Thread by @lennysan

If you're an engineer thinking about becoming a product manager, this week's post is for you.

Also, a bit of advice in the thread below 👇
lennysnewsletter.com/p/become-a-pro…

Pursue product manager if:

1. You’re more excited about solving business challenges (e.g. strategy, growth, positioning), and customer challenges, than technical challenges

2. You often have strong opinions about the user experience

3. Teammates often agree with your product feedback

4. You enjoy being at the center of the action, vs. on your own, heads-down working

5. You could see yourself being happy never coding professionally again

6. You look forward to collaborating with non-engineer stakeholders

7. You feel like you’re a mediocre engineer, and aren’t motivated to put in the time to become significantly better

Don’t pursue product manager if:

1. You expect to run the show — most of your time will be spent aligning engineers like yourself, along with designers, researchers, execs, etc.

2. You think it’ll be an easier career path — there are far fewer PM roles than engineering roles

3. You can’t imagine not coding — once you’re a PM you’ll only have time to code on nights and weekends

4. You’d fail the marshmallow test — as a PM, you need to be good at finding your joy in long-term outcomes

5. You expect to make more money — PMs and engineers make about the same amount of money

More in the full post
lennysnewsletter.com/p/become-a-pro…