Technical program manager vs product manager reddit As in the chief makes more money than the project manager, even though the project manager runs the project and the chief most likely reports to the PM. Microsoft for instance has a general Program Manager title in their R&D org which could be Product or (Technical) Program Management. We've also named the roles Technical Product Manager (for prod. Then there's Microsoft where everyone is a Program Manager and they do a mix of Tech and Non Tech work. 63 & 64 - Senior Software Engineering Manager 65, 66 & 67 - Principal Software Engineering Manager 68+ - Partner, VP, CVP, etc. Regardless of what you see on Indeed, LinkedIn jobs, etc. Currently happily employed at a big tech company. I have become progressively more technical over my tenure as a product manager, moving to a Senior role on technical products within my organizations. I'm not sure if I would have applied to a role called Technical Product Manager though, because most do seem to require that technical knowledge. Product Management/ownership is a lot of keeping stakeholders happy so try to relate that to how you worked with clients in support. They ensure collaboration between departments, communicate with stakeholders and executives, and ensure that new products are both designed according to company principles Depends on the reason for layoffs, typically it's easier to offshore engineering roles and even onshore technical knowledge is out there ready to hire and fire as you need it whereas a good product manager has in depth business knowledge that takes a long time to build. owner) and Strategic Product Manager (for prod manager), but I guess some people got If the Microsoft setup still is the same as back in the day a Product Manager at Microsoft is more of a commercial/market-strategy-oriented role, with input to development needs but not leading development itself, that was more directly done by Program Managers. Generally speaking a Program Manager is more strategic whereas a Product Manager is more tactical. Eventually requirement will feed in to the technical team where historically the program manager had their hands on the tiller. Technical Program Managers: It gets muddy here because TPMs are usually just experienced project managers that specialize in IT project management. If you’re you are serious about being a PM, look into the the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Project Management Professional ( PMP) certification. • PgM: Managing the execution -> Coordination, schedules, budget, holding resources accountable, tracking actions and issues, escalating when help / resources are needed. A technical program manager should have a firm understanding of the technical side, this is particularly useful for complex or technically challenging product development. If you like meetings, then PM is the job for you! Having a tech background will help enormously. Very genetically, management will make more money. This is one of the most common dysfunctions in product teams today. You frequently see people who are promoted to "VP of Product Management. I also worked with 3 other game PMs on the same project. I am excited to share my knowledge in the Product space that I have gained over the course of 10 years with the product school reddit community Feel free to ask me anything from interviewing to vision led product management and everything in between. Tell me about a recent feature you delivered and how you went about communicating the plan and enablement for success. Note: My responses to questions may be sporadic as I step in and out of meetings at work. Hello. If you have money to blow, get an MBA or one of those Management Science and Engineering degree/certificate from Stanford. Engineers apply the knowledge of math & science to design and manufacture maintainable systems used to solve specific problems. Hence why so many Program Managers and Technical program Managers exist. Brain Station Hi all. Product Management vs Project/Program Management Perspectives Discussion I am a PMP certified project manager and have observed a growing interest in "Product Management" among professionals and it seems like there's a trend of project/program managers considering a transition. Product manager here. Even if you're not in love with being a developer, you may find yourself missing it. If I were a Program Manager I might identify a risk within a team while aligning product strategy, the onus would be on me to correct the workflow or whatever was needed to remediate that risk. In general TPM’s are responsible for delivering something within an acceptable time frame and with a certain quality bar. "Program Manager" / "Technical Program Manager" is used by some companies to denote a more senior Product Management professional, or sometimes a role that is a bit more technical than a typical PM role / may include direct oversight of engineering and QA. I’m a technical product manager, specifically in mobile game development. Project managers are typically low paid unless highly technical and specialized. More than a year into my first role and I would like to switch to a Product Management role. My primary focus started being a bit on the consumer side as I started working on windows 95 and windows media, and then switched over pretty quickly into distributed systems. Post all questions and discussion about recruiters, MEPS, the Delayed Entry Program, Enlisted Ratings, "A" Schools, Officer Candidate School, Boot Camp, and transferring to your first command in our sister subreddit, r/newtothenavy. I think my problem with the analysis is the lumping together of "product manager" as a title. As you can see, each role occupies