\
  The most prestigious law school admissions discussion board in the world.
BackRefresh Options Favorite

Product management--what the fuck is this flame and how do I get a job doing it?

Do you need a degree in CS or EE to cop a gig like this? Or ...
red new version
  10/19/16
It's 100% flame you can talk your way into.
Spectacular school cafeteria voyeur
  10/19/16
Not flame? Seems like a decent paying gig.
red new version
  10/19/16
you get paid to be yelled at 24/7 to meet unrealistic deadli...
aqua territorial immigrant
  10/19/16
What do you have to deliver by your "deadline"? Wh...
red new version
  10/19/16
well, if you're a shitty PM when the project is late you bla...
aqua territorial immigrant
  10/19/16
YES but what the fuck do you DO? What service do your provid...
red new version
  10/19/16
You're basically a middle man between devs and HR/management
Spectacular school cafeteria voyeur
  10/19/16
you take the specifications from the customers and you bring...
Charcoal personal credit line mexican
  10/19/16
...
indigo property deer antler
  06/11/26
...
irate legal warrant chad
  06/11/26
...
Glittery box office goal in life
  06/11/26
you figure out what features shoudl be in your product (base...
provocative lavender knife
  10/19/16
Doesn't actually seem like a bad job.
red new version
  10/19/16
it ranges. at the grunt level you are a project manager and ...
provocative lavender knife
  10/19/16
I'm assuming they make decent money too
red new version
  10/19/16
genrealyl slightly less or similar as a good developer d...
provocative lavender knife
  10/19/16
How would one transition into this kind of work ? Like what...
cyan blood rage
  10/19/16
most common - programming or MBA. you can get into it from d...
provocative lavender knife
  10/19/16
Did you have a law background at all?
cyan blood rage
  10/19/16
It's not bad considering that PM's know literally nothing an...
Spectacular school cafeteria voyeur
  10/19/16
I know a bro who went from a product counsel at a tech compa...
Rambunctious Lodge Cumskin
  10/19/16
They like to see certs on your resume. Pmi.
ultramarine passionate messiness base
  10/19/16
What kind of certs?
red new version
  10/19/16
Project management institute comes up a lot. Spill over to l...
ultramarine passionate messiness base
  10/19/16
Okay so basically just bullshit and not like learning code o...
red new version
  10/19/16
Yeah, these are not stem types. More like biz Mgmt.
ultramarine passionate messiness base
  10/19/16
you just manage products and tell them what to do bro. occas...
provocative lavender knife
  10/19/16
So basically you just crack the whip on the code spergs?
red new version
  10/19/16
A lot of people with general business degrees in it, anythin...
Self-centered hyperventilating kitchen queen of the night
  10/19/16
ur thinking of project management product mgmt is differe...
provocative lavender knife
  10/19/16
Lol I did the same thing.
ultramarine passionate messiness base
  10/19/16


Poast new message in this thread



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:11 PM
Author: red new version

Do you need a degree in CS or EE to cop a gig like this? Or is it more sales/business/research oriented?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679381)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:12 PM
Author: Spectacular school cafeteria voyeur

It's 100% flame you can talk your way into.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679386)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:14 PM
Author: red new version

Not flame? Seems like a decent paying gig.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679408)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:18 PM
Author: aqua territorial immigrant

you get paid to be yelled at 24/7 to meet unrealistic deadlines and deal with ornery software developers and make barely 10-15% more than they do.

IMHO not worth it as a career.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679426)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:19 PM
Author: red new version

What do you have to deliver by your "deadline"? What's the BOTTOM LINE?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679440)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:21 PM
Author: aqua territorial immigrant

well, if you're a shitty PM when the project is late you blame the team. 'You' don't technically have to deliver anything but a project plan and status reports.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679447)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:23 PM
Author: red new version

YES but what the fuck do you DO? What service do your provide to your company?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679464)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:24 PM
Author: Spectacular school cafeteria voyeur

You're basically a middle man between devs and HR/management

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679476)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:29 PM
Author: Charcoal personal credit line mexican

you take the specifications from the customers and you bring them down to the software engineers. you deal with the god damn customers so the engineers don't have to.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679511)



