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Careers in Software Industry
My friend teaches an intro to programming class and asked if I would be a guest speaker for a class now that they are using virtual tech to give classes. I want to do something on the different careers in software. While I’ve done QA, project management, tech support, business analyst and have much personal experience, I know there are many jobs at a software company from sales and marketing to product manager. I’d love to hear your experience. I have 4 questions:
1. What’s your title?
2. What are the key pieces of your job?
3. Top 5 skills needed for your job:
4. What is your best advise for a college student?
Thanks!
Barb HansenStartup Product, Growth & Strategy
6.67k
04/17/20 at 4:38PM UTC (Edited)
1. What’s your title?
- COO/Co-Founder. I rose to the c-suite through Product. My last role was Director of Product & Strategy
2. What are the key pieces of your job?
- speaking about a Product Owner/Manager titled job: We are responsible for the ideation, development, design, testing, launch, sales, marketing, growth, new feature implementation, customer support/training and sun-setting a product, but we do not "do" those jobs and the people that do those jobs don't report to us so being able to lead people who don't report to you is super important for product people.
- Said another way - we "own" one or more products (hardware, software, SaaS, digital, operation processes) and other people/teams own all of the aspects that go into making a product.
There are different types of Product people - some of us sit firmly in the technology/development space (product owners), some sit on the business-side (product managers), and there are product marketers (who are marketers who focus on one product). Depending on the size of your company, Product people are hired to do one or more of those product jobs.
As you move up the Product title food chain from individual contributor, to manager to VP/CPO (chief product officer), you get to lead product people who span all of those roles.
Many people and companies confuse/overlap a Project Manager (PM) job with a Product Manager (PM) job. You can see where the confusion comes from both being PM jobs. And although good product people need to be good at project and time management (because don't we all need to be) , Product people are not project management people. Project management is a different yet overlapping skill set and a strong Product person will hire and/or embrace a strong Project person (where possible).
3. Top 5 (6) skills needed for your job:
Collaboration, research/being data-driven, coordination, convincing, flexibility and humility (a willingness to learn and listen).
And you had better be good at or get good at being a clear and flexible verbal and written communicator - you are not in control of the people who work on your product (they have other managers who may not be invested in your product in particular) so being able to flex your communication and documentation styles will benefit you as you work with other teams that have existing processes.
4. What is your best advise for a college student?
Be humble, ask questions and be open to learn from those older than you. Your generation grew up with technology but the older generation (those of us who are over 35 and that you might look at as technologically ignorant) came up with the ideas and built the foundational technology that powers the "everyday" for you.
Maggie BBusiness and Data Analysis Consultant
983
04/08/20 at 4:28PM UTC
I'm a Consultant, but my role walks the line between Business Analyst and Project Management.
Key pieces of my job include process optimization, documentation updates, stakeholder communication, and reporting and task organization.
The 5 skills I've needed the most have been communication (both written and spoken!), documentation, stakeholder management, understanding objectives, and documentation. Yes. I said documentation twice. It's that important.
My best advice for a college student is to learn as much as you can about what you're passionate about. Continue to grow and change and fill yourself with the information and tools that excite you. Career choices can come later.
Leslie WassonStrategy, Insight & Operations
240
04/02/20 at 2:31PM UTC
I'm in a different field, but you might also be able to look on the web site of a couple technical colleges to see if they post a careers page for their computer science graduates that includes this information. Or email their chair...
It's way nice of you to be concerned with providing a broad set of possibilities for your talk.
Clydene HPassionately helping customers & succeed.
217
04/03/20 at 4:25AM UTC
Thanks. I could look it up, but I was hoping to get real-life, anecdotal experiences besides my own because I thought it would be more interesting for the students.
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