Ask HN: How to stand out as TPM / PM with technical bg | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How to stand out as TPM / PM with technical bg

7 points71a54xd2 comments

Hi everyone,

Last year I decided to take the opportunity to broaden my options and join a growth stage startup (in crypto space with $100M + series A) as a TPM. Basically, I was getting bored with leetcode / having to reskill constantly and had a solid offer to immediately enter as a freshy PM without having to transition after 1yr as an IC.

I'm still a bit on the fence, I've enjoyed my current org since I've still been able to code on products I like while building new skills as a technical product manager.

I largely see this path as carrying more leverage, I like strategy and I have about 4 years of startup and FAANG tech experience prior to making my transition.

I'm coming up on 1.5yrs of being a PM and I'm now looking to max TC (looking for $160k + currently remote but I have an apt in NYC). I took a bit of a hit with my current job since when they hired me I had zero PM experience.

Any advice for making myself appealing to FAANG PM roles /things to consider? I've had recruiters reach out and had a few startups looking for founding PM's mention I "didn't have as much technical experience" as they'd like. Not sure what to make of this exactly.

Thanks!

It's interesting that tech experience was the negative cited by these companies, but it sounds like the positions were high-level ("founding PM").

Product management has a wider spectrum of actual responsibilities than engineering, in my opinion -- "product manager" is akin to "restaurant manager." It depends greatly on what the company is looking for in their PMs. Having tech experience will always give you a head-start over PMs who have no formal tech roles on their resume (me), but some companies really value the more religious, navel-gazing side of product management, and if you're not boned up on that, you'll get humbled quickly. I'm not saying that's you, mind you, but I've worked with technical PMs who are engineers-turned-PMs and really are just well-spoken engineers more than true PMs who love problems.

I only know what you shared in the post, but the last paragraph is interesting -- it sounds like you'd like to target FAANG companies, but you've gotten contacted by startups -- again, much different environments. I wouldn't overanalyze what the startups said about your tech experience. Have you gotten any PM interviews with big tech companies? It's a bit of a bloodbath right now with layoffs everywhere, so you might have some waiting out to do.

I've made a similar transition. For clarity, I was an engineer for 15+ years before making the switch. I've been a Product person now for about ~6.

As another comment mentioned - I find that PM/TPM roles vary depending on the company and the expectations of your colleagues. It's only sometimes visible from the outside or the job description. This is a big point for me.

I joined a large company (FAANG-like) as a TPM - the interview was great, and I got to talk about technical architecture and solutions. My interview task was to do some 5W analysis on data, dig out the bug, sight reading architecture/code, and talk about iterative product processes as applied to long-term platform work. It seemed perfect. I joined only to find the teams I worked with were amazed I could follow technical discussion/planning and near-offended that I could participate in their conversations.

I joined another large company (again, not FAANG but FAANG-like) as a non-technical PM at the opposite end of the spectrum, UX interviews and labs etc. They loved that I could articulate what I saw more technically and appreciated my experience, involving me in high-level planning and architecture discussions. I ended up contributing to code, architectural decisions and more.

On paper, I was perfect for the TPM role, but it was an excruciating experience that knocked my confidence and depressed me. I believed I was NOT the right person for the out-and-out PM role, but it turned out to be one of the best experiences of my professional life.

I guess my two pennies' worth is to try and understand what the role is going to be, ask probing questions of the recruiter or hiring manager, ask if you're able to meet the team or the EM's you'll be working with - find out how the work is done. You can't change who you are on paper. People will look at your Linkedin profile and always read it their way. I've been the hiring manager for many PM and TPM roles - you'd "stand out" to me by making the right kind of inquiries about how the work is done, how you are expected to contribute, and talking about that.

Worth noting after six years as a PM, I'm considering going back to code. I love being a PM, but code was my first love, and nothing compares to building things yourself.

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