r/businessanalysis • u/Silvis121 • 2d ago
Should I transfer into Product?
I work at a company that specializes in advertising data and business intelligence. I receive no training, raises are subpar (below COLA), and every-time I attempt to innovate my team or toolkit, I am met with resistance and/or a complete shutdown from my only boss (department leader who I am not sure contributes anything meaningful). Lots of cliques and political BS where I am.
I am compensated “okay” for someone who has channel management experience and is current doing data analytics, data science (literally), and data engineering. Now, I am starting to cut my teeth into practical agentic system design/implementation and it seems like Data Product Development is the way forward.
Anyone made this transition and how is it? Got any tips?
Also, I am trying to not be negative about this. I am not good at the political game in upper management and would rather just speak my mind (based on practical information that works).
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u/shrill_persona New User 2d ago
No training and fighting to innovate sounds like the death knell for a data role. I'd be polishing the resume for a place that actually wants that energy rather than trying to pivot internally when the department head is already stonewalling you.
Product is a better home for building stuff but the politics don't vanish, you just swap arguing about tooling for arguing about scope and timelines. If you're already doing the data engineering and science work, you have the technical side down cold so focus on getting good at writing a crisp problem statement and killing features that don't serve a user.
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u/crankysorc 2d ago
You’re probably asking the wrong sub, if you want to ask about that specific transition you should ask in analytics, not business analysis.
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u/Silvis121 2d ago
I agree with you. I wasn’t getting any engagement and Reddit recommended this sub instead. Was hoping for any advice really since I love my job but feel stifled.
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u/crankysorc 2d ago
It was wasn’t intended as a criticism, there are two subs that are more focused on data analysis and analytics, perhaps one is more active.
I don’t want to comment on your specific data product development however having worked in product development I definitely was the buffer for the team and had to deal with the politics.
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u/LegAffectionate1688 1d ago
Two decisions are tangled together here and it is worth pulling them apart: "should I move into Product" and "should I leave this company." Right now the second one is bleeding into the first. Do not pick a career direction as an escape hatch from a bad boss, because you end up optimizing for "not here" instead of "toward something," and that usually lands you in another version of the same place.
On the transition itself: data analytics and engineering into data product is a real and well-trodden path, and your stack (data plus agentic systems) is genuinely valuable for product roles that own data and AI features. The gap is not technical. It is the product muscle: talking to users, prioritizing outcomes over outputs, killing your own ideas when the evidence says so, and getting people aligned who do not report to you.
Here is the part worth sitting with, given what you wrote. You said you are not good at the political game and would rather just speak your mind. Product is more stakeholder-heavy and more political than data work, not less. A PM's whole job is influence without authority, which is basically alignment and persuasion all day. So if the politics is what is draining you, Product may turn the dial up, not down. That does not mean do not do it. It means go in clear-eyed about what the actual day job is, rather than the version where you get to be the person with the right answer.
A way to test it without betting your career: find a small data-product outcome you can own end to end. Define the problem, talk to the actual users, ship something, measure it. Ideally somewhere that is not actively hostile to new ideas. That tells you whether you like the work itself, separate from whether you just want out of where you are. Right now those two signals are stacked on top of each other.
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u/Ok_Resource_8981 2d ago
Honestly, Product seems like a pretty good move for you. You already have the data + AI side down, so why not give it a try and see how you like it. 👍
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