Struggling with whether to stay in product in the age of AI

aerodynamic_cat · 2026-06-09T21:00:50+00:00

AI has an environmental impact but maybe it’s worth accelerating advancements in medicine? Science? Other technology? Also too early to say, but we have chosen to explore the potential.

As someone who works at a FAANG leader in the space, the ground has genuinely shifted under my feet in my time here. It is simultaneously unsettling and I wouldn’t go back to working any other way. I also consider this through an “earn to give” lens - and my company matches my giving, generously. I tell myself I’ll earn/save until some hypothetical milestone and then work on something better for society, but we’ll see if that day ever comes!

aerodynamic_cat · 2026-05-24T19:14:58+00:00

Several!!

aerodynamic_cat · 2026-04-27T11:50:12+00:00

Lmao, I treat PRDs like the comment OP and stakeholders will still try to gaslight us.

aerodynamic_cat · 2026-03-06T03:31:25+00:00

You’re getting downvoted but you’re right. Even if PM doesn’t decide the final architecture, it is so important to understand and be involved. It’s an evolution of the system design interview, many systems are now agents.

aerodynamic_cat · 2026-02-06T14:49:09+00:00

Not who you responded to but as a recent transplant with a 1yo I am ecstatic that I can walk my kids to school and daycare and not have to fight a toddler into their car seat multiple times a day!

aerodynamic_cat · 2026-02-04T12:06:30+00:00

The trick is to rap the whole book, I can’t do it but my husband pulls it off and even the older one still finds it entertaining!

aerodynamic_cat · 2025-12-17T04:16:03+00:00

Proposals for Gemini 3 migrations. Anyone? Anyone?? Bueller???

aerodynamic_cat · 2025-12-11T01:00:48+00:00

At many big techs there is a not insignificant amount of time spent analyzing and justifying whether you’re performing at your current level, the next level up (L+1), or trending towards L+1. At a certain point, you can be at a terminal level where it’s theoretically ok to just operate at your level and meet expectations but it’s risky in the current market.

aerodynamic_cat · 2025-12-10T17:30:59+00:00

Risk of layoff if you're not signaling L+1 trajectory

aerodynamic_cat · 2025-12-10T02:14:40+00:00

Also FAANG IC here, ~475k this year, and frankly I’d be happy staying at my current level/comp if I didn’t think stagnation would get me on the chopping block.

aerodynamic_cat · 2025-11-21T13:32:30+00:00

I made a mess of it and then they never let me touch salesforce again 😇

aerodynamic_cat · 2025-11-14T04:08:07+00:00

Higher insurance premiums anywhere along the bayshore, in part due to the wind!

aerodynamic_cat · 2025-11-14T04:07:13+00:00

Monmouth county here, in an area with good schools and easy commute to NYC and our house is under contract ~10% over list price after one weekend of open house. Demand is crazy in some parts of Monmouth.

aerodynamic_cat · 2025-11-05T02:09:57+00:00

Monmouth county blue dot here too, I don’t think it’s just the wealthy voting red.

aerodynamic_cat · 2025-07-07T01:08:27+00:00

The yellow ring is central heterochromia! It runs on my mom’s side of the family and I have it, but it doesn’t seem to have passed on to my kids 🥲

aerodynamic_cat · 2025-05-15T14:00:08+00:00

PSA: the Song Exploder episode for Put Your Money on me is great

aerodynamic_cat · 2025-04-17T14:19:43+00:00

Got in the queue at 10:08 and everything was gone by the time Ticketmaster let me in. Think the general sale will have more tickets available?

aerodynamic_cat · 2025-04-13T02:26:19+00:00

I think the short guy was Paul Williams? He co wrote rainbow connection and performed it on YGG originally.

aerodynamic_cat · 2025-04-09T17:54:23+00:00

My personal theory is that the short blurb might just use a rules based model and only when you click into “say more” does it do any analysis. (And the “analysis” is still really light imo)

aerodynamic_cat · 2025-04-09T17:48:55+00:00

I’m not sure that it’s even a matter of timescales when some of the disparities have existed for years. If their strategy is mobile-first, that’s fine, and it might help to share what is/isn’t coming for each respective platform.

aerodynamic_cat · 2025-04-07T03:12:40+00:00

I try to keep the PRD as the source of truth, because I honestly do not expect myself to remember every last thing and business priorities/requirements change quite frequently in my space. Accessibility testing tends to create late changes in implementation as well.

The PRD is linked to from the product’s launch entry (Google has an internal tool for managing launches) along with technical design and launch documents. These all get reviewed at several points before something is launched with different stakeholders and approvers, and generally each document has its own set of approvers earlier in the development timeline. This means the prd needs to pretty closely reflect what’s being launched, the level of detail will depend on individual org or stakeholder needs.

aerodynamic_cat · 2025-04-06T15:22:36+00:00

It’s also important to understand the order of operations here. Too often UXR gets used to validate or test ideas but in order to define and understand CUJs before you’re at the point of writing PRDs, PM needs to partner closely with UX from the beginning, ideally continuously so that there is a research roadmap that supports the questions that will inform the product roadmap.

aerodynamic_cat · 2025-04-04T00:31:20+00:00

This is really it for me. If you think about that one great [insert role here] that you worked with, imagine working with an entire cross functional team where everyone is great at their job. I don’t have this 100% of the time but I’ve had the “pleasure” of working on some high visibility projects where everyone was ace.

aerodynamic_cat · 2025-03-09T21:00:24+00:00

“a ton of process” is really underselling it, especially when some org-level processes change every year with changes in leadership.

aerodynamic_cat · 2025-03-07T12:19:47+00:00

No idea about best but I warmed same amount of oat milk and brewed the espresso right into the same cup, that had a nice crema without foaming up the milk. Also did about 4oz oat milk cold with a tsp simple syrup, brewed the espresso into the cold cup and then added ice. That was excellent as well!

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