Ask HN: Transitioning from Sales Engineering into Product Management
I know this is highly personal and context dependent, but looking for general thoughts or experience.
So, I'm thinking about transitioning into PM at the same org.
While I enjoy the day-to-day of an SE, my biggest gripe is that most of the work is fleeting. Sales cycles come and go. A consequence of this is that there's little leverage of building/owning something over time.
Things I like about SE:
- Decent performance-based comp
- Variety in prospects/ building solutions
- Lot of autonomy, most of the time
- Good WLB relative to comp potential (can have big spikes at times)
These are all true, in my experience.
But even with all of that, I'm left searching for more.
I've heard SE described as the 'best dead-end job ever', and I'd tend to agree.
So, HN - any thoughts on transitioning from SE to PM?
Other info - 5 YOE at current org, 3 YOE as Sr SE
- Deep domain expert product + industry at current org
- Top performing SE ( 3 x SE of the Year)