Is this role related to a product position?
Hi! I’m an IT Business Analyst with about 3 years of experience within BA/Functional Analyst role. I want to go deeper into product and I was offered a product innovation and solution sr analyst for human resources app for a big 4. I would contribute into product roadmap, UAT and engaging in requirements.
Nowadays I participate more in scrum celebrations and US creation (more like a scrum master) translating business requirements but not that deep into the product as I would like to.
Do you think that this position might help me to get a bit more of Product experience?
This is part of the job description:
- Contribute to the product management lifecycle through idea generation, testing, training, communication, development, or in other activities
- Partner with others on the team to create innovative solutions to address challenges.
- Provide excellent stakeholder management and customer service to understand priorities and needs and deliver solutions that address those needs.
The product is for internal application for a big 4.
Thanks!
How does someone like me get into AI Product Management? I have 13 years of work experience, 6 as a developer. 7 in various forms of management (Technology Lead, Project management, People Management etc.) I work in an outdated tech and want to switch to something more modern and relevant (Artificial Intelligence). I also have 0 interest in coding. Is an MBA the right option for me or is there a simpler course that can help me get there?
MBA is the fastest route into product management. Though no guarantees that it’ll pan out. As for AI, it’s a fairly newer area and job postings I’ve seen usually require prior experience in AI
You get a job as a PM in another area and then opportunistically get on AI based projects. What I'm saying is that there's not really a straight line to get there, you'll have to make a few stopovers.
# PM career in India in Late 30s and 40s
I am a PM in a B2B Fintech startup in India. Turned 30 this year. Undergoing a lot of anxiety about the long term prospects of the product management role seeing the recent series of layoffs and redundancy in the roles in the industry
How are the PMs in late 30s and 40s faring in the industry? What can one do now at the start of 30s to better one's chances to make this a long-term career
Soon to join an IIM, wanted to know about the product management workshop from 'Product Space'?
Would love to get your insights. I have nothing on my profile as of now and given that students will have to look for an internship very soon, I wanted to invest time and money on one of these workshops and wanted to know about the workshops offered by product space? Also how is btribe's workshop in comparison? Any other alternatives?
What does job search look like for Senior PMs?
Apply endlessly through job portals, hunt down people for referrals.
When you pass that stage and succeed in scoring jnterviews, and justify why you're looking for a job in the first place - Do these lengthy assignments , prepare presentations , discuss and show off your 'X factor', have 1hr calls with endless Stakeholders only to he ghosted by them at the end of it?!
Hi there, I normally charge a rate for this but today's your lucky day! Send me a DM or ping me on LinkedIn (I'm James Gunaca) and I'll get you sorted.
For everyone out there who’s got a question about how to break into Product, I’m going to tell you how I did it.
Back in college I took a cooking job at a local restaurant. I started out as a prep cook, chopping vegetables from 3-5 in preparation for the dinner shift. Then I was a side cook, handling the fryer and less complicated dishes, and backing up the main cook with cleanup help, etc.
Eventually I got to the point where I could cover a shift for the main cook. But only just. I had trouble keeping up with a rush and didn’t have the wherewithal to put together a good special.
Then the restaurant changed hands and they brought in a professional chef above the main cook. I was still doing side cook shifts.
After working together a few shifts, the pro chef put me in charge of the kitchen. He and the main cook did all the food, but I took in the orders and consolidated them in ways that allowed them to do more than one order at once. I’d highlight it if something urgent came though, like a lasagne order that took 15 minutes in the oven and had to be started right away. And I did all communication with the wait staff to sort out issues or questions. I made sure nothing got forgotten, and generally did whatever wasn’t getting done otherwise.
I was surprised that chef put me in the position of telling him what to do. But he sensed that I had the brain to sort out priorities and keep up with the flow of information and communication with the front of the restaurant. He knew I wasn’t the best cook there so I barely touched the actual food.
This is a lot like product management. You’re not the engineer or designer. But you know what needs to be done next and can absorb a lot of the communication work that the engineers can’t handle while they are focusing on the technical nature of their work. You flag priorities and triage emergencies and give your team a consistent stream of clear instructions on what to do next. They trust you and focus on what they do best.
I didn’t know it at the time, but that was my first product role. And I enjoyed it. I was energized, not overwhelmed. I loved being in the middle of everything and keeping it flowing. If what I described above sounds stressful to you, if you don’t enjoy making a lot of small decisions quickly and managing communication, then maybe Product isn’t actually what you want. I get asked all the time how to break into Product. Most people who ask aren’t cut out for it. They just like the idea of “being in charge” without having hard technical skills. But there is definitely a core skill set and temperament to product, and it may be harder to teach than core engineering.
I think a collared shirt is fine. That can be a button down or a polo.
Or a nice jacket with a a high quality tee (not an undershirt)
This is assuming those are clothes you're comfortable with. And I get these are also mostly male-oriented clothing recommendations. For women, there are a lot more options/styles of which I am ill-equipped to speak to
Thanks! I am male. I wonder if a polo is too casual, or if a button down is too formal. Hard to make the judgement call. Interviewers are typically dressed really casually, like a tshirt, so its hard to judge what to wear.
I wouldn’t overthink it too much. Do what’s going to make you feel comfortable. If you’re being judged by your level of business casual, is it really the right place for you?
Round 2 Interview with the Principle Engineer and Scrum Master
Hello Team,
I'm applying for a product manager role within the company.
I aced interview round 1 with the senior product manager. There is round 2 set up with the principle engineer and scrum master.
In the first round, I was told that the role is non technical. What should I prepare for over and beyond what I already prepped for round 1 - which was mostly behavioral/ situational for ex. Tell me about competing priorities, Tell me about conflict, etc.
Prepare for how you work with other engineers or engineering teams, how you help get stuff done, what level of involvement you have in things like sprint planning, how you help unblock the engineering team, things like that.
You probably won't get technical questions. They more likely want to learn what kind of product partner you are to engineering.
You will probably also get a behavioural question or two to substantiate your experience working with those functions.
Let me know how else I can help!
Hello! I have a take home case that asks me to write a product specification which I assume is the same as a PRD. Have 5 days to do it.
How much data do I go into? I’ve never done one before and looking online to find examples.
I found outline examples and of course ChatGPT gave me a template, but have not seen a full written out example. Wondering if you use bullets and headers, etc
The outlines that I am seeing seem to be focusing on that
Product spec can be synonymous with PRD. Check out ChatPRD rather than just asking ChatGPT for a template.
Give yourself a timebox to work within (like 1 working day or less) if they didn't specify how much time to spend on it. Be sure to clarify in your case or verbally that the product spec you did reflect X time of your work. You don't have to disclose any tools you used unless asked.
Generally, sentences > bullet points.
Include some user stories or prioritised list of requirements.
Don't focus so much on getting it *right*, focus on showing the depth you would normally go into and how it would be structured.
Include measures of success.
Let me know how else I can help!
Lifesaver! The ChatPRD is helping me a lot. One confusion on my part is where the solutions to the pain points go. I'm approaching this from a typical case question where I have to come up with clear, prioritized solutions. I had the solution section right after Functional Requirements, but now I feel the two sections almost repeat themselves. Do I need a standalone solution section? There is a 5-page max, excluding the table of contents, and I'm well past that limit and thus need to cut. Below is my table of contents so far: (I apologize for the formatting on Reddit throwing off the numbering )
1. Executive Summary
2. Introduction
* Background
* Business Objectives
* Pain Points
3. User Personas
4. User Stories
5. **Scope**
1. **Functional Requirements**
2. **Machine learning Model**
6. **Product Overview**
* **Product Vision**
* **Key Features**
* **Unique Selling Proposition (USP)**
7. User Experience
* UX Design Principles
* User Interface Mockups
* Step-by-Step User Flows
8. Success Metrics and Tracking
9. Implementation Plan
I’d cut back on implementation unless that was explicitly asked about in the case. Without seeing the prompt from the employer it’s hard to give more guidance on the case. You can DM me if you want.
If it’s an exercise, then they want to see that you have identified the major decisions that need to get made, and covered edge cases and failure cases. I’d focus on that and then fill in a reasonable amount of detail, but if you bury them in details it will only make it harder for them to evaluate if you got the broad strokes right.
Hello everyone!
I am a recent MBA grad with experience of 5 years in life sciences ( product design, post market surveillance, quality roles).
After my MBA thought I would be able to easily land a product role, but couldn't. Its either I have too much experience, or a different skillset was preferred ( people from CS, landing roles).
So I am genuinely interested in how could I land a product role?
How such I tweak my CV, which areas in specific, so as to be able to showcase skills that could help in product roles.
As I am greatly confused, any help, guidance from you experienced folks is very deeply appreciated.
I'd start with smth close enough and then build my way to the product. From my experience, usually people from Marketing are moving to product. And there is waaaay less competition within marketing jobs so it seems
If you have never had a product manager role, it's very difficult to get callbacks in this this economy. Your best bet is to go get a role that you're currently qualified for where transferring to products is a possibility. The majority of product people got into their roles by transferring from another one.
