It recently occurred to me that I’ve been in the tech industry for almost six years now. Practically an infant when compared to most people, but a veteran compared to some. Charting professional growth without benchmarking on pay and title is difficult for me, but I wanted to do this exercise to see how much I have truly learnt over the years. This is pretty specific to me — but I hope this inspires you to think about your own growth.
Phase 1: As a software engineer
- I learnt how applications are built and built several. I worked at every level of the stack, so I developed a rudimentary understanding of how everything works
- The startup used an agile/scrum model, so I learnt common product terminology and typical software development processes
- I was good at communicating with clients and customers. I had a knack for doing things the easy way, not the “best” way
- I felt out of my depth when it came to solving hard technical problems. I couldn’t grok it and felt isolated in my attempts to grok it. I didn’t know what imposter syndrome was back then
- Deciding to switch took some real introspection for me. I can’t tell you how many strangers and friends counseled me as I struggled between sticking it out and switching to either consulting, marketing or product management. I’m grateful that my 22-year old self was astute enough to pick my dream career
Phase 2: As a newbie product manager
- I was overwhelmed and constantly stressed. My manager at the time was busy keeping the startup afloat, which meant I was on my own. Every time we released a new app version, I woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, scrambling for my phone to check if our app was still working
- On the flip side, the feeling of ownership was incredible. I had an unreasonable amount given how green I was; my product decisions impacted millions of users. I was learning in real time, the feedback cycle was quick, rewarding, and sometimes ruthless
- I was learning traditional day-to-day product management, and my default mode was “get shit done”. 2013-2016 was the peak of mobile apps in India so I was neck-deep in designing newsfeeds, understanding deep links, and implementing in-app notifications
- What I didn’t know though was if I was doing any of this correctly. There was no structure or method to what I did and no one taught me any better. I just did what I felt was right. At that point, I couldn’t have had much “product intuition” but I guess I had enough to get by
Phase 3: As a novice product manager
- I was yearning for structure, I wanted someone to tell me “this is the framework, this is how you do it, now go do it”. This is how I chose my product roles during this phase
- I learnt from great engineers and product managers by just watching them do their thing. I had mentors, none of them with the official title of mentor
- My product thinking moved a level up. Instead of thinking about what features I would introduce next week, I started thinking about the roadmap 6-months to a year ahead. I also stopped looking at individual features in isolation and started thinking about user journeys as a whole
- The companies I was working at were finally large enough that I needed to start influencing people. I didn’t do it very well, which meant I was piggybacking on my manager’s influence. As a consequence of this, I didn’t think I was getting credit for the work I was doing, nor did I feel like I was needed in the room for decision making
- I still felt uneasy, I felt like I could do a lot better
Phase 4: Now
- It took me six years to realize that feeling uneasy is a good thing. It means I’m operating outside my comfort zone. The minute I feel calm is when I will know I have nothing left to learn
- I’m good at execution, perhaps to a fault. Give me a loosely defined goal and I will drive it to its successful end, but great product managers are also visionaries, and I’m not there yet
- I’m mentoring and being mentored at the same time. I feel comfortable giving advice to young product managers
- I have seen how dynamic product strategy is and must be, but it still pains me when a product I’m working on is killed or cut down in scope or otherwise reimagined. I’m working on being more adaptable to change
- Product frameworks have become second nature. I couldn’t articulate the framework unless pressed, but I have honed a method to the madness
- I’m leading more than I’m following - I think this is the first phase of my career I’ve felt that balance shift
We can get so hung up on promotions and paychecks that it’s easy to lose sight of whether we’re experiencing real growth. I know there’s many phases to go and I’m excited to explore all the seasons of my career, good and bad.