Flairs to indicate level and sector - thoughts?

I’m so glad that this community exists and I have seen it grow since I’ve joined it about a year ago! I’ve always got excellent advice, and would be thrilled to make this community better and more meaningful in any small way.

What do you all think about user flairs? I don’t think we have that option currently, but would love a way for us to contextualize advice by way of level and sector, and even maybe location for salary q’s.

Wanted to validate before I sent a mod mail :slight_smile:

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Although all companies classify PM differently, I think there’s a universal standard that would work:

-Associate PM -Product Owner -PM -Technical PM -Senior PM -Director of PM -VP of PM -CPO

I don’t mind the years although that doesn’t tell the whole story either.

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PO is a different role altogether.

And being VP at a 10 people startup and being VP at Google is different. Even being a PM in 1k+ people company is completely different from being a PM at 50 people company.

PO is a subset - I report to a product manager who reports to a program manager.

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@Felipe, Regarding the PgM and PM, that’s an odd reporting structure. Usually it’s either the PgM reporting to a PM or the hierarchy is flat.

@Lawrence, Sometimes companies give POs strategic and / or technical responsibilities that fall under the PM umbrella. This is especially true in Europe where PO and PM is used almost interchangeably. And sometimes people desire a PM role but can only find PO roles at the time and spend time here to learn how to make that jump.

You have a great point about company size — it’d be good to see size added to the flair but at the risk of being too crowded / complex.

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Simple fix: add type of company/org.

E.g.:

  • APM; Public Big Tech (or “FAANG” or “BigN”)
  • VP; Series A/B/C Startup
  • Sr PM; Unicorn
  • PM; IT Dept F500

could even add type of product (B2B, B2C, Data, API etc.) as well

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I really like this. To confirm that I’m understanding what you’re saying, mine would be something like “APM; federal digital services consultancy”?

I find that this suggestion is similar to how the folks at AsianBeauty group at reddit flair themselves, ex: “NC30|Acne/Pigmentation|Combo|US”, which indicates skin color, issues they are trying to address, and skin type, which I super appreciate when I’m reading product reviews.

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Exactly, may as well provide full context (whilst still remaining anon).

It’s especially useful for product because of just how broad the career is in terms of the type of company people work for or the type of product you work on (which goes a long way in explaining a lot about differences in day-to-day experiences or things as simple as compensation practices).

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@Felipe, Agree with the ladder you’ve laid out, and the person can indicate is their org has unique spots (ex: no APM level)

@YuriRoman, Fair point; by context I mean where in the product space a person is in, and levels were the first thing I thought of. What flair info, even no flair info haha, would be helpful for you?

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I love that idea. It would be pretty neat to see comments with flairs that highlight different perspectives. It makes for a more wholesome and balanced discussion.

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@Donovan, Totally agree with that sentiment. I just recommended an article that was geared towards software PMs to someone in the career thread, and it turns out that they are in the financial services (not fin tech). Wish I would have known that off the bat, instead of assuming, so that I could have advised more accurately.

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