Pros
The job involves wearing many hats, making the daily tasks diverse and engaging. A great place to develop strong skills in cross-functional communication, acting as the critical middleman between Sales, Marketing, and Operations.
Cons
Sadly, the compensation for this role is significantly below the industry standard for a Category or Product Manager with comparable responsibilities. There is no room to grow beyond a certain point, and there seems to be a lack of awareness of the efforts and quality of work that middle roles, such as a category manager, provide. Most of the grace goes to the salespeople who typically receive all of the information from people in our position. With the increasing lack of value placed on this role, there has been a slow decline in output due to unrealistic expectations paired with thankless and minimal rewards. People have left, been let go, and those left are burning out.