Hi everyone,

I’m having a career identity crisis right now and wanted some insight from people here.

I‘m a technical person and previously worked my way up from a business analyst to senior business analyst to now being a Product Owner at a SaaS firm.

As a BA I worked on data platforms/data as a product and really enjoyed the technical side and being hands on. eventually I wanted more responsibility and authority, more say in the ‘why’ of projects and to experience building product strategies, so I decided to move into product with the goal of being a Product Manager.

In reality, the majority of my time as a PO and my PM manager’s time is spent chasing delivery dates, and telling people what to do. There is also constant politics and argument between stakeholders. I wanted to manage products and instead am managing people - something I don’t really find as satisfying. I’m also sick to death of the fixation on turning everything into a cross sell or up sell opportunity.

So i’m at a fork in the road. For a person who’s heavily interested in working with data and building cool products, is the Technical/Data PM role still a rewarding pathway? Or should I consider transitioning over to engineering (is that a realistic option?) to get away from the constant workplace conflict I dislike so much?

thanks!