different points within the value stream – the steps a product idea takes to progress through an organization from ideation, or concept Apr 16, 2025 · Technical Product Manager is the go-to person for technical details in building a product, while a Product Manager takes care of the big picture, like what customers want and the overall strategy. Technical Program Manager vs Product Manager: Key Takeaways Technical program managers oversee the design, development, and launch of multiple products within broad programs. The amount of redtape to engage customers, influence strategy and the user experience forces you to function at pretty high level. I have an opportunity to interview for a “Technical Product Manager” as part of a whole team of Technical Product Managers. A “product” owner or “product” manager (which is what this sub is about) is someone who is focused on building the right features into software products for them to be successful in the market. While the pay at L7 is higher lateraling around in the company is more difficult (you should have an easier time given your background). I started as a program manager because it was as close as I could get myself to a software development team at a start up at the time, with the CEO being the main "product manager". Principal PgM is considered the end of the line "retirement position" for the PM track while director has the path to VP and higher. Some I realize that (Technical) Program Manager, Product Manager, Project Manager, and Engineering Manager mean different things at different companies, though. When Marty Cagan and Melissa Perri describe the need and use cases for a product ops professional, it is nothing like Program Management (and I'm pretty sure Marty Cagan is violently allergic to the term program management, and even ProductPlan/Melissa Perri article explicitly writes I am currently managing Ads experience for a medium sized social App, we generate revenue by running Ads in the feed. I've also previously been a PM at Microsoft. I had 2-3 years of product and 5 years of technical program/project management experience. PMPs are also for project management and not needed for Product. Project Managers: Manage projects and are generally the first step of your journey towards senior Program Manager or Product owner. I have had the opportunity to work at Amazon (Marketplace) and AWS as a product manager. 32 votes, 12 comments. I was in support for several years before moving to a Product Owner role within the company (for the product I did support for). Product management is a cross-functional role requiring strategy, technical, and design chops. A product manager (while not required to have a technical background) needs to be willing to understand the inner workings of their product. However 1) I do have an engineering degree, but not CS and 2) I don't have prior PM experience in tech. Do you know if this change is only for incoming new employees, or is there some wider company initiative where existing employees who've held the "Program Manager" title but doing product management responsibilities are now also being transitioned/retitled to "Product Manager"? Your job may be only to do the market research on a certain segment and then feed that in to a product marketing manager who works on the value props while UX might be tackling persona research. There's a lot of conflation, not to mention, title inflation going on in general. You can have a PgM working See full list on tryexponent. That’s a good point. Program management co-ordinates related projects to achieve outcomes and realize benefits. My PM told me that over a year ago and he was absolutely right. I did a compressed 3day intensive version of this program and loved it. Thank you for the clarification! So the naming split is a recent trend, gotcha. This is a safe and open environment dedicated to the promotion of project management methodologies, with the purpose of fostering and promoting free discussion about all things project management. But every product manager does project management. non-technical - those modifiers can be applied to either role (though the technical skillset is more often explicitly called out in job titles for TPgMs than PMs). I recently worked with a Program Manager and while at first I was a bit concerned at the crossover into my role as PM, it was soon clear the Program Manager was focused on tracking deliverables, meeting minutes and actions, status tracking for stakeholders (managing up in particular), holding people accountable for actions, and documenting Program outcomes. May 17, 2023 · Technical Program Managers are expected to demonstrate expertise in Project / Program Management and enough technical proficiency to discuss complex technical requirements and trade-offs with engineering leadership. TPM can be technical product manager (Amazon and other non-tech/retail companies have roles like this), which is generally for a backend technical service (think AWS services). Oct 5, 2024 · Dhananjay here, I’m a product manager been doing product management for over 15 years now called program management at Microsoft product management in other companies. 