Ask HN: Career paths to consider if I am better at supporting than creating?
I have a BS/MS in computer science and about 9 years of experience, first as a backend developer and then as a product owner. I switched to product because I realized I wasn't good at implementation and system design, but my current PO role is a terrible fit—it demands technical design decisions I'm not equipped to make, causing severe anxiety. I enjoy supporting existing software, troubleshooting, customer support, testing, and being an interface between business and tech. What career paths should I consider that leverage these strengths, even if it means a lower salary?
You might look into roles like Technical Support Engineer, Solutions Engineer, or Customer Success Engineer. These positions heavily involve troubleshooting, customer interaction, and understanding both business and technical needs without requiring you to design new systems.
Have you considered Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) or DevOps? While they do involve some building, a lot of the work is maintaining and supporting existing systems, incident response, and troubleshooting—which you seem to enjoy.
Quality Assurance (QA) or Test Engineering could be a great fit. You mentioned enjoying testing software; QA roles focus on finding issues, automating tests, and ensuring quality, often with less pressure to architect new features.
Technical Program Management (TPM) or Product Operations might align with your strengths in being an interface between business and tech. You'd coordinate across teams, manage processes, and support delivery without owning technical design.
Don't underestimate the value of support roles. Companies like GitLab, Automattic, and others have fully remote support engineering teams that pay well and value exactly the skills you have. It's not necessarily a step down in salary.