I’m not good at my job and that’s ok

We do 360 impact reviews at Shopify every year, which are an honest and constructive reality check. I did not do well in most impact reviews, which simply means I’m not a great Product Manager at Shopify. (Hint: Recruiters, don’t hire me)

The only time I “met high expectations” was in 2020, because everything lined up perfectly. I was working in a small team I loved, a zero to one type of project, fast-paced, high impact and trust with leadership. I thought I had a breakthrough moment and if I do the same thing again, I might get promoted. 2021 was the opposite of that. It was a very different project, I was struggling, I did not love the work and eventually reflecting in my annual impact review with “usually meets" - I underperformed as a PM.

It was clearly not working for me. I felt burned out from work, COVID, remote working and moving back to Europe did the rest.

““It is necessary sometimes to take one step backward to take two steps forward.”

I had to remind myself what I want, what I’m good at, what my interest are and what I enjoy. I love learning new things, being an apprentice, zero to one projects and optimizing for these things:

1. Choosing what gives me joy, more options, not less and steep growth opportunities

2. Making more money, so you can do more of one #1

3. Never focus #2 at the expense of #1

That has led me to spending the majority of my free time coding and going down the crypto rabbit hole in 2020 - I loved it! However, watching price charts was not very fulfilling and I knew I have to go back to building. I realized that's where my passion lies and at the beginning of 2021, I was one of seven employees, who got accepted in an internal pilot program to do a 3-months software engineering bootcamp.

The program is starting next week and not only that, Shopify also started a blockchain team this year, so you can be sure that all my eyes are on it. :)

What is my goal for the next 3 months?

I’m not 100% sure yet what exactly my next role and job will look like, but I do want to spend the majority of my time next year coding and it will be in the crypto/blockchain/web3 space, even at the expense of my “career” and “money”, so that I can:

• Learn the basics of software engineering and computer science

• Build simple web applications with a modern web application framework

• Ship simple features to production at Shopify

• Understand and evaluate technical designs of software projects

Will everything come together? Only time will tell, but its worth trying!

I’m not good at my job and that’s ok

We do 360 impact reviews at Shopify every year, which are an honest and constructive reality check. I did not do well in most impact reviews, which simply means I’m not a great Product Manager at Shopify. (Hint: Recruiters, don’t hire me)

The only time I “met high expectations” was in 2020, because everything lined up perfectly. I was working in a small team I loved, a zero to one type of project, fast-paced, high impact and trust with leadership. I thought I had a breakthrough moment and if I do the same thing again, I might get promoted. 2021 was the opposite of that. It was a very different project, I was struggling, I did not love the work and eventually reflecting in my annual impact review with “usually meets" - I underperformed as a PM.

It was clearly not working for me. I felt burned out from work, COVID, remote working and moving back to Europe did the rest.

““It is necessary sometimes to take one step backward to take two steps forward.”

I had to remind myself what I want, what I’m good at, what my interest are and what I enjoy. I love learning new things, being an apprentice, zero to one projects and optimizing for these things:

1. Choosing what gives me joy, more options, not less and steep growth opportunities

2. Making more money, so you can do more of one #1

3. Never focus #2 at the expense of #1

That has led me to spending the majority of my free time coding and going down the crypto rabbit hole in 2020 - I loved it! However, watching price charts was not very fulfilling and I knew I have to go back to building. I realized that's where my passion lies and at the beginning of 2021, I was one of seven employees, who got accepted in an internal pilot program to do a 3-months software engineering bootcamp.

The program is starting next week and not only that, Shopify also started a blockchain team this year, so you can be sure that all my eyes are on it. :)

What is my goal for the next 3 months?

I’m not 100% sure yet what exactly my next role and job will look like, but I do want to spend the majority of my time next year coding and it will be in the crypto/blockchain/web3 space, even at the expense of my “career” and “money”, so that I can:

• Learn the basics of software engineering and computer science

• Build simple web applications with a modern web application framework

• Ship simple features to production at Shopify

• Understand and evaluate technical designs of software projects

Will everything come together? Only time will tell, but its worth trying!