Hiring product engineers like product managers

Product managers develop a deep expertise in specific domains, so for them it's easier to be hired again in the same domains.

Product engineers have this in common with product managers, being exposed to product work.

Pros:

• Product engineers with strong industry knowledge do better problem solving in that domain
• Product engineers with strong industry knowledge make better technology choices
• Product engineers with strong industry knowledge can communicate better in that domain

It's a better metric than years of experience. See Years of experience are not a good metric to assess someone's ability to do the job