68+ - Partner, Distinguished Engineer, and Technical Fellow The management chain follows the same rungs, but (in nearly all cases) starts at 63 minimum. This one reached out to me or I likely wouldn't have applied for that reason. If a product manager is championing the product/customer, then I'm championing the engineering team. I understand product manager as someone who is market, customer and business focused. I once asked my PM if I should try being a PM instead of an engineer. If it’s potential customer interviews etc, it’s all for research and if you stress that to people and throw in a few freebies, they’ll happily talk to you. so, keeping a broad look at product management jobs across the US like I do (because I hire product managers) the data points here look like they're VERY senior (director level +) product jobs in the SF area. the obvious one is going from product manager to product leader (Group PM, Director, VP etc) like others said switching to the b2b relationships side (sales, pre-sales, customer success) or the marketing side (product marketing, growth) could also be a good bet Though, product owner is more of a responsbility that can sometimes be assigned to you within the product manager role -- AKA all our product owners are formally known as product managers to HR. Either have a delivery manager (takes care of tech discovery, day-to-day project execution, cross-team technical stakeholder management) on each x-func product team or one / two technical program managers for key cross-team initiatives working across the teams. While there's a lot of good resources for software engineers, the same can't be said for product management. I'm currently working at one of the FAANG as a Program Manager post MBA. He told me: "you'll make more money as a product-minded developer than a developer-minded product manager". Among other things, it involves Working with them to plan what dev is going to work on what, and when. CareerFoundry. My product manager seems to have overlapping responsibilities with my project manager. I wanted to know the difference between this role and product manager role. Actually, I remember the Corning recruiters pitching the fact that when you account how little they work and how cheap Corning, NY is compared to NYC, their equivalent hourly pay was like 2-3x Two weeks ago, I signed an offer for my very first Product Manager role at a unicorn startup! 🦄 Here are some tips that helped my resume stand out: Keep the Design Simple. Of course anything above 400k is the top 1% best of the best PM in your field. “Product Manager” and “Product Owner” are two unique roles, and the main difference is what they manage. Generally speaking I've been impressed by Amazon PMs. You'll see that resume looks quite simple with its one-page, one-column layout. I’m guessing they are transferring Program Management responsibilities to the Product Managers. Product management is a business role. Even if you transition back it'll be a good thing to experience. If you've got any specific questions, feel free to ask! 14 votes, 26 comments. I still think of myself as a general Product Manager more than a Technical Product Manager. I'm an engineer who's very interested and involved in the product side of development. But that’s not a bad thing! Product Owner - Prioritizes cases from multiple project managers. I think there's TPM (Technical Program Manager) roles getting confused with PM-T (Product Manager - Technical) roles. e true click rate + like/share/comment, and I pair this with other guardrails like block rate, repetition rate, quality score, etc. Neither program or project or product manager roles are inherently L7, they can be L4/L5/L6 as well. true. They're different skills - Product Manager is a more recent, user centric take on Business Analyst IMO. When a company does not have a product manager, the program manager handles product work. Ps, the Udemy course for the PMP test in taking has a huge section on agile and the test itself spends more time on that than on traditional waterfall. Reason why all these MBAs want PM is they can’t be engineers but they want to get paid a lot, hence PM is competitive and pays well. I'm a little bit shocked by the number of comments here that suggest Product Ops is like Program Management. . Is ultimately liable to upper management for how the product is performing / major mishaps / timelines / backlog / etc. Technical Program Management is the art of executing technical projects . AskEngineers is a forum for questions about the technologies, standards, and processes used to design & build these systems, as well as for questions about the engineering profession and its many disciplines. Program vs. Product Manager - Researches clients and users to figure out what new features are needed to grow the company. We currently use Ad engagement rate as the North Star, i. Goals: I've been working as a technical project manager for 2 years and I'm keen to make the switch to product management. I'm moving into 2 new programs, so I'm meeting with stakeholders to understand expectations for the program and level-set what is realistic vs. Technical product managers handle direct product design, development, and iteration. We have "technical program managers" and "scrum masters" who are supposed to be primarily doing the project management, but they unfortunately only have surface level understanding of the product or technology so the extent of their project management is scheduling meetings and asking people for status updates. The technical aspect is handled by the tech team. A typical Product team may consist of a Product Manager, Engineering Lead, Design Lead, and some engineers. The original definition of product owner was to be the liaison from the business to the product team—effectively the same as a product manager. There are times when they are not "technical" enough but this is down to: a) the role you are applying for (B2B integrations), and b) the candidate (have they made the effort to understand the technical side of things). I'm facing this decision shortly, I suspect. Good luck my friend. If the Microsoft setup still is the same as back in the day a Product Manager at Microsoft is more of a commercial/market-strategy-oriented