Many computer science graduates leave school expecting their job prospects to almost exclusively revolve around Software Engineering(SWE) positions. While it's true that this is the most common career track, there is a career track that blends the technical aspects of SWE with the business aspects of product operations and product development in a role known as Product Management. When considering between the two career paths, it is important to consider if product management might be a better option for your particular skill set.
What exactly is a Product Manager(PM)? Wikipedia puts it nicely as "A PM is responsible for building, implementing, and managing software or digital products, taking into consideration their life-cycle considerations and audience". In more real terms, product management is all over the place and changes by company. PM work requires work with SWE/UX to define what needs to created in the stories, tracking customer usage, and deciding what should be created next. It also requires working with the business team to take in business requirements for a product and find a way to implement with the user experience, It prioritization, and timeline in mind. While PM work can sometimes feel like a babysitter for the IT backlog, at its best you define the product vision. This also usually comes with navigating office department politics and managing other business functions like vendor management and product operations.
Software engineering by contrast is definitively more cut and dry as a narrow technical career. SWE work is individually focused and concrete. Work is completed in sprints and individual tasks are assigned and performance is rated on the promptness, efficiency, and functions of your assigned tasks. You spend a lot of time working alone to complete some technical task, the output of which can be easily measured.
Individual personality and skill set do play a role as the positions are quite different in there day to day. However, if you enjoy interpersonal connection and meshing technical skills with it, product management may be a career path that fits you!
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