OK company generally, bad for product managers
Pros
+ Nice office environment + Clear what you need to do to get promoted (though I’m not saying it’s achievable, just clear) + Good salaries + Opportunities to travel + Reasonable autonomy: your goals come from above but you can decide how to tackle them + Plenty of money to spend on equipment, team outings, user research, etc
Cons
- Terrible line management: you’ll see your direct manager once a month if you’re lucky and it’ll be a status update rather than a meeting about your personal development. This is true for product but totally the opposite for engineers, who seem to have plenty of great well-trained line managers. - Slow pace: it’s like wading through treacle trying to get anything done. There’s so many people you have to consult with/get buy in from and then the engineers in your team will spend a third of their time in meetings not related to the team’s work - Zero commitment to diversity and inclusion: there’s a lot of talk but the gender ratio is still worse than Uber’s and nothing actually seems to get done - Product managers often placed in teams that don’t need PMs or where the work doesn’t match their skills. You never know what team you’ll be in before your first day at the company, and sometimes it’s totally unsuitable. Once a PM is assigned it’s slow and painful to get reassigned, and even then there’s no guarantee your new assignment will be any better.