role, with input to development needs but not leading development itself, that was more directly done by Program Managers. Project management work, but more than one project and managing a program. Do I feel qualified for other Program Management positions? Each program will have varying requirements. For point 1, I wouldn't necessarily view it as a promotion from SWE to Product Manager, it's more a sideways move I'm sure this varies a lot depending on the engineering culture of a company though. I’ve spent the past 7 years working with a backend team on multiple massive ETLs and a complete server re-architecture. Sep 10, 2024 · In this post we are going to talk about the differences between Technical Program Managers vs Product Managers vs Product Managers – Technical vs Engineering Managers. General Assembly. Program Management, yes, I'd probably agree that being a PM is the way to go. Project Managers manage resources. Where I work, "Product Manager" is a high-powered role (owns defining the business side of the product). ” the obvious one is going from product manager to product leader (Group PM, Director, VP etc) like others said switching to the b2b relationships side (sales, pre-sales, customer success) or the marketing side (product marketing, growth) could also be a good bet Though, product owner is more of a responsbility that can sometimes be assigned to you within the product manager role -- AKA all our product owners are formally known as product managers to HR. what is not viable inside of the current program conditions. Testing communication skills (I put this into your format above :) ) Q: A key part of being an effective product manager is high quality communication across multiple stakeholders, up, down and across. We have Project Managers, Program Managers, Product Managers, Product Marketers, and our customers are Property Managers. A Technical Program Manager (TPM) Responsibilities – Generally embedded within a development team Aug 10, 2023 · Technical Program Manager (TPM): 1. I think certifications are not needed at all. A good program manager knows the product very well. After the sprint: I know people making 250k-750k as technical program managers. The course didn’t meet my expectations. At some, like Google, you get Product Manager, Technical Program Manager, and Program Manager. Project managers are worried about achieving the goal setout by the product manager by working cross functionally throughout the organization to implement new features into product lines. Since moving to product management, I'm getting glowing feedback and my technical skills make me better suited to the role (especially any analytics task). We just let the Product Managers have it, though. Hi everyone first post lmk if I'm breaking any rules My job family right now is technical program manager. PMs are usually MBAs (often with a CS bent, but not a requirement) and they make business decisions. I know some (maybe all) of the FAANGs have Product Management Office, and levels of Product Managers starting with Associate and going up. Still no coding, but domain expertise may be relevant, and your users (who you need to understand) may be developers. The PO on a scrum team can be a PM, an Engineer, an Engineering Manager, a Technical Program Manager. Program managers (technical or not) can be responsible for a variety of programs, like managing a team's launches and dependencies, managing supply chain (e. at Microsoft) A program manager can be managing a portfolio of products I have been in a “Product Manager” role for just under a year. That has more overall ROI for finding a job than one of these certs Oh and another one to add to your list: UCBerkeley’s “Product Management Studio”. Slightly unrelated question for you; Do you have to have a technical background to pivot into Product Management after an MBA? I always hear that you don’t on mba forums like this one but I’ve been looking over job listings and I keep seeings requirements like “5+ yoe in software development,” or, “CS, Stats, EE, etc. So PM gets pretty overloaded. Who defines the why and what of the product. A product analyst likely fits closer to a product manager role. They define the skillset the role requires, not the type of group the the role is associated with. Most product managers would benefit from reviewing Considering a switch from Software Dev to Technical Program Manager Hi folks! I am in a process currently to switch from a Principal dev role in a sub FAANG Corp to a TPgM at Google. 7 years total work experience (3 as a technical program manager) Started as a STEM major > IT > baby program manager > TPM. I followed another route. Operations Manager vs Technical Program Manager I work for a Tech company and am in an Operations role for a SaaS business unit where I streamline processes for escalation engineers, manage large programs to support our group with stakeholders in other engineering teams and product managers, and I also project manager some of the projects within these programs. It ended up wasting 6 months of my time. I'd be happy to discuss any questions you have as they relate to Amazon - e. g. You’ll still be equally frustrated if not more so in a PM role at a company with a management problem. I did a small stint organizing a cyber program across a conglomerate. " Program Management gets a bad name because it's so easy to be a bad program manager. I got hired at $165k + $22k annual bonus + $15k sign on bonus at the senior manager level. I met a few people over the Summer who had switched from program manager to product. While these roles have similar titles they are actually quite different (though I suppose it depends on the company and team