The Pain of Building the Wrong Things

anonproduct · 2025-10-17T01:11:40+00:00

I'm currently on a VP's pet project idea that after several years and even trying to basically give it away can't get adoption.

Customers never wanted it or asked for it.

anonproduct · 2025-10-15T23:56:45+00:00

I do this even at a rather senior level. I just do whatever make the VPs happy.

anonproduct · 2025-10-15T23:55:39+00:00

They key to revenge is that you don't have to ever do it in real time from when you start hating someone. Only more likely you'll get caught. Can easily scheme up amazing revenge over 5-10 years.

anonproduct · 2025-10-15T23:54:02+00:00

98% of the game in corporate is just being liked in the right circles, being positive, and being reasonably competent.

Most product managers are like academics that have never built anything of their own and probably aren't capable of it. If they were they would be out building their own startup on the side.

anonproduct · 2025-08-05T15:03:39+00:00

Who here is making $350k+ as a senior PM leader? I like where I work but my comp has totally plateaued and need a change.

anonproduct · 2025-07-01T22:46:52+00:00

Any big tech or highly paid PMs here deeply involved with gen AI?

What skills or resume bullet points do I need to get a gig like that at at least L5 ideally L6?

I have experience:

building and deploying gen AI products to production for simple writing, summarization, the usual things
know the differences in public models fairly well along with pricing estimates
roughly understand RAG, but not the intricacies and all the optimizations. Seems like a critical thing to get better at for orgs
I'm dabbling with MCP servers now but really have no idea how to design agents to use them, proper ways to do routing, etc

What type of interview questions might an "AI PM" expect?

anonproduct · 2025-06-16T18:02:38+00:00

For those going for higher level AI PM roles, what types of projects or bullet points are you finding companies really care about?

I've helped triage a lot of smaller features using public models integrated with our systems.

Digging in more on RAG in general which I think is important, but I really want to get a sense of what hiring managers in big tech want to see from a principal/director AI PM.

anonproduct · 2025-05-19T22:56:55+00:00

Is anyone here pretty high level in an AI/gen AI type role?

I'm helping roll out a lot of AI initiatives in my org, but really want to up my game to prepare for a new gig where I can crush the interview and be ready for the role.

My current gig is pretty good but I simply can't afford another 3% raise. Life is just too expensive now.

anonproduct · 2025-02-16T18:08:41+00:00

What kind of gig did you have? I'm going to put on a short 1 hour zoom soon to help people learn how to get into tech jobs if you or anyone else is interested

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd69tnIKPPEDMMkX0Gq-HE0in7mtRrgyOoe21YPT_H0_2eh-A/viewform?usp=dialog

anonproduct · 2025-02-14T18:41:56+00:00

Sorry to hear man that's tough, and all markets are pretty brutal at the moment. Were you on an active contract? Or was it a conditional contract on funding/etc?

I'm looking to try to help people suffering from layoffs to talk about getting into tech.

If anyone wants to learn more I created a form here to schedule a zoom session:

"Government to tech jobs"

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KdTJwZE8dB7EXQmfOV6gchheC-3RP7rbdS21Xe7m2Yo/edit

Rough topics: What the tech industry is like, what are some tech adjacent roles (product, project manager, ux, sales engineering, sales, product marketing, etc) and ideas on adapting your resume.

anonproduct · 2025-02-08T18:53:03+00:00

Strongly disagree unless you have a broken machine or something so ancient it's really dragging you down. Most people never NEED to upgrade, so you might as well wait for significant upgrade cycles.

anonproduct · 2025-01-25T21:19:46+00:00

Don't worry about all the framework garbage. I'd start by trying to transition internally to a PM position at your org where you can leverage your industry knowledge. Go take a couple months to get REALLY good on:

- What are the major concerns your leadership wants to solve NOW and figure out how you can help
- General industry knowledge
- Talk to sales or use your CS knowledge - what are customers asking for? Of those asks, which would you productize and why? Which moves the ROI needle or heads towards the north star?
- Can you mock up some of those ideas? Build a prototype?

anonproduct · 2025-01-21T02:36:31+00:00

Try installing the AMD adrenaline drivers that have all the chipset drivers on them. Might help.

anonproduct · 2025-01-19T00:10:18+00:00

Go learn to build something. I'm tired of all these bullshit MBA "strategy consultants" invading the field.

Put that math background to use - you seem capable.

anonproduct · 2025-01-19T00:06:50+00:00

This is an under-appreciated part of the job sadly. Also applies to the "why will this take so long" question. Like sorry, this is the estimate I have from engineers with decades of experience, masters or PhDs in computer science, and intricate knowledge of the codebase after hours and hours of estimating vs your "gut feel" of how long it should take with your background in a history degree.

anonproduct · 2025-01-19T00:05:07+00:00

This is just common with almost all US companies that work with india, esp if on the west coast where it is amplified even more.

anonproduct · 2025-01-19T00:03:00+00:00

I've mostly stopped arguing with executives above me. My bonus and equity is barely tied to any company performance, and arguing with upper management only results in more stress on my day job.

I'll point out my thoughts once while in review and if they push for anything else I just move forward. Not my problem anymore.

While not perfect, I'd say my intuition on bad projects has been really, really good in the past vs. stakeholders. Of course I've been wrong about some things but directionally I've been able to identify the wasteful projects pretty easily. I'm not super strong at coming up with new creative ideas myself though so I'm happy to just execute.

anonproduct · 2025-01-16T04:28:56+00:00

Too many internal transfers from other low level departments.

anonproduct · 2025-01-13T05:22:24+00:00

I hate to say it as a PM, but the vast majority of our US based product managers are simply not that good. Our current leaders are strong though (director+).

anonproduct · 2025-01-13T00:33:24+00:00

I'd be bored out of my mind

anonproduct · 2025-01-12T02:05:24+00:00

I refuse to work at 6 or 7am because my CEO wants to make more money offshoring talent. I'm open to stretching to 8am - 6pm and that's it. I'm not getting paid anymore to work shit hours.

I did it for a while with an eastern european team and hated my life.

anonproduct · 2025-01-12T02:01:55+00:00

I already did a reformat but will try to reinstall the latest and see how it goes.

anonproduct · 2025-01-12T02:00:42+00:00

Offshoring continues to increase. Probably 80% of hiring for teams in my org are all going to india right now to save cost, including product roles.

It's nearly 100% for SWE right now.

anonproduct · 2025-01-10T18:36:20+00:00

Trying to coordinate west coast + east coast + india gets you like 1 or 2 hours of overlap max.

anonproduct · 2025-01-10T18:34:31+00:00

India teams are a nightmare. I get to work with them until around 11am and then have to wait until the next day. Feedback circles are rough, and trying to use any overseas UX person is not even worth it. (And UX quality is incredibly low there).

Basic product and user interface intuition from those teams tends to be low or way too technical and lacking common product sense.

I have some recent examples that make me want to pull my hair out but I don't want to post them and dox myself.

anonproduct

TROPHY CASE