The One True Tech Skill in the Age of Layoffs and AI: Unveiling the Art of Product Engineering
Setting the Stage for Revelation
You’ve probably seen the headlines — another tech giant making cuts, another startup folding. The industry is reeling, and everyone seems desperate for that golden ticket: the one skill that guarantees job security. Enter the deluge of advice pieces, each one promising the secret sauce to surviving the techpocalypse. But let’s be real: most of this advice is as reliable as a chocolate teapot.
Half of these so-called guides tout AI as the savior, plugging whatever buzzword salad was on the menu at their last conference — prompt engineering, anyone? The rest are regurgitating platitudes fit for a motivational poster in a high school gym. “Be a team player,” they preach. Groundbreaking.
I’ve been in the tech recruiting game for over 18 years. I’ve ridden the waves of success and crashed spectacularly. Now, I’m here to cut through the noise. Beyond the AI hype and existential dread of relevancy, one skill truly matters. But before we get there, let’s address why most people get it wrong.
The Misunderstood Nature of Tech Needs
Last week, I argued that tech isn’t building what people want. “Listen to your customer!” seems an obvious fix, but it’s hollow advice without context. Customers know pain, not solutions. They scream about symptoms but are clueless about the disease.
Here’s what many don’t get: tech companies are sluggish in hiring those who can translate these cries into viable solutions. They conflate product management with project management, diluting the potential impact of truly understanding and solving customer needs.
Decoding Product Management
Let’s set the record straight: product management is not project management. It never was. Project management is about reining in costs and meeting deadlines, evolved from the days when tech was by tech people, for tech people. It morphed from a necessity into a bureaucratic beast that many now worship at the altar of Jira. But, let’s not get sidetracked by that comedy.
In the twilight of the 20th century, as technology began permeating every aspect of life, a realization dawned — tech needed to appeal to those who didn’t care about the backend of a website or an app. They cared about solutions.
The Birth of Product Management
Product management isn’t obsessed with deadlines or budgets. It’s about delivering something valuable, something that solves a problem — a real one. The primary job? Define value, need, and customer. These definitions guide the creation of technologies that are not just useful but essential.
A Tale of Two Triangles
Project managers live by a simple triangle: time, quality, cost — pick two. This framework serves its purpose but only ensures you don’t fail spectacularly.
Enter a new triangle for product management, where business objectives and engineering efforts meet. This triangle isn’t about avoiding failure; it’s about achieving success. Its sides? Revenue, value, and elegance. Boost the value and elegance, and watch your revenue soar.
The Crux: Elegance in Product Management
If you’re on the tech side, elegance is where you shine. It’s about creating solutions that are as efficient as they are effective, as graceful in design as they are robust in function. This elegance is what differentiates a good product from a great one.
Unfortunately, AI is notoriously bad at achieving elegance. It lacks the nuanced understanding of human needs that come from years of experience and a deep understanding of the ecosystem.
The Evolution to Product Engineering
Perhaps it’s time we evolve the term. From product management to product engineering — emphasizing the creative and technical rigor this role demands. This isn’t just about managing processes but about engineering solutions that are fundamentally aligned with both market demands and technological capabilities.
So, to all you developers and tech professionals, here’s the pivot point: Do you want to be another expendable cog in the machine, or do you want to be the architect of solutions that are indispensable? Your choice will determine not just the trajectory of your career but the future of the tech industry.
The Choice Is Yours
The tech landscape is tumultuous, but within chaos lies opportunity. The true skill that will set you apart is not just understanding technology or business but mastering the confluence of both through product engineering. This skill is rare, invaluable, and increasingly necessary.
As we stand on the brink of what could be the next big shift in tech, ask yourself: Do you want to just survive, or do you want to thrive? Your answer will shape your path forward in an industry where the only constant is change. Choose wisely.
Hi, I’m Brian, the author of Talk Tech To Me. In my book, I take on the stress and strain of complex technology concepts and simplify them for the modern recruiter.
