Musings from a Product Manager turned Programmer
Tags: programming, product, beginners, career
Published: 2023-01-24 16:37:01

I’m a former Product Manager, transitioning into software development. Read my "why" [here](https://dev.to/lynnzuk/product-to-programmer-why-i-gave-up-a-great-product-career-to-learn-to-code-h6e) if you’re interested. 

I’m a few months into this self-learning, full-time journey, and I’m frequently asked how it’s going. My response to this question varies by the hour, but here’s the gist.

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## The puzzle pieces keep multiplying.

Going into this, I knew that learning computer science fundamentals would be challenging. Memory management, anyone? And I knew that language syntax might get frustrating. What the F is `this` referring to this time? 

But the unexpectedly challenging part has been putting all the pieces together to build a basic full stack web app. 

You might be rolling your eyes: _“uh yeah, that’s hard.”_ Hear me out. I’ve been working closely with developers to build software products for the last 5+ years. I assumed that once I knew a programming language, an application with no cross-team dependencies, a tiny amount of data, no compliance concerns… should be child’s play! 

But taking even simple requirements, and turning them into organized code, layering on frameworks and databases, adding tests, handling errors, optimizing for mobile – it’s a lot. Put simply, **the breadth of technologies is overwhelming.**

The more puzzle pieces I fit together (things I learn), the more pieces seem to get added to the box (things I still need to learn). And each puzzle piece is a brand new challenge.  

Needless to say, the experience has been humbling.

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## But the “highs” are higher than I’d expected.

As a Product Manager, launching a new product is a huge accomplishment. However, the feeling of success is often muted by a few common realities:

 1. It probably took longer & cost more than estimated, hurting the ROI.

 2. In being Agile, you likely launched a just-barely “commercially viable” product without any wiggle room (scary).

 3. You had to say “no” to a handful of features that your stakeholders were hoping for.

The list goes on.

As a programmer, when you get your code working as intended, it feels like you’re coming out of a dark tunnel. The sunshine hits your face, you take a big breath of fresh air. You simultaneously want to linger outside, basking in all your glory, and hustle back down into the dark depths to begin the next feature.

Completing well-defined updates within a larger product can feel more gratifying than the product launch itself. Ok yeah, I’m hooked.

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## And the community is fantastic.

Imagine you’re exploring a new city. It’s big and a bit overwhelming, but curiously, everyone keeps handing you free stuff. And when you ask for directions, multiple people drop what they’re doing to point you towards your destination.

This city exists. On Github, Stack Overflow, Discord, podcasts, Reddit, Twitter, blogs, meet-ups. And I’m happily ending my stint as a tourist and getting a house.

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I’m always interested meeting more people in the tech community so don't hesitate to reach out on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynnzukerman/).

_Photo credit: [Pixabay](https://www.pexels.com/photo/assemble-challenge-combine-creativity-269399/)_