Inbox (paraphrase): "I'm an engineer considering a switch to PM. Which gets paid more?" That's a potentially useful and nuanced question, so. My ambient impression is that, at high status employers, engineers get paid more than PMs, materially so, early in their careers.
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Obligatory disclaimers: depends on the company, depends sometimes on the org within the company, requires you to make guesses a few years out as to how the market evolves, and *points to disclaimer about this Twitter representing personal views* that.
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I think eng leadership has expected value equal (and sometimes greater than) that of product leadership (and a/b can be said if eng leadership too, no?)
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That seems very plausible to me, but (perhaps ironically given my background and interests) I rate my ability to predict engineering management trajectories (including IC to manager trajectories) more poorly than the other path.
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PM success & compensation is rather non-deterministic compared to success as an engineer. Too many factors at play, and several of those out of one’s control. As anyone who’s done the job will agree it’s a hard one, sometimes thankless, but always fulfilling for the right person.
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If one considers factors such as roughly 10:1 eng:PM ratio, eng are a must-have for any early stage startup when equity grants are meaningfully high vs PMs often come in often series A or later, etc. the EV of eng >> PM
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A great engineer does not make a great PM. In one role, you’re trying to build the product right and in the other, you’re trying to build the right product. Both must have the skill set of decomposing problems into milestones, though!
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Since there's a high level of variance, the expected value for different people with different skills/preferences/communication styles/etc will have a wide range. Not sure how that should factor into people's decision-making though.
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Regardless of the time window, the delta isn't large enough to be a primary consideration when making a career decision. Both roles are paid absurdly well. if you are talented enough to do either, the comp is close enough that you should follow your passion
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A lot of more senior PMs at these companies have both strong engineering qualifications as well as an MBA or other business strategy experience. This pushes up their comp, as they would also get paid more in other roles and are less numerous.
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Agree that eng gets paid materially more than PMs, and biz/product group leads is an attractive career objective. But eng can become biz leads as long as company has a strong eng culture
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