it shows up?

Have you ever had to defend your computer making a typo and costing the
company $100,000 to people who are so careless as to ignore the redlines under
their misspelled words in the email regarding this issue?

As a manager you are a human shit shield for the people beneath you. In
addition to being a human shit shield whenever the budget is cut you must pick
who gets a paycheque and who doesn't when the budget is cut. At the end of the
day after letting people go, you toss a coin walk into your managers office
and then find out if you made the cut.

The only really good thing about being a manager is that when comically stupid
decisions get made all you have to do is keep a straight face and delegate
actually implementing it to someone instead of having to code the atrocity
yourself.

~~~
lolwutf
_golf clap_

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philip1209
I'd totally grab her book if it wasn't almost $40. Cracking the Coding
Interview was amazingly helpful during my job search.

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martindale
How does one overcome the Peter Principle?

~~~
sriram_sun
In a previous job, the "title" came after you actually performed well in that
job _and_ your current job. Worked pretty well most of the time. For anyone
aspiring to start their own company, being a Product (not Project) Manager
does make some sense as you get to tackle real problems with someone else's
money.

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rekatz
I see many points about not wanting to manage being mentioned, but if you read
into it more you'll find Gayle is suggesting this is about developers who want
to drive product. Product Management is much more than just management roles
and I know many coders who do product management while maintaining their
coding space. It's not for everyone, but Product Management is not project
management.

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jt2190
Anyone else confused by "PM"? I assume the author means Product Manager, but
I'm not certain.

~~~
jpatokal
Yes, it's Product Manager, as in the guy who is responsible for deciding what
the team is going to build.

A lot of the replies here seem to be castigating the role of a _Project_
Manager, which is the often technically clueless PHB type responsible for
ensuring that a waterfall project is completed by its deadline.

