Ivy League Bachelors in CS and Stats, deciding between PM and SWE. I am looking to compare the roles on the following 4 metrics:AI-replaceability: how likely will AI reduce the number of jobs?Compensation Curve: which one makes more after undergrad, mid-career, and long-term at the senior level and beyond? which one promotes faster?Work-life balance: is either one considered more stressful or intense/tends to work more hours? If so, is the difference significantly large?Job Market: does either field seem to have far more workers than jobs? which one is more affected by layoffs?I have more of an interest/social abilities for PM, but if SWE is a much better path for financial and work-life balance purposes I would be willing to apply my background to that field.

Switching to becoming a PM is a whole lot easier than switching to SWE

How about what you actually enjoy doing in your life?

For the sake of society please work as SWE for few years. We have a bunch of imbecile PMs who are glorified sales men. Learn to do stuff before dreaming and selling.

Help Me Decide: Is PM or SWE right for me?

LeGoatJames in

Computer Science

Help Me Decide: Is PM or SWE right for me?

Ivy League Bachelors in CS and Stats, deciding between PM and SWE. I am looking to compare the roles on the following 4 metrics:

AI-replaceability: how likely will AI reduce the number of jobs?
Compensation Curve: which one makes more after undergrad, mid-career, and long-term at the senior level and beyond? which one promotes faster?
Work-life balance: is either one considered more stressful or intense/tends to work more hours? If so, is the difference significantly large?
Job Market: does either field seem to have far more workers than jobs? which one is more affected by layoffs?

I have more of an interest/social abilities for PM, but if SWE is a much better path for financial and work-life balance purposes I would be willing to apply my background to that field.

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madscienceSoftware Engineer

At this point, I don't see AI actually reducing the number of either of those jobs. I think it's a buzzword in the industry right now to help justify these layoffs. SWEs will tend to trend higher on salaries than PM, but they do not promote as quickly and there are far more SWE opportunities out there than PM opportunities, especially at a higher level. WLB is largely company/team dependent but I know my PMs work pretty consistent and predictable hours, emergencies usually get handled by on-call engineers and all that. What's your thought process on it all?

LeGoatJamesComputer Science

Thanks for your input! My thought process is leaning towards PM because I feel that my interest in it is greater, which would likely reflect in me being better at the role than I would be at SWE. I guess the only thing keeping me back is the fear of not using the CS and Stats that I worked hard to attain, but at the end of the day it seems like PM might be better for me financially since I would likely be better at PM than SWE given my natural inclination.

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