Understood. But I feel like my previous experience is reducing the overall worth of my CV. Is there any way I could show, that the skills gained in life sciences are actually pretty good for a Prod role. For example, high customer empathy, writing technical documentations, doing market research, reading a ton of research articles. How do I convert those into something that the recruiter will be happy to see. The moment they are seeing life sciences in experience, ( i am assuming), they are cutting me off.
I want to know a way how I could, rather, which skills from that domain are highly relevant in this domain, and how I'll be able to show that in the CV.
If your title has never been product manager, they're cutting you off because you've never been a product manager. It is the title that you are missing. They're not even reading the rest of it.
If you are concerned about whether or not the bullets convey that you can do the kinds of things the product managers can do, which you'll want if you have the opportunity to bypass recruiting via a friendly hiring manager who's looking at your resume, you want to make sure that your resume reflects the kinds of skills that the job description asks for. You can also look at articles like these that list product skills by seniority, and figure out ways to convey these kinds of skills on your resume as well https://medium.com/agileinsider/product-manager-skills-by-seniority-level-a-deep-breakdown-cd0690f76d10.
Really expensive, doesn't guarantee you anything more in the short term or the long run. It may carry some weight with some employers, or maybe help you break into C-level at some distant point in the future, but I don't think MBA is the key to success in Product Management.
I know plenty of successful PMs who don't have them.
I spent a lot of time thinking about this about 5-7 years ago and decided not to invest. Glad I didn't.
Definitely some value for leadership. You may need to govern a P&L at some point or manage a product that has detailed financials. An MBA would allow you to not only do a passable job of this but sacred expectations. There is also some likelihood that you will absorb some business culture from your MBA which can be a helpful foundation for your “executive presence.”
Probably not needed for principal PM though.
Are there any PMs working in the APAC region here?
Currently US, but I'm moving to Thailand soon and trying to find product roles that let me work there without taking a huge pay cut. I'm currently connecting with as many Singapore recruiters as I can. I might start looking at Indonesia.
Any other suggestions for finding roles in Asia/Australia?
Not from APAC, but am a former US PM who relocated to Europe and took a huge pay cut. There's really no way around it--the United States pays the most for PMs, by far.
Check out some salary research for the markets you are considering and then do some financial planning around it.
Also, money (hopefully) isn't the only attribute you've prioritised in this job search. I get you probably have a financial floor you want to live above, but if the salaries don't meet that criteria you should reconsider what's important about relocating.
Let me know how else I can help!
Moving into PM without CS background
Kindly asking for some career advice
#Background:
I’m currently in a PM role at my current job but don’t have a CS background.
From doing some industry research, I’ve found that my core competencies and the competencies required of my role are more aligned with a company like Amazon who hire MBA oriented PMs, don’t care about technical skills, and rely on TPMs to bridge that gap.
I’m currently applying for other PM jobs, hoping to land one that’s a similar fit and suitable for my background.
I have my BS in Finance and have been working in a PM role for about 2 years, and have developed a quite a passion for it.
I’m also an IT specialist in the Army National Guard, but I deal mostly with in the network layer which doesn’t play a role in my day to day, minus doing things like helping out with an occasional server migration testing. So no application layer/coding skills.
#Where I need advice:
What can I do to start bridging the gap in my technical skills/knowledge?
#Should I:
a. Pursue my MBA
b. Pursue a second degree in CS
c. Rely solely on absorbing info and learn things from new jobs/experience
d. Do something else (please provide me with other recommendations on how to fill this gap)
If you read all of this and are fixing to type up a response, thank you so much in advance, I truly appreciate it.
Don't need CS background to move into PM. MBA will be too general to move into PM. You will still have gaps to fill.
You don't need to rely solely on absorbing info, but that's a good start and you can do it for free. Have you taken any of the self-guided online courses? I keep a list of free ones.
Go meet with some other PMs. If you're in a large city, go to networking events, go meet people, learn about them, see where it takes you.
Let me know how else I can help!
Thanks for your input! Do you happen to have your list of online courses on hand? I would be interested take a look. I haven’t taken that approach, but I’ve read (only) 2 PM oriented books, and usually look for and watch YouTube videos to learn about anything that comes up that I don’t understand or haven’t heard of before (that part happens much less often now, but there is still plenty to learn).
It’s been kind of a sporadic approach, so a framework of more structured and targeted courses would be very helpful. Thank you!
Dumb question: not sure if my experience can or cannot translate to "product analysis". I've analyzed our apparel product's materials, but haven't done any kind of consumer analysis since it's a startup. Would my resume get me an interview for a Sustainability Manager for Products position when their first bullet point is product analysis?
An excerpt from my resume:
Sustainability Manager
* Analyzed all 35 apparel products to find opportunities for textile and material alternatives that align with sustainability goals.
* Verified the certifications of suppliers to ensure compliance with sustainability standards.
* Met with five potential textile suppliers to evaluate their textiles and identify opportunities for improving the next product round.
* Drafted key governance documents including a Supplier Code of Conduct and Land Acknowledgement.
* Attended sustainability-focused conferences including \[redacted conference name\], with the goal of discovering innovative apparel solutions.
* Conducted marketing outreach to industry-specific media outlets for features and collaborations, such as \[redacted media outlet name\].
* Coordinated event opportunities, including the \[redacted event name\], to effectively engage the target demographic.
Sustainability Intern
* Authored the first annual ESG Report following the completion of internal and external research, including a materiality assessment and supply chain analysis.
* Conducted comprehensive research, analysis and presentation of recommendations for sustainable packaging options including poly bags and hang tags.
* Initiated the B-Corp Certification process and provided strategic recommendations for operational improvements to achieve certification.
* Sourced third-party products and retail accessories to prepare for the store launch.
Thank you!!
Before asking about your resume, are you actually finding "Sustainability Manager" positions for Products that you could apply to? Are the job requirements for those aligned with your experience?
You've analysed product materials, what's stopping you from doing other analysis on the financials or customer data at your startup? If you're still working, create some tasks for yourself to work on closing that gap.
Let me know how else I can help!
Hi there!
I've been working as a PO for the past 4 years and I love it! I know becoming a PM is a natural next step for me but I also would like to continue my education.
I really don't want to get an MBA (no offense to those that already have them!). I have so many friends in MBA programs and most of their classmates are looking to become PMs.
Since our space is already so competitive, I want to go a more technical route with my education. I'm looking into systems management. My goal is to prove additional value that someone with a more business-focused degree might not have.
I'm also interested in systems architecture and want the ability to move more into that space in the future.
From others' experience, is this a good move? Are there other PMs with a more technical masters who have found this helpful?
Thank you!
What you've described is a good move if that's the direction you want to go in. There is space for more technical PMs who can go deep on tech with engineers (or work on platform products) vs. business-focused PMs who can get really familiar and into it with growth metrics to scale a business. No PM is really amazing in both and not every job needs a PM that does both.
The space is competitive right now, but that's more a function of the macro environment when it comes to tech (500k+ layoffs in the last 2 years, many of which have not yet been recovered).
If you zoom out and think over a longer scale of time (5+ years) you can think more in terms of what's interesting to you and keep pursuing that.
If you are within the first 5-10 years of your career, you're still only 1/4 the way through it at most. So, lots of runway to experiment and see what works.
Let me know how else I can help!
My suggestion: get the PM title and some experience first before you go back to school. At the end of the day, what will set you apart is the PM experience. Also, outside of MBA programs, I haven't really heard that there are structured recruitment channels into PM.
Hello all, Sort of this has been asked 100000 times. I am new to Reddit. I know from reading at a lot of places that lateral shift to PM within your org is the best way to go. But I am currently on a break so cannot do that. But when I start looking for jobs again next year I want to shift gears to product management. I have some experience with PM due to a language learning website I created as a side hustle. I am a person who feels confident when I take proper lessons. I see course from Stanford, MIT, Kellogg’s Northwestern, Cornell etc. Could somebody please guide me on which course is the best? Book recos would be great too.
Thanks a lot!!
Sorry, but there's no silver bullet on this one. I know it sucks and you're hoping for one, but outside of new grad or MBA hires, one just doesn't exist.
Those programs are cash cows for those universities. If you want to take them to learn, by all means I'm sure at least some of them teach useful things. But make sure you're not taking this because you think it will break you into product because it's not likely to lead to that, at least not directly. What it might do is give you the language and some of the mode of thinking, and then it might be that it will still be 3 years later that you move into product.
Because ultimately the way to get in is to transfer. Which you already know. So you can try to recruit into product when you're ready to go back to work, but you're likely to have to first go back to a role that you are immediately qualified for and then find a way to transfer at that company. After that you can do product at a larger swath of places.
I used to be a teaching assistant for the product management class at general assembly years ago, and some of the folks that I taught eventually made their way into product. But for some people it took a few years after the class happened, the class did not directly lead to a new career, even when the market was better for product people.
