HACKER Q&A
📣 71a54xd

Bad idea to switch to TPM role if I still enjoy dev work?


I have an offer on the table for a TPM role, company who's tech / industry I have direct knowledge of. For instance I've forked their open source code, provided features people like etc etc.

I have 3.6YOE as a backend dev, no existing PM experience other than a role at a previous growth stage company I worked for. Long story short, I really want to work for them but their offer was low ($120k w/ benefits), more than 15% less than what I currently make at a no-name startup.

I suck at leetcode, but at this point I'm weighing my options as to whether I should stick it out for a few months (grinding leet) and chase far better money as a dev or spend a year at this new TPM gig, take a bit of a $$ hit to speed up the transition / career hack of not needing to switch to PM work internally and later take the PM track at FAANG and largely have a better chance at high TC than I would as an engineer?

I'm mostly worried about how difficult it would be to get back into dev work, if I either dislike PM work or realize I have better TC potential as an engineer.

  👤 tedmiston Accepted Answer ✓
Have you had any luck with a counteroffer, or considered that option yet? Of course, what stage the new company is at is meaningful here, but Series B+ they could afford to match; Series A or earlier, I think it depends.

Being so familiar with some of their open source code already feels like a nice leg up.

I don't doubt that a PM / TPM salary is lower than a backend engineer salary, but it could be good experience early in your career.

I wouldn't worry much about being able to transition back into dev work after 1-2 years out given how high the demand for developers virtually everywhere is right now.

👤 evanmoran
Others can probably speak to this better, but I’ve found TPM is very different from PM roles so make sure you are be offered the one you want!

Generally a TPM (technical program manager) has more of a schedule / timeline focus to help people know what is happening when. Whereas the PM (product manager) role defines the vision while adjusting for user and business needs.

If you want to be a product manager I’d probably interview for that role directly as TPM is not always in the same org. Hope that helps and good luck!