you're on). Program manager can mean a lot of things. It would be good if someone at Meta can confirm. Where do you draw a product manager’s responsibilities vs that of a project manager. At other tech companies, there is usually a Product Manager role as well as a Program Manager role. PM is better depends on your future role. These can be good-paying jobs with less of the backstabbing and stress you could find in a highly competitive tech environment. Maybe a course on Reforge or other program about Strategy can help you. I've seen a few courses online, e. A lot of “technical” program manager roles aren’t technical at all. Current product manager: the saying in our company goes “product management is a job product ownership is a role” i. Amazon has two different roles, Product Manager and Technical Program Manager. What is the one program? I am a criminal justice major, with a graphic design background, who has been working as a non-certified Project Manager for the last two years, I am looking to make a move into product and would really like to get into physical product. com Sep 10, 2024 · Technical Program Manager (TPM) Primary Goal – Get stuff done. Both technical product managers and program managers play k ey roles in the development, launch, and evolution of software products throughout the IT industry. e. Product Manager defines scope and priorities [optional] Engineering Manager assigns the work out (not necessary if the team can self organize) During the sprint: Engineering Manager helps unblock technical team Product is available to answer questions around expected functionality, edge cases, etc. Look Coursera, the program from University of Virginia about Product Management, it's a good course and good university. , recruiting process, promotion experience (L6->L7), culture, etc. They are primarily responsible for delivering the product in a timely and cost-effective manner, which sets their focus on keeping to a set budget, schedule, and scope. Project portfolio management ensures that the right projects and programs are selected that will achieve the benefits desired by the organization’s strategy. To put it in another way: Generally, I’d hedge my bets with undergrad product recruiting: apply to other related roles at tech companies or in technology divisions at non-tech companies (Technical Program Management, Design, Engineering, Data, Sales, Customer Success, Pre-Sales, Solutions, Strategy & Ops, Product Marketing etc) and apply to management consulting firms . The people I know just decided they didn't I think Program Management and Technical Program Management are quite alive and well which cover a lot of project management functions. The way it's handled can be very different from company to company. Location: Remote MCOL, USA Type of company (Public / Private / Startup stage): Series A Years of experience breakdown (Total, PM experience, years at current company): 3 YOE in my industry -> Started a company in my industry and ran it for 4 years -> Company failed and transitioned to current company where I've worked in product for 2 years (pre-transition post in this sub; post-transition Not every project manager does product management. The project manager takes input from the product manager and executes on the roadmap plans handed down to them. The amount things you end up doing just to be able to leverage insights and data. Some companies (usually big corporations specially in fintech industry) divide PM role into "Inbound product manager" who is mostly responsible for R&D related process, and "outbound product manager" who mostly responsible for the business and client facing aspects a product management, and let's not forget the execution manger that accompanies Also sounds like your company has a management problem. Before we start going into the details of what each role does , it is probably good to call out that in an Agile development environment the PM/PM-T & TPM & EMs all working in technical manager = excellent pay- ie, you manage developers, kind of like a more admin heavy version of a lead developer non-technical manager = decent but not great pay- ie, you manage projects that developers are working on and act as a go-between for the management, the product team and the devs If you want to eventually be a product manager, you will be better off becoming a product manager now - even if you want to keep flexing your DS muscle, you'll be better off building the core of your PM skills and knowing where to pepper in DS skills than you will be making a full jump to Data Science which will have you spending a LOT of time I’ve worked in sales and this is completely different. If you feel you'll be more in your element as a PM, definitely give it a shot. Program manager: Can mean many things including A program manager who coordinates multiple projects to optimize resource sharing and alignment A program manager can be a product or project manager (e. Product Owner is a responsibility on a team that uses the agile methodology to structure how they operate, it is not a full-time job. This skill set can easily be accomplished with someone of 2-years exp. The product manager is similar to the project manager, we'll explore that later. We used to call them PO's but a couple of them would get all huffy if you called them Product Owners instead of Product Managers. Big however though, engineers at the top of their technical field will make more money. bachelors. Got admitted to a bba program which has pretty decent reputation in canada, my goal is to be a product manager since it seems to combine technical skills and business (i like both) If i were to do a bba i would specialize in marketing and information systems, I