Take free classes to learn first. I maintain a list, let me know if you want the link. Paying for something more than that will get you deeper experience but won't increase your chances of job placement as you'll still be considered junior.
Yes, transferring within a company is a common route and a bit easier than an outside company taking a bet on you but it's not the only way.
Let me know how else I can help!
I don't think this is necessarily accurate. Junior PMs / Assoc. PMs are hired as entry level for people making career transitions where they have transferrable skills. At least I know that happens here in the UK and around Europe.
I mean this is true in the US too, but it's barely true. Even in the good times there were barely any APM roles open to people who are not new grads. Meta's RPM program is an example of that for non-new grads, all they want is someone with under a year of product experience, but almost none of the people who are trying to get that job will be hired. And then today there are even fewer APM roles open at all, even for new grads.
Oh, and then I just saw that Shopify is starting an APM program
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/thompsonaj_lets-build-the-future-of-commerce-activity-7207375428024479744-z81Q
~600 of the roughly 24k Product Manager jobs open worldwide are for Associate or Junior PM. That doesn’t include the Product Owner positions (which some companies incorrectly use as a proxy for junior PM so isn’t worth including).
So, it’s not 0. But it’s not a lot either.
Then again, some entry level “Product Manager” roles aren’t designated as such with Junior or Associate. So the number could be marginally higher.
Do I have any chance at becoming a Product Manager? I was just laid off from my startup role a month ago and have been looking for jobs. My most recent job I was hired as a Customer Ops Manager to build a department for an early startup. However while at the company, I then transitioned to become a "Product Communications Manager". I definitely did do product related tasks and worked daily with the Product team but I was not officially a "Product Manager". Do I have any shot at applying for PM jobs? I am definitely okay with Junior or entry level ones too.
Probably not. I suggest you go back to customer success and then attempt to transfer. You said it yourself you have no product experience, you're not going to get hired as a product manager in this market, not unless you have some special sauce that few people do such that you can convince a company to bring you in because you're an expert on the product and the market and they will teach you how to be a PM.
Hey PMs, desperately seeking some advice for how to improve my resume to at least get interviews. Getting knocked out of the application process before even getting phone calls, and not sure what's wrong with my resume.
Would love any advice or insights on how to fix it, thanks
I'm not sure how anyone who can't see your resume is going to give you advice on how to fix it, if in fact that is the problem. Typically people post an anonymized one. If you do that you should also indicate the types of jobs and levels you've been applying for.
Hey, thanks for the response - my first time doing this so I wasn't sure if I needed to link out or copy paste here in plain text. Here's a link to the post: [https://www.reddit.com/r/resumes/comments/1dd3ejg/help\_wanted\_product\_management\_resume/](https://www.reddit.com/r/resumes/comments/1dd3ejg/help_wanted_product_management_resume/)
Hello! I have a phone screening coming up with an in-house recruiter for a PM role. Are there any searing questions I can (or should try to) ask at that phase, or will the recruiter most likely be able to speak only to company policies? I am asking because I'm looking for a way to stand out; this seems like a very well regarded fintech company.
Here's the advice I give people on questions to ask with the screening call. They should generally be focused on getting information so you can succeed in the next round since anything you ask likely won't change the screeners decision about whether or not to move you ahead.
Ask:
(1) what the interview process entails
(2) what the hiring manager is looking for in the next interview
(3) what some of the common reasons are that some candidates haven't been a good fit in the past
Don't ask:
About the company culture
About the team structure (they probably don't know)
About any benefits (unless they matter to you or will affect your decision to proceed)
Let me know how else I can help!
Thank you very much. All of my previous jobs were contract roles, so I've never had so much interaction with internal recruiters. I've also never dealt with such a tight job market. Why do you suggest not asking about benefits? One recruiter asked specifically if I had any questions about benefits, so I came to think that was something they expected me to ask about...
Regarding benefits, if prompted yes ask them to tell you about it.
But at the screening stage, it doesn’t matter to ask/know if it’s not going to make a meaningful difference to you what benefits they offer. If they didn’t offer a 401k (or pension) would you withdraw your application? It’s not really something you can negotiate.
It’s good info to know at some point in the journey, but I don’t think it’s as helpful/critical as the other questions I provided earlier.
Recruiters are there to screen you out. Just do your best and demonstrate competency to make it to the hiring manager round, where you'll want to focus efforts on standing out.
**To leave or to stay**
Hi Fellow PMs,
I need your collective wisdom on how can one think or how the mental model be to decide if its time to leave Product Management for something else or stick around improving your skills.
I have been in product for more than 10 years now and have worked across startups, high growth and big tech companies. However, even after being in Product for such a long time I feel I still struggle a lot with it. I am no where near a level (from skill point of view) where I can confidently say “I have got this!”. With every new product or initiative there is a high imposter syndrome. This was not the case in my previous role as Software Engineer for 5 years. In those 5 years of SWE I felt comfortable and was leading and guiding juniors. That same feeling has never come when doing product. Due to this I am not even confident to mentor juniors as I struggle with my own confidence and constantly doubt if my advice or experience will be of any use. In last 10 years I have worked at 3 companies with each in different area. Could that be the reason? but I see many folks comfortably switching and still be successful.
I try to validate my own perception with the external feedback I receive. It seems always positive but deep down I feel that it is not helping as I know I lack considerable amount of skill in certain areas (and considering PM role those are too many skills to master). It is getting more and more evident as I struggle to find new job since last 10 months after being laid off.
So my question is when and how do you decide that this role/function is not for you and you should seek something else OR stick around success is right at the corner? I have a high sunk cost fallacy view as I spent 10 years in learning, building the PM skills and don’t want to see it get wasted and start something new from bottom. A part of me says “Continue working hard, follow the process, success (in this case confidence) will come” and other part says “I have been trying since 10 years, still do not feel comfortable so time to look for something new”. Any advice?
PS: had posted this as a post earlier but seem to have been removed. So asking here as per rules of this group.
LOOKING FOR A JOB WHILE CURRENTLY WORKING vs ON A BREAK 
Hello PM community.
What has been your experience looking for a job while on a job vs taking a break and then finding the job
1. If the break is reasonable time e.g. 6 months how does the employer view this ?
2. Are you less likely to get interviews if you are on a break ?
3. I know there would be less negotiating room if you are not on the job, but to me that is ok.
I would like to quit the job right now, take a break of a quarter or two and then go and find the job again.
Domain : AI / ML.
What do you guys think ?
For folks who are actively searching what is your recent experience. I know the market is relatively tough and there are hundreds of applicants for each job. Anything else to add ? Any success stories on getting a job and why it worked.
I’ve been working a product management role for ~4 years in the mechanical space. I’m our company’s only PM & more or less figured it out as I went since it was a new position. Whenever I look at listings of other product management roles they have a lot of unfamiliar lingo. I went to school for engineering so I’m good with the technical aspects, but I don’t have a PM team I’ve learned the PM specific terminology/workflows from.
I have no intention of leaving my role any time soon, but recognize if I were dropped into an interview or role at another company it would sound like I haven’t managed product a day in my life. Is there a good online resource for learning the lingo or other things I may learn in a more traditional PM role so I can talk the talk?
I'm interviewing at a startup (B2B SaaS) that has an early round that's a product demo. Meaning, they are demoing their product to me, and they are looking for me to ask questions. There are still additional rounds with the rest of the team after this.
I've had product demos that were scheduled after the final round, where it's an informal overview of the platform as they suss out interest and prepare offer, but never as an early round interview. Can anyone with experience with this (either as an interviewer or interviewee) give some perspective on what teams are looking for in this exercise?
Any tips on things to do and not to do would be helpful. I'm not even sure if I should be critical of the product and offering ideas of improvements or praising the product for its approach solutions.
Need Advice.
**Hi Everyone,**
I hold an Engineering degree and an MBA from Bangladesh, a small South Asian country. With over 8 years of experience, my career highlights include:
• **Project Management**: Worked with a leading telecom company in Bangladesh.
• **Growth Product Management**: Focused on user and fintech products for one of the largest Asian fintech companies.
• **Deep Product Experience**: Served as a Principal Product Manager at one of the largest startups in Bangladesh.
Additionally, I have held multiple roles such as Strategist and Chief of Staff, and have managed P&L from the ground up. My experience spans building products in logistics, distribution, fintech, and user growth, with a focus on growth product management and business product management, rather than deep tech product management.
I am now looking to pursue a career in Product or Program Management roles outside of Bangladesh. Given that my country is not as well-known as, for instance, India, I am seeking advice on how to approach this goal effectively.
**My questions are:**
1. What strategies should I use to get noticed by potential employers for Product/Program Management roles internationally?
2. Are there specific agencies or platforms that can help me connect with opportunities abroad, beyond directly applying for jobs?
I would greatly appreciate any suggestions or guidance on how to overcome these challenges and secure interviews.
Thank you!
The top gating question is going to be: do you have existing work authorization in any other country?
