jobs in the wild.

Within a month, I was also the PM. Not because anyone asked me to be — but because no one had written the PRD for the feature I was supposed to build. The feature: Options Grouping — a way for enterprise retail clients to configure thousands of product options at scale. No PRD existed. No API contracts were defined. No one had aligned with downstream teams. So I did all of it. I wrote the PRD. Finalized API contracts with 3 downstream teams. Built a React/Next.js dashboard with real-time sync AND a Java/Spring Boot backend. Designed a dual-mode ingestion system — UI-driven configuration + bulk Excel import with row-level validation. Shipped on time. Cut manual client configuration effort by 90%. Here's what that experience taught me: The best senior engineers don't wait for someone to hand them a spec. They see what's missing and fill the gap. Product sense isn't a PM-only skill. API design isn't a backend-only skill. Cross-team alignment isn't a lead-only skill. At 6 YoE, companies don't just want you to code. They want you to OWN. What's the most "not my job" thing you've done that actually helped your career? #softwareengineer #productengineering #careeradvice #leadership #remotejobs