I certainly see the merit of folks that are functionally fluid in the company - it is even more valuable as I am new to a product team and many folks on the team were transitioned from Technical Account Management or Engineering roles who are my go-to for all onboarding questions.
The potential downside from a personal/career growth perspective, it takes a long time to climb up the ladder. Especially if your company is not growing or at the rate you are, it is hard to resist the temptation to jump ship when you can easily get a 20% raise (esp early on) and bigger tittle even if you don't necessarily dislike your current employer.
I'm one of those rotational alumni you talk about, who leans more towards fluidity than rigidity - this is a long-term strategy (ultimately my business acumen and toolkit is extremely rare and useful) that does produce some short term trade offs in the tech environment you describe (harder to climb a promotion ladder or to make a straight-forward case to move into a standardized functional position). Nevertheless, it's working in many ways. After stints in marketing, support, and CX, I'm now in the consulting business doing strategy and program management, but my next role could very well be in product or even sales!
I certainly see the merit of folks that are functionally fluid in the company - it is even more valuable as I am new to a product team and many folks on the team were transitioned from Technical Account Management or Engineering roles who are my go-to for all onboarding questions.
The potential downside from a personal/career growth perspective, it takes a long time to climb up the ladder. Especially if your company is not growing or at the rate you are, it is hard to resist the temptation to jump ship when you can easily get a 20% raise (esp early on) and bigger tittle even if you don't necessarily dislike your current employer.
I'm one of those rotational alumni you talk about, who leans more towards fluidity than rigidity - this is a long-term strategy (ultimately my business acumen and toolkit is extremely rare and useful) that does produce some short term trade offs in the tech environment you describe (harder to climb a promotion ladder or to make a straight-forward case to move into a standardized functional position). Nevertheless, it's working in many ways. After stints in marketing, support, and CX, I'm now in the consulting business doing strategy and program management, but my next role could very well be in product or even sales!
💯