How to Talk to Business as a Product-Oriented Engineer

Software engineers are technical people. They spend their days solving code puzzles, expanding their expertise, and developing deep understanding of programming languages. They are professionals who love their craft and constantly strive to be better at it.

But… is that really what software engineering is about?

The expectation gap: tech vs business

What does business want? Well… to do business. Simple, right?

They see the company through the lens of revenue, market expansion, increasing sales, and overall growth. Something that builds value, something noticeable, something that carves out its own piece of the market.

Now, what do developers typically expect? Write code. Expand knowledge, learn new things, try new technologies, position themselves as experts, often in a very specific area.

Here’s the thing - these expectations are fundamentally different, yet these two groups need to cooperate despite having different goals.

So how do we bridge this gap? Unfortunately, there’s only one group that needs to shift their mindset, and it’s the developers.

Companies exist to make money

This is the rough reality. At the end of the day, what matters is revenue. It defines everything from growth to the wellbeing of every employee.

So what produces revenue? Value. All the value a company can produce in its many forms. Some value can be sold directly (services), some represents long-term investments (open-source projects, R&D), some positions the company as niche experts (eCommerce specialists), some solves a very specific problem… you get the idea.

Every engineer should do everything possible to drive that value, deliver solutions, understand that value, and be part of it.

This is what engineers get paid for. It’s not expertise. It’s not deep understanding of a specific programming language. It’s about delivering solutions, and the goal as an engineer is picking the technology needed to make that happen.

This gap becomes even more visible in the AI era, when coding itself becomes faster and faster, and the focus on outcomes matters even more.

Expertise vs solutions

Obviously, it does not mean that technical people should become generalists who know everything. Specialization is fine - as long as engineers remain open-minded, have broader knowledge about programming fundamentals (databases, system design, and so on), and show willingness to solve whatever problems arise.

Most solutions don’t require deep expert knowledge. They’re solvable through short research, reading documentation, picking the right tools, and doing hands-on work.

How to work this way

Below is my blueprint for making engineering work more meaningful from a value perspective.

Understand the company IP - What’s the company’s intellectual property? What does it produce? What market problem does it solve? How is that solution delivered? Who are the competitors and what do they do? Embracing this context is essential. It’s having the big picture of where you are.
Foresee problems - With solid knowledge of the company, you can predict what to build next, what to improve, where the bottlenecks are, and where you as an engineer can see something others cannot, something that still impacts the final value.
Listen to customers - Talking to them or at least listening is key. Jumping on calls can reveal a glimpse of real issues that never make it into tickets.
Understand before solving - Dig into the problem space before reaching for the keyboard. The best solutions come from truly understanding what needs to be solved.
Notice we haven’t mentioned coding yet? - weird?
Picking the right tech stack - Choose what works best for the problem, without following hype or personal preferences.
Document when necessary - Prepare diagrams, specs, and functionality descriptions whenever they help others understand.
Implement lean - Demo quickly, gather feedback, repeat.

Essentially, it’s about being part of producing value. A real, open-minded partner who understands the needs, pushes delivery forward, and focuses on outcomes.

Want to discuss product-oriented engineering? Reach out on LinkedIn.