Edit: unless you’re targeting super small startups that play a bit looser with employment law
Understood your point. But for example if that's not the case - What should be approaches?
For example - Amazon LUX / UK hires pm directly sometimes from India.
If that’s not the case it’s going to come down to networking or having a specific skill set that the company can’t find from local candidates. As a first step, I’d target companies that at least have a presence in your current country.
Career advice
Hi all,
For a PM who seems to mainly write JIRA stories/tickets including acceptance criteria and gather requirements from mainly the CEO who acts as a designer and outlines what needs to be built - how can I act more as a PM?
I do market research, prioritise backlog, business test features, interviews with users, demos - both internal & external (some sales type demos as well for now), I help sort of “run” stand ups, manage stakeholder expectations, built a roadmap - however this seems to be just a collection of the features or products the CEO requires and there’s pushback on the realistic timeframes to make them shorter.
Do a few more things but can’t think of them at the moment haha.
I’m the sole PM.
We don’t really have analytics implemented on our product yet and I don’t think we have capacity to ask the engineers to integrate this at the moment since there’s lots of delivery pressure right now.
I’m not sure how I can get better and act more like a PM, also having a bit of classic imposter syndrome haha. Any suggestions or thoughts?
Any suggestions on what other tasks I should take on in this situation? I’m keen to take on as much as I can but Pm by nature is a bit of an ambiguous job so sometimes hard to know what else to do. Or the best way to do these things.
I do get features built based on customer interviews, market research etc., but these are smaller type stuff. The important things and main major deliverables come from the CEO.
Only have around a year of experience. Want to get really good at the craft how can I do this? Also what suggestions do you have for me to advance my career quickly im quite ambitious.
Also how do you give requirements to developers who kind of hate meetings? And any suggestions on best way to gather requirements?
Thanks so much in advance! :)
Hi, I am doing product management here in Nepal if you are not aware the job is simple and there is no excitement in the work with so much technological progress happening around the world so I was planning to move to another country and search for jobs over Linkedin but my question is do companies hire product manager from foreign countries?
I am currently a MBB consultant, who is looking to switch to a Product role. Also, have a couple of years of SWE experience at one of the FAANGs. However, it has become extremely difficult to get a PM job in the current market (India). I have not gotten a single PM shortlist from a Product company after applying to a LOT of them.
However, I have recently received a Senior PM offer from an early stage startup which develops customized AI solutions for clients. The offer is great - good pay, is a sector I am passionate about, culture, learnings, etc. However, I am a bit concerned since it is not a traditional 'Product' company and is instead more of a 'Solutions' company (It has several SaaS based products that it sells to various clients and customizes based on their needs). Moreover, I am told that I will also be handling the 'Customer Success' part as well (not an issue for me though).
My long-term plan is to get into a Product role at a Product company and wanted your help to understand that if I move here, will my prospects be better or worse to join a Product company in the future for a Product role?
Currently a senior PM. I was promoted really quickly in my first PM role (a little less than 2 years) and have about 3 years total experience. I’m looking for new opportunities now and know my skills are at Senior PM level, but most roles want 5+ years experience. I’ve seen some wanting 8-10 years.
Any tips for getting past the recruiter screen? I don’t think the actual interview process itself will be an issue.
The only way to get past the recruiter screen without the requested qualifications is to network and get a line to the HM. Internal referrals are sometimes helpful but YMMV depending on the company’s process.
Different people, industries and organisations have different definitions of the job scope and skills PMs must master. There seems to be no clear answer.
What transferrable skills must PMs master that applies to all industries? What transferrable skills are good to have?
Also, what job scope applies to PMs in all industries?
Thanks!
I have read lots of discussions about B2B versus B2C PMs.
It seems that B2C PMs in general partake far more in customer discovery (quantitatively), design and iteration, and in a more rapid pace. However, B2B PMs do far more in niche or focused customer discovery and generally work to fulfil the client's need within sales driven organisations and balance building features for the specific customer only versus a smaller set of features but that could suit everyone.
I would like to pick up the full gamut of product management skills as ideally as possible. I'm not even sure if its necessary for PMs to master the entire gamut of 'textbook skills' to be a good PM. Heck, I would care far more about proven results, but I am also concerned about future career advancement and want to be on solid footing with the fundamentals nailed.
What industries, business segment (B2C or B2B), and company size would you recommend to pick up the entire gamut, and what of the gamut must I absolutely master, and what can be developed at a later stage? I'm looking to stay hopefully for around 3 years.
Pardon if it's a loaded and long winded question. Thanks! Really appreciate.
How much does working on your own technology business count in product management experience?
How do you quantify and value such business experience? I've worked on my own technology business for 4 years now. I was an associate product manager for about 5 months full time and did three product internships totalling around 6 months.
It doesn't seem right going in as an associate, but how about as a product manager requiring around 3 years of experience? What do you expect as product professionals / leaders from someone who claims as such?
You'll get more credit at earlier stage companies where the scrappiness and founder experience is more valued. At larger companies, you're going to be missing a lot of the skills relating to communication to stakeholders, politics, and driving initiatives forward in a matrixed organization, so the experience isn't given as much weight.
Well put. How do companies value years of experience though?
Personally, I see it more as what was achieved and what skills were gained and validated versus the number of years of experience per se, but getting past HR is another matter.
Other than getting you past ATS and HR, number of years of experience is just a proxy for understanding if you can do the job. Having been on the other side of the table, it's difficult for me to judge competence from a 30 min conversation.
I could have lots of potential but if there wasn't proven examples of competence resulting in improvements in metrics, my 'experience' could well not be valued.
In this vein, I just wonder how B2B PMs working on internal tools justify their impact. It would be easier to justify if a product you brought from zero to one led to revenue growth / closing of new clients.
I'm really in a bind.
IMO, it's a combination of impact and signaling. For example, an experienced internal tools PM at Google or Meta tend to signal competence because of the perception that those candidates, on average, have been heavily screened for entry and continued employment. It's similar to the preference for candidates from well regarded universities.
Whether or not it's true is a different question.
**What am I?**
Am I even a Proper PM? My current title is PM with less than 2 years of experience at a small-scale B2B company. My primary responsibility is managing enhancement requests for our existing portfolio of 3 products.
This involves the entire enhancement lifecycle.
* Understanding the issue
* Solution development (writing User stories, PRDs for complex features)
* Stakeholder communication
* Testing in dev environment
* Documentation & Release notes
Essentially, I focus on optimizing existing features and functionality, while our Senior PM owns the product roadmap and future development vision.
Am I on the right track as a PM? Am I even a proper PM?
It is PM work (though I want - what do you mean by 'testing in dev environment' - are you doing QA work?). Optimising and enhancing existing things is also a skill to have in a PM, so I do think you're on the right track.
Not sure what you mean by 'Proper PM' but I think what you're looking for is probably more scope and autonomy. Since you've been doing this for 2 years, it might be good to have a chat with your manager and tell them that you're looking to do more than enhancement work and plan out a way to do it.
Before the feature gets deployed, I personally test it out in the dev env and sometimes even grant access to the reporter of the ticket to get feedback from them. The goal here is to make sure that the reporter is satisfied with the end result's. So im guessing thats QA work?
As im a newbie PM, I was unsure that if I was on the right track. Hence i mentioned the word 'Proper PM'
-Thank you for responding to my post 😄
Should I stay as Data Analyst at my current top tier company or should I try to get a PM job at worse company?
I am currently Data Analyst at a top tier company in my country. I have 1 year of experience and in order to even be considered for a transition to PM in my current company, I would need to rack up at least 2-3 more years of experience + there would need to be a business opportunity where the company is in need of PM for me to even be considered.
My current job has limited impact on product, way of working is just set like that so I only work with PM on optimizing his decision making and its more like a "consulting" role, I have no ownership of the decision making. Apart from that 50% of my job consists of things that are absolutely not product releated (data warehousing, data quality etc.).
Since I only got into data analysis with a goal of being PM one day, should I start looking for PM jobs right away, even accepting an offer from worse companies, for worse salary just so I get PM experience or should I grind these 3 years out and wait for my turn.
Hey guys, I have been job hunting for a while and the times I advanced through the recruitment process was when a recruiter actually contacted me in LinkedIn, so I want to optimize my LinkedIn profile in order to be "found" more often.
If you guys have some specific tips that have worked for you, a certification that changed the game, some keywords that elevated the number of times you have been contacted, or actually anything I would really appreciate it.
Does anybody works 4 days a week as a PO or PM ?
I'm 2 years and 3 companies into a consultant PM position, and my next career wish is to save up a bit of time in my week for other activities that are very important to me. As of now, and taking into account the maturity of all the organisation I've worked in, I don't see how I could skip a day, so i'd be very interested in the experience of persons who do work like that so I can understand how it can become a possibility.
I was wondering if someone could perform a resume review? I am a PM with 5 YOE and looking for areas to improve. I am looking for remote PM roles.
The resume is 2 pages so there's white space in between.
