The latest articles on DEV Community by Peculiar Ediomo-Abasi (@pediomo). https://dev.to/pediomo https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F257046%2F5d75d4cb-23fe-4ce7-9286-a7e4411ef9be.jpeg https://dev.to/pediomo en Peculiar Ediomo-Abasi Sat, 02 Sep 2023 02:01:11 +0000 https://dev.to/pediomo/decoding-the-path-to-technical-product-management-cloud-frontend-or-backend-chm https://dev.to/pediomo/decoding-the-path-to-technical-product-management-cloud-frontend-or-backend-chm <p>As a non-technical product manager venturing into the world of software engineering to become technical, what angle do I go—cloud engineering, Frontend or Backend?</p> <p>In this article, I will walk you through my thought process on how I choose a path to becoming a technical product manager.</p> <h2> Why become a Technical Product Manager? </h2> <p>I started my 'product manager' (PM) journey in the upstream function of product management, and managed products from idea to launch. But being a first time PM at a startup, it is customary that I would also be involved in activities related to product marketing. </p> <blockquote> <p>On a light note, you can call me a 'Full Stack PM'. Although, I am currently a Generalist PM. </p> </blockquote> <p>A cloud-based payroll solution is one of the products I manage. And in my collaboration with the devs on my team, I've repeatedly heard certain terminologies used so much that I understand the role they play in the development of the product, mostly backend-related. This has inspired my wanting to know beyond the 'Why' of a product to understanding the 'How'.</p> <p><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/practicaldev/image/fetch/s--bSi_anxC--/c_limit%2Cf_auto%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto%2Cw_800/https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/fky8muzwuzta9if31a3r.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/practicaldev/image/fetch/s--bSi_anxC--/c_limit%2Cf_auto%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto%2Cw_800/https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/fky8muzwuzta9if31a3r.png" alt="Product Manager vs Technical Product Manager" width="800" height="438"></a></p> <h2> How to become a Technical Product Manager </h2> <p>First of all, what does a Technical Product Manager do differently from a Non-Technical Product Manager?</p> <blockquote> <p>A technical product manager (PM) is a product manager with a strong technical background that is typically focused on the more technical aspects of the product. A technical PM works more closely with the engineering team than the business, sales, and marketing teams of the organization. <br> — Product Plan.</p> </blockquote> <p>Technically, what I need to become a technical product manager is a deeper understanding of technology enough to empower me to translate business value into technical requirements, and effectively collaborate with technical stakeholders. </p> <p><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/practicaldev/image/fetch/s--6-l6J5ME--/c_limit%2Cf_auto%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto%2Cw_800/https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/jmt1ubl7yzcbtyhun8yw.jpeg" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/practicaldev/image/fetch/s--6-l6J5ME--/c_limit%2Cf_auto%2Cfl_progressive%2Cq_auto%2Cw_800/https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/jmt1ubl7yzcbtyhun8yw.jpeg" alt="Frontend vs Backend" width="572" height="344"></a></p> <h2> In Conclusion, </h2> <p>Since I already love the sound of conversations around concepts like microservices, database management and scalability etc, I might as well just kick off with Backend Engineering. </p> <p>Also, at some point in my backend engineering journey, I'm aware that I will interact with some bit of cloud and frontend, and I think that suffices for me, for now. My next contemplation would be Nodejs or Python—Which should I go for?</p> <p>Thank you for reading this far. This is my first article on Dev.to, and it means a lot to me that you are here. Feel free to connect with me on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/pediomo/">Linkedln</a>, and expect to read my next article pretty soon. <br> <em><u><br> Photo Credit: Simplilearn and Skiplevel</u></em></p> beginners codenewbie microservices