Reply Favorite

Date: June 11th, 2026 11:31 AM
Author: indigo property deer antler



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#49930447)



Reply Favorite

Date: June 11th, 2026 12:08 PM
Author: irate legal warrant chad



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#49930527)



Reply Favorite

Date: June 11th, 2026 12:19 PM
Author: Glittery box office goal in life



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#49930554)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:27 PM
Author: provocative lavender knife

you figure out what features shoudl be in your product (based on customer interviews, market research, competitive reseach etc)

you plan out how those features should be implemented, and work with your programmers and other teams to make it happen

you also figure out how your product should be marketed and priced (based on market research, nubmer crunching etc)

at the high level, you figure out strategic product direction, like what you should be making, what it should look/feel like, etc. (jonathan ive/apple type)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679496)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:32 PM
Author: red new version

Doesn't actually seem like a bad job.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679527)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:35 PM
Author: provocative lavender knife

it ranges. at the grunt level you are a project manager and just run around pushing people for updates and deadlines etc.

it can be really boring/stupid too. at the jr level you are developing spec docs that say "and when you click this button on the website it brings you to this page. if you click this other button it brings you to this other page"

at the mid/sr level its more interesting as you are more involved in setting direction of the product (3 of our competitors have xyz feature, so we will build it, or we will not build it because we think abc feature is more compelling and will get us more users, etc etc)

at the very sr level as with all jobs it's pretty good but stressful

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679554)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:50 PM
Author: red new version

I'm assuming they make decent money too

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679668)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:53 PM
Author: provocative lavender knife

genrealyl slightly less or similar as a good developer

depends on the type of company too - if you are at a traditional enterprise software company, you'll make significnatly less. at goog you will make more as they require pms to be former developers

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679701)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:54 PM
Author: cyan blood rage

How would one transition into this kind of work ? Like what's the job you take before you become a PM?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679715)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 4:04 PM
Author: provocative lavender knife

most common - programming or MBA. you can get into it from design, marketing, operations, project management type roles as well. really if you work at a startup and are smart/capable you'll touch/influence the product at some point. that's how i got into it.

you can also get hired directly out of college but those are usualyl the gruntwork type roles

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679805)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 4:05 PM
Author: cyan blood rage

Did you have a law background at all?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679818)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:22 PM
Author: Spectacular school cafeteria voyeur

It's not bad considering that PM's know literally nothing and are often times actual retards. Everyone in tech who isn't actual talent should be grateful

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679456)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:21 PM
Author: Rambunctious Lodge Cumskin

I know a bro who went from a product counsel at a tech company and then pivoted into being a product manager and he's now a director.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679450)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:22 PM
Author: ultramarine passionate messiness base

They like to see certs on your resume. Pmi.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679458)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:25 PM
Author: red new version

What kind of certs?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679482)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:26 PM
Author: ultramarine passionate messiness base

Project management institute comes up a lot. Spill over to lean six sigma mumbo jumbo.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679494)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:31 PM
Author: red new version

Okay so basically just bullshit and not like learning code or whatever

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679522)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:37 PM
Author: ultramarine passionate messiness base

Yeah, these are not stem types. More like biz Mgmt.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679572)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:24 PM
Author: provocative lavender knife

you just manage products and tell them what to do bro. occasionalyl you have to discipline or fire one and it gets to be a pain but otherwise pretty chill

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679478)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:25 PM
Author: red new version

So basically you just crack the whip on the code spergs?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679485)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:26 PM
Author: Self-centered hyperventilating kitchen queen of the night

A lot of people with general business degrees in it, anything from "business administration" or finance/accounting/econ or MBAs and other grad types.

The job is just babysitting a project. You don't really do actual work. You check with other groups who do the actual work to make sure they're doing it and let everyone know where everyone else is.

Basically everyone hates you because you are constantly pinging them for updates ljl

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679495)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:27 PM
Author: provocative lavender knife

ur thinking of project management

product mgmt is different

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679506)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 19th, 2016 3:38 PM
Author: ultramarine passionate messiness base

Lol I did the same thing.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3391818&forum_id=2\u0026show=week#31679579)