After I posted my reply “How I became a Product Manager“, I got more questions from the reader:
Hello Freeman,
I did read the 2 blog posts and they are really a big HELP. Thank you.
There is one more thing I am curious about… As your roles changed all the way from R&D engineer to product engineer, are you staying in the same company, or, being focused on the same product? If not, I guess either of them can be a big change, right? Because that usually means you will have to start over – rebuild your professional network, and learn new technologies from the scratch. I am not saying this change is not good; it just feels like the years spent working as an R&D engineer is a waste of time and does not worth it. How did you deal with such a change back then?
Thanks again.
I did stayed in different companies and worked for different products. But the point is not being changing job or product.
Let me try to answer the questions. I do NOT think they are “big change”. I do NOT think I have to start it over. I do NOT think it means to “rebuild”, actually, I view it to “extend” my professional network. I do NOT think it is “learn… from scratch”. Instead I believe that most time my past experiences did help me now. I do not think “waste of time and not worth it” for your current R&D work.
The point is not the jobs themselves. The point is how you look at them, and whether you have got most from them.