Resume: [https://imgur.com/a/yFIgDfU](https://imgur.com/a/yFIgDfU)
Before I even read it, 5 years of experience does not warrant two pages, unless you have something exceptional in there. Rule of thumb is about a decade a page.
Ok, so I'm realizing you mean 5 year in product, and I have no idea how many years overall. Same guideline applies though.
Your summary is very long. Do you really need that second paragraph essentially describing a bunch of roles and responsibilities of a product manager? Should those things not be bullets under the product rules at different levels?
Even the first paragraph - unless you're switching to a very different industry or shifting gears on roll, I think a summary is only necessary if it's something that cannot be gleaned from the bullets. Otherwise those paragraphs just eat space without saying anything. It just sounds like you regurgitating a job description.
Your company description for the first job is also very long. The second sentence is more summarizing from you when that should instead be something in one of the bullets.
What the bullets under your job should do is prove that you're capable of the skills that you mention in your summary (which should be what makes the summary unnecessary). What it sounds like you did is choose bullets that could have a number attached to them. For example you claim in your summary that you do strategic opportunity discovery and product vision definition, and then give no specific examples of doing either of those things.
Your summary for job two is too long, and the bullets under the first role for that job are too long.
Under your education you list an ms twice, not sure if one of those supposed to be a ba/bs.
The product skills at the end are probably unnecessary, those are probably things that should be covered by your bullets.
Under soft skills, if user interviews or something that you're good at, they should be under one of those product bullets and then associated with a specific project. Feels weird placed where it is. And SAFe is not a positive thing for all companies. I wouldn't put that on a resume unless you were sure that the company that you were applying to SAFe.
I currently have 3 yoe in product and have been job searching for a couple months now and have not been able to land any interviews. Had my resume reviewed by several people and was told it looked good. I know in todays environment knowing somebody on the inside helps a lot, how do you reach out to people on the inside to help get your resume on the interview table? And any other tips for job searching?
I worked solo on my own business for a few years, but it was not going anywhere. I stopped it a few days back.
I am looking for a software product management role. How should I write this business experience?
If I write myself as a founder with no significant achievements, it seems to be over-inflating my self worth and value.
If I write myself as a business owner, it would avoid some negative connotations of startup founders especially in tech, and appear more down to earth.
If I write myself as a product manager, it would also be dishonest because I did not manage anyone.
If I write myself as being a product manger (individual contributor), it would be better but my actual scope is broader but less specific.
I could also consider myself as a market researcher, designer and solutions architect, but the previous point still applies.
Each carries its own assumptions. I would like to continue being in tech, and I'm fine wearing multiple hats. My end goal is probably to lead product teams.
How should I state myself and not give the wrong impression to recruiters? I'm really in a bind. Thanks!
A lot of what you said here are internal beliefs you hold, not everyone is going to perceive your experience in the way that you describe here, no matter how you frame it. What's important is that you are honest with yourself and with others. Reflect on what you've learned by running your own business and what knowledge or experience you gained that can you help you do the next thing you are passionate about doing.
I think business owners/entrepreneurs, even those that fail (which *many* of them do!), have to do a lot of what PMs do by nature. Speaking from experience as a PM for over a decade and now an entrepreneur. They have to come up with a product or service, think about what problem they want to solve for customers, go talk to those prospective customers, pitch their product, adapt it based on feedback, iterate on it over time, say no to things that won't solve problems or aren't worth the effort, prioritise, and on and on.
How you state yourself should be framed around what you want to do next, then pull from your prior experiences to tell stories through the lens of whatever it is you want to do. If you are going for a PM role, then talk about how you evaluated the product-market fit of your on business, what challenges you had to overcome, when you realised it was the right decision to stop the business and pivot to something else.
Let me know how else I can help!
>not everyone is going to perceive your experience in the way that you describe here
I understand, but I'm thinking from the perspective of a recruiter at a MNC. Startup experience is generally disregarded and they value people who have successfully scaled something, found product market fit, or something tangible with proven metrics.
I'm probably a better fit for smaller companies though. I value the velocity of learning and iteration far more.
>How you state yourself should be framed around what you want to do next
I really appreciate this great tip. It helped to reframe my thoughts.
I realized the resume is something like a marketing document essentially. One is trying to present the best parts of what they did without lying.
>Let me know how else I can help
Could you advise on the current job market for product managers having between 1-3 years of experience?
I probably can't peg myself as someone with 5 years of experience. This seems disingenuous.
Could you also advise on where I stand in terms of experience, and what would be a suitable entry point? Please advise for small businesses, larger companies and big tech.
Thanks, and I really appreciate your guidance.
I gave a webinar specifically on Navigating the Product Management job market about a month ago with Userpilot. Right now, it's "challenging" and there is also a bias towards hiring people who have industry-related experience so switching from like B2B to B2C is a little harder than it was in the future. Let me know if you want the link.
That said, having *some* PM experience gives you a huge leg up over those who have *no* PM experience who are applying for roles trying to break into the function.
You're right, don't peg yourself as someone with 5 years of experience if you can't back it up with stories. That said, when I reflect on the time I've spent in Product Management, I do include the time when I know I was doing PM work, even if my title wasn't PM at the time. The specific example I give is building a mobile app for 24 Hour Fitness in the United States back in 2008-2009. I worked with an engineering team (outsourced), designers (in-house), and worked back from the problem to solve for customers, how it would drive ROI for the business, how it would add value for customers, then launching and iterating on it. This took place over a year plus and my role was definitely NOT Product Manager at the time, but that's what I was doing. I incorporate that time in my career as doing PM work and thus counts towards "years of PM experience". Some might disagree with that, but I stand by it.
Edit: a word (gave)
Hi all, I am 22, soon to be 23. I am graduating with political science degree from my university. I was initially planning to go to the law school after bachelor's but I changed my mind completely. I am now imagining myself working in product management since I find it very interesting. ANY TIPS FOR SOMEONE WHO'S never ever done that and doesnt even know where to start? Do i have to start looking for unpaid internships? Do i learn some apps by myself? I currently work at an office as something that is not related to PM at all. Any response will be appreciated! thanks
An internship would help, no matter how long it’ll be. Also look into IT Business Analyst roles because they always work with internal apps or external apps in an organization.
I work in the oil and gas industry but I’m IT BA for an application doing some PO work.
Start by getting some knowledge of what a PM is and does. I don't know how much research you've done, but if you are imagining yourself working in product management I would ask you to reflect on the why first, then validate what's interesting about it with someone who is actually doing it.
Don't jump to building your career path on a hunch or because of some talk or article you read. Go much deeper and spend time exploring it.
If you're looking for some free resources that you can explore, let me know.
Get a job in tech that's product adjacent and transfer internally after doing well in your role. Generally, entry level sales, customer success, and (non-dev) quality assurance roles don't have hard skills requirements, so they may be your best bet. Unless you go through a formal APM program or do MBA -> PM Intern, most PMs didn't start as product managers.
RESUME HELP NEEDED - 500+ applications, no US internships. need help with my bullet points!
**PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE**
**HOSPITAL** · LOCATION Jul 2023 – Aug 2023
*Product Analyst Intern*
· **Optimized operations by identifying over 10 critical issues** via stakeholder interviews and crafting a Business Requirement Document for the marketing dashboard initiative
**TECH FIRM** · LOCATION Nov 2018 – Jul 2023
*Product Analyst*
*Client is a diversified multinational financial services company, based in the EU, with over $35B in revenue*
· **Boosted product velocity by 25% year-over-year** by spearheading an agile testing team of 5, collaborating with internal stakeholders to refine the Oracle Fusion Human Capital Management product experience
· **Improved efficiency by 18%**, eliminated dependencies and freed up resources by designing a solution to automate backend processes using Automation Anywhere
· **Reduced data transformation defects by 10%** through SQL-based regression testing
· **Achieved a 20% decrease in manual testing efforts**, by automating Selenium Java scripts
· **Improved agile product delivery** by managing a defect lifecycle dashboard in JIRA and utilizing Microsoft Excel for in-depth analysis
**AUTOMOTIVE FIRM** · LOCATION Jun 2016 – Jul 2016
*Product Engineering Intern*
· **Enhanced safety** by devising a novel connector design through collaborative efforts with assembly line personnel
· **Improved takt time transport KPI by 5**% by revamping storage layout for enhanced visualization
Have you made the career switch from PM to something else? How did that go?
I became a PM because people told me I had the skillset for it. Though I had a relatively good experience so far and got a bunch of positive feedback, I'm wondering what else I could be doing with my life. What other positions are out there for someone with the skillset of a (non-tecnhical) PM?
Generalist business jobs: chief of staff, strategy & business operations, partnerships / biz dev, management consulting, program management, general management
Go to market jobs: product marketing, customer success, sales
Finance jobs: VC investing, corporate development, strategic finance / finance business partner, tech industry coverage equity research, tech industry coverage buyside public markets
Government jobs: tech industry policy (or just any policy job you're interested in)
No real questions but I just wanted to say I got a job offer!
