
The Perils of Being a 21 Year-Old Product Manager - jimsojim
https://medium.com/@a2d2/the-perils-of-being-a-21-year-old-product-manager-138599dec1aa#.j15py0dv2
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jbob2000
At 21, your title is just meaningless words to sucker you into working longer
hours. The unfortunate thing for the author is that he thinks he's learned
something about being a good PM, but he's really just learned how to be a good
junior; "listen to the experts and leave your ego at the door".

To me a product manager needs to have vision and empathy. Vision, to know
where the product needs to be in 5 years. And empathy to be able to truly
understand your users needs. From the article, it doesn't sound like the
author learned these things.

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GuiA
_> At 21, your title is just meaningless words to sucker you into working
longer hours_

Hah! Having been made "VP of Engineering" at 22 by a rich asshole who treated
me like dirt until I left his company 2 years later, this quote resonates.

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meira
I feel so stupid growing older and remember that I used to think and express
myself like him (in this subject). Youth is totally overrated, at tech, arts,
sports...

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Hydraulix989
Calling a "product manager" a "strategic leader" is a bit of an exaggeration.
At most tech companies, entry-level software engineers are on the same "level"
in the corporate hierarchy as "product managers," and product managers aren't
"managers" in the same sense that they are managers of people -- they actually
don't have anyone under them, they are only managers of the product itself.

Yes, in some sense, everybody is a strategic leader -- even engineers at big
companies, but this argument is really just a pleasantry.

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k__
Many people think if they got "Manager" in their job description they're
suddendly cream of the crop.

I worked with two <25 year old PMs and none of them had any clue what PM is,
they just did some pre-sales stuff.

He's only 21, so don't be too hard on him.

~~~
Hydraulix989
Right, I wouldn't call it "perilous," but hey, there's plenty of rhetoric on
this site that I disagree with.

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typetypetype
So much of being a good product/project/general manager is watching out for
and avoiding pitfalls you have experienced previously.

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onion2k
Or being good at listening to, understanding, and learning from _other people
's_ experiences to recognise those pitfalls when you encounter them yourself.

This is _exactly_ why accelerators like YC put so much emphasis on mentoring.
Being able to talk to someone who has already been through something makes you
much less likely to handle a similar situation poorly. You don't have to have
direct experience of a pitfall yourself to understand it.

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ariendj
The autor wrote a long humblebrag post. A 21 year old kid does not have the
experience it takes to lead.

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onion2k
A talented 21 year old could have 10 years experience working on software
projects with 5 years leading a team on product strategy. It's unusual but
it's not unheard of, especially with today's level of access to computers and
programming languages. 10 years ago was 2006 - every browser was a programming
environment even then.

Equally possible, a 51 year old might have spent the previous 50 years in non-
management roles and have no experience at all.

In project management and tech, experience and age are not related.

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ariendj
But in life they are. Try having a male virgin with no hobbies lead a team
with working parents and see how that works out ;)

~~~
onion2k
The implication of what you're saying is that there something fundamental
about gender, sexuality, outside interests, etc that stops someone being an
understanding, empathic manager. That simply isn't true. Someone with any set
of life circumstances can be a good manager, just as anyone can be a bad
manager even if they have a very similar set of circumstances.

It's management skills that dictate how good someone is at their management
job, not whether they've had sex or not.

~~~
w1ntermute
Even if the manager's "skills" were good, he wouldn't be respected by the
working parents. If he somehow hid his age, virginity, and not having a family
(obviously difficult in practice), his reports would probably treat him
differently.

~~~
onion2k
If a product manager has the skills and ability to do a good job but a team
member is refusing to work with them due to their age, marital situation,
whether they have children, etc, then the problem isn't the manager. If I was
responsible for that team I'd seriously consider removing that team member.

~~~
w1ntermute
That's a nice sentiment in theory, but hiring is difficult for most companies
(everyone wants to work for the usual suspects, after all). You often can't
afford to remove skilled employees because they're being petty. Plus, the
executives are probably also older and have kids, so they might agree with the
team members' viewpoint.

