Book session
Available times (45 mins)
πAbout me
I'm a product/engineering founder who took the road less traveled to get where I am today. I've spent a ton of time building products, companies and teams (big and small), and I'd love to share what I've learned with you. Whether you're looking for advice on career paths, product management, engineering strategy, building your startup, team building, or just emotional support, I've got you covered. I've led product and engineering teams at companies like Climb Credit and BlackRock, and I'm currently building a platform called ResiDesk to help real estate companies orovide AI-enhanced customer, forecast renewals, and reduce turnover. So if you're looking for a friendly, informal chat about all things tech, let's connect!
Product Management
Skilled in
βοΈWhy I mentor
Talk to me about
π« Breaking into tech
π°οΈ Working remotely for the first time
π½ Presenting your work
π Dealing with imposter syndrome
π Being an immigrant in tech
π Launching products and measuring success
π» Managing remotely
π Product vision and strategy
π Mock interviewing
π Resume and portfolio review
π§π½ββοΈ Being self taught
π Year One in Product
π Working in cross functional teams
π£ Becoming a people manager
π¨ Changing roles
π¬ Giving and receiving feedback
π Preparing for the next level
π Getting the most out of my internship
Recommendations
Hereβs what Merit users have said about Arjun
I had a blast getting to talk shop with Arjun today around his experiences as a leader in Product and Engineering and startups in general. He has an incredibly riveting story to tell and left me with so much to think on for the next few weeks/months. From various resources and thoughts on translating Product from an eng background (it's the same!) to his own experiences on knowing when you're solving the right problem and how, it was SO valuable. Thank you so much for taking the time today, Arjun!
Bitly
Engineering Manager
Very strategic person. He is the man with clarity! He always knows what to do because he has a simple but strong navigation system. Everything he said completely resonates and is usefulβcustomer, customer, and customer. I shared my meeting notes with my team, and everyone enjoyed Arjun's wisdom.
Walmart
Director of Product Management Β· 5,000+ employees
It was an absolute pleasure to talk to Arjun. He shared quite a lot helpful tips and suggestion to work towards my PM journey. It was also refreshing to talk to him as he understands the roadblocks for the international candidates. I would look forward to be in touch with him in future. Also kudos to Merit team to create this platform as it helps to connect with likeminded people.
Northeastern University
MS in Business Analytics
βοΈ Recent Answers
π Is Product Management the new Software Engineering?
TL;DR I don't think it's the new software engineering, it's just a really cool profession experiencing a shift into a higher gear that anyone can look at and think it could be for them.
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I think we're witnessing two shifts simultaneously:
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the shift of the PM role in mainstream tech co's (outside of FAANG and early stage startups) from resource allocation jobs ("I have 20 story points and 4 engineers, how do I manage?") to opportunity cost minimization jobs ("where should we be spending time to create the most leverage")
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simultaneously, more of those high-paid product folks are telling their story outside their companies and more companies are getting started by 'product people'
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in parallel, we're at a phase where more company CEOs are coming from product (and not just the 'engineering'/'sales' founders)
Combine all this with the work that PMs say they do ("we decide strategy/manage stakeholdrs/work with customers/CEO of the product') and the things they dont say they do (endless meetings/resource management/decks on decks) and you have the makings of a vague and sexy job that seems like the best thing on earth (which it sometimes is).
I think the distribution and skew of the PM comp is important too - I expect itβs not highly paid until you get to deciding strategy and not just running sprints, and reflects the average but not median PM. These are more likely to be experienced ICs who become the first internal PM hire with institutional knowledge then become senior PMs for life, vs junior PMs who've only been PMs (as always, lots of exceptions)