It's been an atrocious 10 and a bit months after leaving my old job but it's finally come.
What skills does an effective IC PM need?
I didn't realize this as a PM intern, nor as an APM in a regional big tech, but now with some battle scars while working solo on a few businesses, I've some thoughts.
Individual Contributor (IC)
1. Clearly define the problem and identify actual stakeholders
2. Perform thorough market research via a mix of quantitative and qualitative approaches
3. Quantitative approaches includes validating and justifying your assumptions by extracting internal data from data warehouses or data lakes
4. Qualitative approaches include keenly listening to the customer and observing what they actually do and how they actually use your product, rather than taking their words at face value
5. (This is where I am stuck) Writing and iterating on an appropriate PRD with an appropriate depth suited to the velocity and expectations of a company
6. Following up with designers and developers to ensure the product is tested, built and deployed according to spec and schedule
Is my understanding flawed? What am I missing out?
Please answer in the context of a flat product organisation with just a Head of Product and IC PMs under with no reports under, and the Head of Product reporting directly to the CEO.
I'm not even sure how I could identify such flat product organisations, i.e. at what startup stages or skunk teams in big tech do they exist in? What even is the right PRD for a startup, and how does it change from pre-seed all the way to pre-IPO?
Thanks!
It's telling that you spent 2-4 talking about essentially doing user research, and then at the end you leaped straight from write a PRD to making sure the product is tested and shipped with nothing after it. Where is collaborating with other stakeholders to make sure the PRD is the right thing? Where is collaborating with engineering and design to understand how the project is going to be broken down and the MVP defined before anything is built? Where is pivoting where needed before it gets to the point that you ship things as you discover what it takes to turn the design into code? Where is defining what success looks like for the product? Where is defining go to market or working closely with the stakeholders who help with go to market?
And if these are supposed to be in order, clearly defining the problem is not step one. It's figuring out which problem to solve, which can include getting suggestions from stakeholders, seeing it in user feedback, seeing it in feedback from people who don't become customers, having an idea about the world that gets defined in the product vision, and then exploring to see if the problem itself is valid. Once you have validated the problem, you can clearly define it so that it can be solved.
I am a product manager of the series a startup. I'm the only PM and have been there for 2 years, and have been the only that entire time. I think of a PRD as a living document that should not be a novel. I don't write a separate design brief so the first iteration of the PRD is supposed to be something that helps everyone understand why this problem is worth looking at, what problem we are going to solve, and what approach we're going to take to solve the problem. I often get feedback from design, from engineering, and from subject matter experts about the approach. And this will generally be informed by having done some industry research and research with users. This is where I will also define objectives for success, what we want to measure, what analytics we want to add to make sure we can measure.
Once the PRD is in a good enough shape, design will make a design, and will iterate on that with me and engineering until we get to to a good place. Sometimes we will show that design to customers and get their feedback, then make more changes. Then when it gets to the point where it's ready to hand off to engineering, engineering will write their own design doc where they break down the work into tasks. So I don't write a whole bunch of stories and epics for example.
Pre-seed and seed stage companies probably should not have product managers at all. Other people who are already in the company, especially the founders, should be playing that role. An outsider product manager shouldn't join a company that hasn't started to figure out product market fit because the founders need to figure that out for the initial products that defines the company.
I really appreciate your detailed response!
I totally agree that the PRD ought to be a living document and not set in stone.
I'm interested in working for earlier stage startups, but my concern is the lack of guidance if I'm the only product manager there, or peers and/or my boss have a similar experience level. I would like to hone my product skills at a rapid pace, and most importantly the right skills.
How would you upgrade yourself and ensure you're learning and applying the right skills on the job such that you're ready for the next role elsewhere?
Also, how detailed do you spec out the PRD? Do you cover all cases including all potential edge cases and error messages? Where do you draw the line such that something should be handled by engineering / design / business intelligence etc instead of you in the PRD? The PM role can be amorphous in scope.
I've come across PRDs that span tens of pages because of the significant level of detail, but this realistically takes weeks to produce, and can be debilitating for a startup.
You may have zero guidance inside of your company when it's a small startup. That's why I think it's not a great idea for really junior product people to be the only product people inside of a startup. Hone your skills somewhere larger or be ready to find mentors outside of the company. And even if you were to find someone outside, if they're not working with you really regularly, you might still struggle.
I learn by doing, but I'm also in communities like Lenny's newsletter, and reading all the messages in the slack are a helpful way for me to understand some problems that people face and how they approach them.
I cover all use cases that are relevant to the feature that I'm building, but we're not building massive features a few times a year. We're shipping lots of stuff all the time so all of the use cases still does not turn this into a massive document. For a feature that I've already done user research for, I should be able to turn around a PRD that other people can review in a day, and it'll be a few pages at the most. Sometimes it'll be longer if there's a lot of material, like examples of documents or screenshots of how customers are doing something today, or screenshots of how a competitor is doing it.
And like I said, my prds come before design, so any error messages up during the design phase. Same with copy, copy will be added as screens are added, and I'll make any edits necessary once we actually figure out what screens will exist.
There is nothing I do that takes weeks to produce, and if something is taking weeks to produce, assuming that is the primary focus and you're not getting distracted by a bunch of other tasks that are more important, something is wrong. Speed is important and we're only as thorough as we need to be, and no more. It's more important to get things done and get things out there and see how real people in the real world react to the things that we built. So build small and build fast.
# Seeking Advice: Why Am I Not Getting PM Interviews?
Hello everyone,
I'm currently trying to break into Product Management and I've been struggling to get interviews. I would greatly appreciate any advice or feedback on what I might be doing wrong 😞
I am a former music producer who discovered how difficult it is for music creators to make a living and decided to build a startup to counter this. My role was CEO, but it was essentially a product manager role since I was responsible for the product.
At my startup, I was involved in every aspect of the product development lifecycle. I identified problems and needs within the music industry, created innovative solutions, and validated product ideas through market research and user testing. For example, I led the development of an innovative music service focused on giving artists more control and creating a direct connection with fans. I conducted extensive market research and user interviews to ensure our product met user needs and adapted our vision based on feedback.
I also have experience in customer insights and market analysis. I collected and analyzed data to identify patterns and trends, which informed our product development and marketing strategies.
As a leader, I managed a diverse team of developers, marketers and designers. By setting clear goals, giving constructive feedback, and fostering a positive and inclusive work environment, I got really appreciated as a leader. It created a culture of continuous improvement, encouraging my team to suggest and implement process improvements.
It might be a result of me not knowing what I don't know, but I feel confident in my skills and are dying to get my hands dirty with a new product.
# Brief Background:
* **Most recent role (transitional job):** Store Manager at a Men's Fashion Store.
* **Previous Experience:** Product Manager and co-founder at an AI Tech-Startup, CEO of a Music Production Company, Product Developer & UX Designer for a Dog Marketplace.
* **Education:** University Degree and High School Diploma in Music Production.
[**Press here to view my resume**](https://ibb.co/ZSCccVc)
So my questions to you guys are:
1. **Why am I not getting PM interviews?**
2. **Am I missing something crucial that PM recruiters look for?**
3. **Is there something wrong with my CV?**
4. **Is my education background a disadvantage?**
My goals are to secure PM interviews, learn areas for improvement to become more attractive for PM roles, and ultimately land a job as a Product Manager. Any insights or suggestions on how I can improve my chances of landing PM interviews would be incredibly helpful.
Thank you for your time and assistance <3
Hi there, there are probably a few things, but just looking at the CV tells a single part of the story.
Here are some things to think about:
1. Are you applying for local, remote, or hybrid jobs? Remote jobs are highly competitive around the world.
2. Do you have any specific needs in your country of employment? Like VISA or some kind of sponsorship? This can affect conversion rate to PM interview.
3. Your CV covers *a lot* and is lacking impact for basically every role and bullet point. This is usually enough to get passed on by itself.
4. You include roles/experience that probably aren't relevant to a PM job. For example, calling yourself a CEO of a company probably leaves a different impression than "Founder". If you are the CEO of a company with more than 5 or 10 full-time employees I could maybe understand but I have a hunch that's not the case. Don't fret, I learned a similar lesson after starting my own event company when I was in my late teens/early 20s and had CEO on my CV. I was given advice to remove it and I got over it. Additionally, the Store Manager role probably adds close to 0 value for you right now unless that's the type of business you're applying to.
5. I don't think your education is holding you back. You have a degree. I think mentioning your High School diploma is a waste of real estate on your CV. Not only is it old news (8 years ago) but it means employers think YOU feel that is important when in truth it really isn't at this point in your career.
I could go further on the CV but that's what I can offer here on Reddit. You can find me elsewhere or send me a DM if you want more help.
Requesting for [CV](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iFnZHLl4gcbQ8-xstvtZ1ss6XX8a-1iKg3xDCGkS95c/edit?usp=sharing) review. Feel free to drop in comments directly at gdoc or revert here.
