Interesting! Thanks for sharing the highlights from your time there. A couple of weeks ago I was speaking with a Head of Tech at a large scale company, and he gave me almost exactly this advice. He asked me to position myself at the intersection of product engineering and AI, because in his view the lines between development and product thinking are going to blur very soon.
This shift lands at the individual level. The organizational data is compelling, but for someone early in their career the question becomes more personal: what do I actually build toward now?
His framing stayed with me. He advised me that a mere "learn AI tools" was not enough, it was "develop the product judgment to know what's worth building in the first place." Reading this piece, especially the point about product managers becoming product engineers and everyone meeting in the middle, I think that advice was pointing at exactly this moment.
Still figuring out what that path looks like in practice, but articles like this make me feel like the direction is right.
So glad you liked the article! Advice like what you've received definitely reinforces the idea that engineers and product managers alike are on a path towards becoming relentlessly focused on "value creation"--towards knowing what to build to create the most sustainable value for a business.
I'm still figuring it out, too, but I think this path will look very similar to the kinds of paths tech founders take when they're learning how to systematically hone in on product-market fit.
Interesting! Thanks for sharing the highlights from your time there. A couple of weeks ago I was speaking with a Head of Tech at a large scale company, and he gave me almost exactly this advice. He asked me to position myself at the intersection of product engineering and AI, because in his view the lines between development and product thinking are going to blur very soon.
This shift lands at the individual level. The organizational data is compelling, but for someone early in their career the question becomes more personal: what do I actually build toward now?
His framing stayed with me. He advised me that a mere "learn AI tools" was not enough, it was "develop the product judgment to know what's worth building in the first place." Reading this piece, especially the point about product managers becoming product engineers and everyone meeting in the middle, I think that advice was pointing at exactly this moment.
Still figuring out what that path looks like in practice, but articles like this make me feel like the direction is right.
So glad you liked the article! Advice like what you've received definitely reinforces the idea that engineers and product managers alike are on a path towards becoming relentlessly focused on "value creation"--towards knowing what to build to create the most sustainable value for a business.
I'm still figuring it out, too, but I think this path will look very similar to the kinds of paths tech founders take when they're learning how to systematically hone in on product-market fit.
I completely agree!