The product engineer spends their hours writing software, but spends their attention designing the product.
Rather than technical challenges, ownership over the product is what drives the product engineer. They're a force of nature. They're the hidden variable of power teams and nobody's paying attention.
Investors and founders are the entities of the startup ecosystem. Despite how strong an effect they have on the outcome — early employees haven't entered the lingo as first class citizens.
The product engineer isn't intrisincally interested in software — programming is merely the tool for maximal leverage on the world. They've been hacking since their teens, driven by being useful through technology.
Product engineers aren't a compromise of two different skills — one skill arises from the other. Song designers are musicians first. Book designers are writers first.
Yet we hire product-driven engineers like we hire technically-driven engineers. To the product engineer, the hiring dance feels overwhelmingly technical and full of misplaced energy.
In the world's top organizations, some of the most impactful engineers aren't the ones who know how to balance a binary tree. We're missing out.