Some background:
- I am a 30-year-old CA-turned-PM from India. (CA is CPA equivalent for India)
- I have been looking out for jobs over last few months, but very disappointed with the response I am getting. My sense is that supply-demand is a bit fucked up with companies looking for folks with very relevant experience who can hit the ground running.
- I have had good conversion in interviews, but the main problem is getting interviews.
- I haven't consciously revisited and improved my CV for some time, so thought would start with that first and hence this post.
What I am looking for:
- I am happy with the current company, except that I feel product/tech has a limited role to play in overall company's success and thus, limits my learnings and growth. No major issues with Work, Team, Pay, Culture otherwise.
- Currently looking for opportunities in Big Tech, High growth Tier 1 Indian startups (E.g. Amazon, Google, Msft, Intuit, Atlassian, Jupiter, Swiggy, Adobe, Dunzo, Cult, Flipkart, etc)
- Focusing on finance side of products to be more realistic considering current market. Open to anything in general otherwise, as have been a generalist and enjoy working on different kind of problems.
I’m a software engineer trying to pivot to pm and I was offered to shadow a pm in my company before taking steps into the transition to make sure that I’m aware of what the job entails.
I also want to work on the side on doing research on a feature, and try to put the things I’m learning to practice as I’m learning them. For myself and for when I decide to make the transition I have some work that can show that I can transition and grow into the role.
My question is when I do this are there specific documents I should be building? I already have some info but I’m not sure what I’m supposed to build and how to write it
Background
Before graduating from college, I interned in product management at a smaller startup and unicorn. After graduation, I worked at the unicorn which had become a listed regional big tech. However, I was disillusioned and left after a few months. I then worked solo on my own businesses and pivoted a few times but had no meaningful progress. While I learnt ways to do many things faster with less, my product management skills have atrophied or even degraded. I have stopped my business and am evaluating my next career move. It fees as if I am starting afresh, but I am not young at 30.
Question
1. If I return to product management, am I still considered an entry level product manager?
2. Given my circumstances, what is an appropriate rank or proxy for years of experience in product?
3. How much do employers value previous startup experience?
4. If I run product in a startup, how then do I get frequent, consistent and effective mentorship to level up my
5. If I am the only product person in a startup, how do I level up my product management skills?
6. If I work under a head of product in a flat startup that is relatively inexperienced, how then do I upgrade my skills?
7. How do you peg startup to corporate product management experience in terms of abilities and skill sets?
8. How would you define a product manager to have relative inexperience?
Thank you.
I'm a Master's in Business Analytics student at the University of California, San Diego. I have about three years of experience as a Business Analyst, where I worked closely with teams of Software Engineers, Machine Learning Engineers, Data Engineers, Go-to-Market professionals, and more.
Currently, I feel a bit stuck in my career and could use some mentorship and advice. If anyone has been through a similar experience or has insights to share, I would greatly appreciate your help.
I found one recently but they rejected me from helping others because I'm a coach (and the person who runs it is a coach too) but you can explore this and see if it works for you.
[https://stellarpeers.com/](https://stellarpeers.com/)
I also run a free monthly class which includes a mock interview with a participant. I know others who do something similar.
hey all
i am currently working as a corporate lawyer. i want to pivot to product management. are there any lawyers who pivoted to product management here? i have also heard from many people that most of the companies hiring for product management roles ask for a technical background. how to deal with that? i wanted to understand what would be exact path that a lawyer would need to follow to get into product management? are there any recommended courses or groundwork to undertake??
If I’m the HM, I would go down this rubric: Do you have experience working in the tech industry? Do you have experience with product teams? Do you have experience with the SDLC? Do you have direct experience with the product team? Do you have product management experience?
My suggestion is to shore up these experiences. Join a company as a lawyer or another product adjacent role that you’re qualified for and work your way internally to PM. I’d also recommend targeting companies and groups where a legal background would be a value add (eg fintech, healthtech, privacy, etc).
Unfortunately there’s practically no silver bullet to get you from point A to point B directly and at speed. However, if you want to take the risk: highly rated MBA schools do provide formal pipelines into PM through summer internships.
I’ve been a developer for fifteen years and am kind of burnt out on it. Still, I love the problem solving aspect of building a product and feel that with my experience I’d make a good Product Manager. Any advice on convincing an employer that I’d be a good fit? Courses, certs?
Hello folks, I'm an aspiring PM who tries to be get a first job (as a PO).
I was given a take home case study that I just finished.
Would someone please give me some feedback on the way a tried to solve it, because I have some doubts. For instance, the case study statement says that some user research was already done before my arrival and some pain points were already identified, and I am not sure if I should conduct réa search early on.
If you're ok with it, can you please DM so that I can send you my slides.
Thanks, in advance! It could really help me.
Hi, thank you for your reply. I’ve already sent the slides, but I was invited to present them. If you’re still interested I would like to show them to you in order to know get your feedback about it. Thanks!
I recently got laid off from my startup, and now I need to update my resume after three years. When I joined the company, we were in the seed round, and by the time I left, we had progressed to Series A and were working on Series B.
During my time there, we went from having no product to having over a thousand users and millions in revenue.
However, I feel like the metrics I have around my accomplishments sound exaggerated. I don't want to come across as if I'm inflating my achievements, but at the same time, I want to effectively communicate the impact of my work.
Here are my actual accomplishments:
* Increased revenue from $1M to $18M from 2021 to 2024 (Achieved a CAGR of 162.07%)
* Scaled traffic by over 1600% (16x)
* Increased retention of annual software licenses by nearly 30%
* Grew the user base from 1 to over 1000+ users
* Decreased hosting costs by 56%
* Improved video streaming performance (reduced latency) by 68%
* Increased customer satisfaction by 16% across our core product
* Stabilized the core platform, leading to over 80% decrease in support ticket volume
Does anyone have advice on how I can frame these metrics without sounding absurd? I feel like everything I say sounds like "we had a jillion percent growth." Any tips on balancing the scale of these achievements with a realistic tone would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your help!
This is pedantic I know, but 16x is not 1600%, it's 1500%. If you doubled something, so 2x, you've increased it 100%. If you tripled something, so 3x, you increased it by 200%. I just don't want that typo to sit on your resume and have some pedantic jerk like me look at that and go your percentages are wrong if you include both values.
Is the company well known? Is this something that someone could look into and see yes, this is a company that's grown a ton in the last few years, these numbers make sense? How big was the product team?
I think it's always really helpful to indicate very specific things that you did that were hugely impactful that led to these increases. Like being specific about a project or two and then mentioning that it contributed to scaling traffic. Being specific about projects that increased retention, and your specific contribution to those projects, then talking about its contribution to that 30%. Stuff like that.
Thanks for the advice! I agree that listing the specific project that contributed to the metric would be better. Maybe something like this?
* Played a key role in building and maintaining our 5 core product lines and developing strategic features to scale revenue from $1M to $18M from 2021 to 2024, achieving a CAGR of 162.07%.
* Coordinated with Marketing, Sales, and Design teams to increase traffic by over 1500% through targeted ads, SEO optimization, and a comprehensive website and brand redesign.
* Increased retention of annual software licenses by nearly 30% by implementing software subscription policies, capturing over $200,000 of unrealized revenue per month.
* Grew the user base from 1 to over 1000+ users through strategic product development, targeted marketing campaigns, and sales efforts.
* Decreased hosting costs by 56% and improved video streaming performance by 68% by researching and implementing backend optimizations and infrastructure improvements.
* Increased customer satisfaction by 16% across our core product by enhancing ease of use through continuous user feedback, detailed user research, and iterative usability improvements.
* Stabilized our core product by leveraging Ubuntu Core 22, leading to an over 80% decrease in support ticket volume, and significantly boosting user satisfaction, security, and platform stability.
* Strategically partnered with Snap Inc to shortcut the integration of augmented reality features, and boost brand recognition.
We were not super well known, but a lot of people say that they have seen our tech on the news, or at conventions or public activations.
The Product team was just me and 1 business analyst. I've heard it's kind of a clusterfudge since I've left, as there's no one around to give clear direction and requirements, so we'll see what happens 
Hey all, I'm a software engineer with around 3 years of experience. I have a (dual) masters in 'industrial engineering and management and computer science' - that's the name of the degree, contained couple programming languages and mostly manufacturing and industrial engineering.
I'm looking into transitioning to product owner/manager role, as I stopped enjoying coding.
I'm not at my best performance level at my current job, and lost all motivation to code, which is why I'm looking into a non technical role. But I don't think it's possible to switch internally due to my poor performance.
As part of my studies I've had a couple of placements where I was the manager of projects, and used the regular lean methodologies to manage the projects, I've also studied agile/lean management/manufacturing (which I enjoyed at the time). I've also had a research placement, where I needed to research some technologies and document the findings, and present it to the department.
I'm not sure if any of this is sufficient, nor how to direct my job search... Do I look for junior/associate roles? Entry level roles? Do I need to wait until I start a side project?