could also get a comp sci degree with a specialization in management information systems and data analytics. TPMs usually have CS backgrounds and they help coordinate between teams and organizations. Product marketing is a more of a straightforward marketing strategy role. Also got laid off in under 18 months when they did a massive re-org and eliminated my 1,200 person division. Hello! I'm currently a Product Manager at Google. I always felt that CPG Brand Management and Tech Product Marketing were the two sweetest spots outside of some strategy LDP for a company like Corning. I didn’t take the course. As a foreword, our company was acquired by a competitor and the new work environment is absolutely stale and I'm starting to hate the neglect we get every day as the acquired. I recently had an interview with a company for a tpm role, but the way they understand the role is very different from my current company. Runs the scrum cycle. Product Management might be the sexier role but a lot of Product Managers only can do “strategy” and slides and can’t get stuff done. Check out r/PMcareers for career related posts. When I started my career as a Software Developer, I wasn't quite sure of what the Product Manager role was. Of course, a lot of this depends on the company and their Engineering Manager vs Technical Program Manager ? For the larger experienced-dev community, who may plan to switch to Management eventually in their careers, if other experienced-devs could throw some light on the following based on their observations or even experience for that matter, that'd really be helpful. Programs deliver the capability and benefits realization. All the former technical Project Manager roles have adopted the Product Manager title and are on the path to adopting agile in some form. product has nothing to do with technical vs. However, I work as a middle man between the business/stakeholders like Marketing teams and the Engineering teams. Classically, the Program manager is the DM, and the project manager is the paladin or tank. Later, after interacting with a few PMs in my org, I got intrigued by that role. But when you consider a role figure out whether that role will be performing some of the activities on the grid or just be responsible for making sure Here is the JD of Technical Program Manager: Technical Program Management (TPM) team plays a critical role executing high-impact org-wide initiatives and continuously improving processes to increase the effectiveness of our product and engineering organizations. Lots of companies just have a "Product Manager" role, without having a PMO or different levels. At my company Sr Program Manager is the lateral equivalent of a Senior Manager, so the promotion path is either to a principal PgM or Director. Yep. PM is the continuous management of the product where PO is a role you fulfil during agile projects. Not worth the This is a safe and open environment dedicated to the promotion of project management methodologies, with the purpose of fostering and promoting free discussion about all things project management. Medical Devices companies often call Product “Strategic” or “Upstream” Marketing. That was cool but would categorize that more as program. I would say my non tech tier list goes: product management, program management product marketing, finance, high tier ops sales / lower tier ops They’re a small company so I understand the need to wear different hats, however, doing both program management and product management for a program that spans years feels like a lot. Apple merges Product for their flagship products into the Product Marketing org. In my role anyways. The personalities and type of people in those roles —often either non-doers and those without scientific based thinking (for lack of a better term) — seem to be a source of the unproductive politics and risk aversion. A PO or PM is not a “program” manager. TPMs= Technical Program Manager which is very different from Product Manager. The actual reality of your role depends on where you’re placed. I'd choose the product manager role if you're more interested in executing at the intersection of business and technology, and the program manager role if you're more interested in organizing people and objectives. For example he throws the task of writing and creating PRDs to my project manager. But to some degree I think the difficulty of executive leadership is a self-perpetuating thing. I was recently offered a position from a competitor for a Technical Account Manager while I am a Product Specialist currently. Technical product manager vs product manager I am currently hired as a "technical product manager" - or at least that's the name of the position on my contract. Also, this isn’t a PM-T, or at least how this sub refers to that role. I don’t really get involved until they’re a paying customer. (Note, that in some businesses, a program manager is simply a title for an administrative office support member who's role is to interface with the customer. I think MSFT distinguishes operational program managers / business program managers from the product manager and technical program manager archetypes that fall under the program manager title within the product development orgs. Giving them a quick overview of if something is feasible or not from a technical point of view, etc. Microsoft is one where the program managers in Engineering have historically had more influence even control over product roadmaps than people with actual product management or marketing titles. They work together to make sure the product is both feasible and meets customer needs. I've been a project manager, product manager, sales engineer, coding instructor, and of