They’re fully immersed in every stage of a product’s life, from the initial idea to the final launch.” This hybrid role combines software engineering with product management and is centered on building products that strongly focus on user needs.

So, what is a product engineer?

Simply put, a product engineer is a software engineer who builds products. They perform tasks similar to software engineers, such as writing code and delivering features, but they typically focus on front-end full-stack development. But what makes them different?

What makes them unique is what they care about most: building a solution to problems that provides value to users. That’s why product users are their primary focus. Empathizing with users and caring about their feedback and usage data is crucial for doing their jobs right.

Basically, they have responsibility for the overall product they are working on, and that includes:

• improvement of old features and building new features
• deciding the future of the product
• choosing design decisions and creating great experiences for users
• fixing the parts that don’t work
• building a product from nothing

What are the characteristics of product engineers?

Caring about the people and organizations using your product is a big part of the job. That intense feeling comes from product engineers owning their product, which is why they also own the data and roadmap for that product. In this way, they are pragmatic. They are willing to build fast, iterate, or even from scratch if needed.

Product engineers also understand how their product fits in the business landscape. That’s why they know what makes their product unique and what their competitors are working on. Product engineers always back up their opinions with data and knowledge of the competitive landscape, ensuring they and their teams work on the right features.

They aim to streamline testing, infrastructure, and deployment processes to minimize time spent. Everything mentioned requires the ability to move quickly when necessary. This makes them less effective for companies with large, technically complex products, such as data tools or platforms for large enterprises.

As a product engineer, you aim to deliver an exceptional product. While briefs, mockups, reports, and presentations are essential, they’re not the final product. Instead, they prioritize prototyping, shipping, and experimentation to bring our vision to life.

Software engineer vs. product engineer?

Software engineers take a more idealistic approach. They are always looking for the best solution to the problem and trying to define best practices. That is why they are more suited to environments where technical excellence and optimization are paramount. That makes them a better choice for a product that requires specialization to scale and maintain

Product engineers own the product, but software engineers own the code. They prioritize problem-solving, system optimization, and the development of clean, secure code. While they have some flexibility in implementation, they are not involved in making product decisions.

What makes them different is what they strive for, but they still have one fundamental thing in common: They both write and commit code.