course a developer. Team leads would usually go through the training that outlines the responsibilities and challenges of a manager (it would also include conversations with people who have gone through the program before), so they would be able to make an informed decision about stepping into the management role. Scope is ~TPM III or senior TPM depending on which FAANG company you're looking at. Project management is many things. You can ask me about Enterprise Product Management fundamentals, making a career switch to product management, how to leverage MBA to get a headstart as a Product Manager. Most junior and associate roles I've seen advertised require years of experience in product so I'm feeling lost about how to transition. Half project manager and half engineer, the TPM turns chaos into clarity. Technical Product Manager vs Program Manager: Key Takeaways. , in hardware or data centers), or coordinating cross-company initiatives like "every team needs to implement X compliance feature" or remediation work. , none of the FAANG companies' HR system has such a position as "technical product manager"; only at Amazon is PM-T a different job title from PM. Big difference between this and Product Management. 23 votes, 29 comments. I've been lurking this subreddit for a few years now. I’ll take my down d00ts accordingly. I took product management interview preparation course through interview kickstart hoping that I can leverage my technical program management and software engineering to position for product management roles. I'm currently a senior developer at a consultancy. According to one of my Product Manager colleagues - who identifies himself as 'pure' product management - he identifies all activities *outside* of 'requirement gathering, product spec, and engineering interactions' as diluting his product management chops. Just try to align your experience with the role. A community for technical program managers. Reading posts from the FAANG folks used to trigger imposter syndrome. It seems a lot more achievable than at other firms like Facebook or Google. etc there is no need to create a specific role for that responsibility. But, that's not universal. If you want to move into Product management and are already an Analyst, Product Ops/Specialist/whatever your company calls it is probably the faster way to achieve that. Especially as I’m expected to continue the program management work for the rest of the business. I understand Meta is very Product Manager driven meaning they won’t lay them off. I was wondering what people’s experience was with these different titles and how helpful is the experience in the technical role. Severance was great, though. For example, (technical) program/project/product are actually very different jobs! I moved into product management and my peers now think about second and third order effects. Requirements analysis. It is the most critical IC role in the engineering organization. Also, I’d say MBAs are not needed as well if you have a technical background. These interviews are more experiential than theoretical, as you will likely be asked questions about prior experience and how to I’m looking for some insights from y’all. Technical expertise: TPMs typically have a strong technical background and deep knowledge of software development processes, project management methodologies Product Manager vs Technical Program Manager Roles, Venn Diagram: To help visualize the difference between the roles in product delivery, let’s evaluate the diagram below. To put it in another way: Generally, I’d hedge my bets with undergrad product recruiting: apply to other related roles at tech companies or in technology divisions at non-tech companies (Technical Program Management, Design, Engineering, Data, Sales, Customer Success, Pre-Sales, Solutions, Strategy & Ops, Product Marketing etc) and apply to management consulting firms Capital one Product Manager and Google Product manager recruit (still interviewing) here. Additionally, now when I find issues I have the ear of VPs instead of middle management. Hi , I was offered Technical product manager (TPM) role at a company. When I started as Product Owner and next position as Product Manager, the program helped so much. owner) and Strategic Product Manager (for prod manager), but I guess some people got Engineers apply the knowledge of math & science to design and manufacture maintainable systems used to solve specific problems. I think whether a technical PM vs. Would like to get some feedback. At L7, you're a principal product/program manager. While working at the startup, my manager and the then CTO and co-founder realized I could be a Technical Product Manager which was a big gap for our org then. I'm pretty sure TPM at all of the FAANG means "technical program manager," which is a very different function from product manager. Anecdotally, I’ve seen a product owner exist with a focus on backlog management and priority specific to the next several sprints (working directly with a dev team) where a product manager exists to define and influence overall and distant vision and strategy for a product. Often times that is enough, but for complex projects where you have multiple teams working together, a Technical Program Manager may step in to orchestrate the collaboration across the various domains. I started my career in project, moved to product, and am now considering going to be a TPM at a start up I consulted for last year. I've been at organizations that ask for an associate product manager but lack strong product culture. I got my MBA from Stanford GSB and that paved path to technical product management. rwwknb nbju pctqos qxpqggw blfawk xpz dbim vqwhdwg pjvfie lkzmlx