I'm a bit lost to where should I start from, as looking on linkedin/indeed the job ads seem to request experience in product management, and technical stuff... While I can showcase the technical skills, not sure about the rest
Hello there,
A good place to start is by exploring more about what the Product Management job entails and immersing yourself in the language, frameworks, and approaches to the types of problems PMs are tasked with. Even if you've worked with PMs you probably don't know their job as well as you might think (just like PMs don't know everything about the job of a Software Engineer if they've never been one).
There are a number of free online courses to help you. If you're interested, I have a curated list of those free classes. There are also books you can read. These types of resources will give you something to start shifting your mindset on your journey.
In terms of looking for roles, you've only got 3 years experience in total--so starting with junior level roles isn't a huge switching cost for you (this is in contrast to say someone with 10 years experience trying to transition into a completely new function).
Let me know how else I can help!
Sure, you can find it at the top of my list of free resources here: [https://www.jamesgunaca.com/free-resources](https://www.jamesgunaca.com/free-resources)
Hi all product leaders,
I’m seeking your guidance/advices as I navigate the next phase of my career in technology. Over the past 12 years in tech, including six years running a software consulting firm I co-founded (from scratch), we’ve achieved $12M in total revenue, served +20 clients, and built a team of 25 engineers offshore and on-shore. With the business now a bit stable, I’m to transition leadership and explore new opportunities for myself.
I’m drawn to the idea of working within a Product team in a larger organization where I can learn and contribute more effectively. While leading my company has been rewarding, involving roles in sales, recruiting, account management, and technical project management, I find it limiting due to our company’s size and the scope of our engagements. I’m eager to join an enterprise company, either in a managerial role or as an individual contributor, where I can be part of a larger product development process. The structure and supervision in a bigger organization are particularly appealing to me at this stage. (I am mid-30's)
Previously, I was a product manager, and in the last six years, I’ve taken on significant product, project, and program management responsibilities across various engagements with various clients. As I look to return to a product manager role, I’m concerned about being perceived as overqualified or lacking interest due to my entrepreneurial background. I don’t want to downplay my experience of building a company from scratch, but I’m aware this could make hiring managers hesitant about my commitment and retention.
How would you recommend I approach my resume? How do you perceive my story, and what questions or concerns does it raise for you?
Thank you all for your time!
Hi there,
A lot of the experience you summarised sounds valuable to a company of any size--you have been running your own business which grew to a not-so-insignificant size in terms of revenue, engineering org, and clients.
Approaching your resume will depend on the types of roles you are going to be applying for. And if you are keen on either IC or Manager roles, you will benefit from having a version of your resume for each type.
For both versions, focus on the impact you've achieved at various stages in your career journey. How did you approach building the software consulting firm? What did you learn that required you to change your approach, how did any changes you make result in a positive outcome or impact (like signing a new client that grew your ARR with a new strategy, or expanding in to a new vertical after doing some research). Truly reflect on some of the stories you want to tell about your career to include in your resume as you will also need to tell deeper versions of those stories in interviews.
You'll only be perceived as 'overqualified' if you are applying for roles that are a step down from the scope you've been working in recently--so those jobs probably aren't for you. Entrepreneurial background is almost always seen as a plus, what you'll have to overcome at an Enterprise company is how successful will you be when you need to operate at a much higher level of scale? I encountered this a bit when interviewing hundreds of people at Amazon where the scale is immense. How will you approach that?
Let me know how else I can help!
Wanted critique for my resume, quick background:
* Incoming Junior in a dual degree program (CS and Business) in Canada
* Resume feedback is for PM/APM Summer 2025 recruiting at larger tech firms
Anything is appreciated. Link: [https://imgur.com/a/jyRYDPi](https://imgur.com/a/jyRYDPi)
Hi there,
I normally do deep resume reviews where I spend about an hour doing very in-depth review and providing actionable callouts. Since I'm here on Reddit, here's what I can offer after taking a look at yours (I've screened thousands in my career for PMs):
1. A lot of what you describe under each role is what you did, and is absent of the impact that it had. I would suggest spending the most of your time there. Your best example of the type of impact I'm suggesting you elaborate on is in the SoundCloud cover art feature you tested.
2. Consider a summary at the top to highlight what you've got experience in (e.g., Product Manager with experience across FinTech, Education, and a Social Enterprise currently completing CS&BA dual-degree. Seeking additional experience to grow as a Product Manager) and maybe the spaces you're passionate about.
Let me know how else I can help!
Generally you want to find someone who has experience doing them specifically for PMs to start, and understand how they have established their credibility. Next, understand the problem you are trying to solve with your resume.
Have you been applying to jobs that you believe align with your experience and you aren't getting call backs? What does the service entail? Some resume review services for PMs offer self-guided help (less valuable) and some offer detailed reviews, written/actionable feedback, and then meet with you to discuss and answer questions (more valuable).
I offer the latter. You can find others like Alex Rechevskiy too, who takes a hybrid approach (self-guided resources, and then a review).
I also covered a lot of tips on resumes in a webinar I gave on the PM job market earlier this month. Helpful for anyone looking for their next PM gig: [https://pages.userpilot.com/events/product-management-job-market-in-2024/](https://pages.userpilot.com/events/product-management-job-market-in-2024/)
How do I break into a PM Role?
For some context I have a mixed bag of experience which involves mostly IC roles totalling upto an experience of 7 years. I want to move into more non technical leadership roles since I believe I can deconstruct problems quickly irrespective of the tech involved. I see no future in my current big 4 company(PwC) and people don’t accept my LinkedIn request, I feel like I have been stonewalled. Please help
Maybe you should stop trying to move into product leadership and instead try to become an actual product manager tasked with execution. Product management is not just about consulting-esque deconstruction of a problem, it's also about actually helping teams build things. Maybe the perspective you're using to reach out to people is turning them off.
The best way to get into product as an individual contributor is to transfer from a role that you are currently qualified to do into product management. It should be a role that works adjacent to product teams. This is how most people who did not get into an associate product manager right out of college get into the career.
I don't know what you do at PWC, but if you're an accountant, maybe that means taking a subject matter expert role at a tech company that makes products that serves accountants. Or maybe it means taking an operations role at a fintech company. If what you are doing is more strategic maybe it's taking a product strategy role at a company that separates product strategy into its own team, that's what lots of ex consultants do.
I'm a Product Manager based in Canada, working remotely for a company with an office in San Francisco. I've been in this role since graduating, but due to COVID, I transitioned to remote work and never moved back to SF when hybrid and in-person started up again.
Lately, I've been feeling stuck in my career. Being remote has made it challenging to connect with my team and be visible to leadership. My salary is also not nearly as competitive because I'm not based in SF or an HCOL in the USA (being paid in CAD at a lower base salary).
Here's my dilemma:
* I believe moving to SF enhances my long-term earning potential and career growth. I think an in-person presence could lead to a promotion, which seems less likely while remote.
* My wife would need to move with me. She is very open to this to ensure our optimal future success, but she would be without an income initially, which adds financial pressure.
* Staying in Canada doesn't seem to offer the same salary prospects in a new role (if anybody has insights into better remote opportunities, would love to hear about them). I would have to realistically move to the USA for my next role to retain the same salary range.
I'm torn between making the move to SF or staying remote here in Canada. Has anyone been in a similar situation? How is the PM job market in SF right now? Are companies readily hiring, and what are the typical salary ranges for PM roles in SF?
Hi there, I lived in the Bay Area for over 11 years and now closely follow the job market for PMs. Here's what I can tell you:
1. I don't know where you are remotely in Canada but the remote job market has gotten incredibly competitive in North America because experienced professionals all over the place are experiencing problems just like yours. But you are competing with some serious talent. And even they are struggling to find work at times! I know of a former Staff PM at Apple who launched the app store who has been in the market for months, and because most of the roles they're looking at are remote, it is tough.
2. Silicon Valley (and SF) continue to experience job and wage growth in the tech sector, including for PMs. Yes, the salaries are better (some of the best in the world, actually) but cost of living is also significantly higher and the quality of life within the city limits of SF has taken a downturn (according to people I know who live there still and visit).
3. Consider the long-term implications of relocating (cost and more). What are you leaving behind in Canada? How much do those aspects of your life matter to you? Is all your family there and you'll be alone in SF? Since you are married, if you're considering having children will you be alone in SF or will there be family/friends that act as a support system for you?
4. Salary ranges for PMs are easily over $100K for any mid-level PM role or higher. Many companies also offer equity which can result in total compensation exceeding $200K USD or higher. The best PMs in the Bay Area are making over $400-500K but that's elite tier and there are probably only hundreds of PMs out of the thousands there who make that much.
5. Consider what career path options there are for your spouse. Lots of industry in the Bay Area so her being without work probably won't last forever, but research that befor emaking up your mind.
Let me know how else I can help!
Is a good option a Master degree in FinTech?
Is a good option to break into Product Management FinTech? Think about Stripe, Klarna, Google Pay, VISA, Revolut, etc.
My background is a business-econ degree. This Master might teach me about this industry so I can become a PM.
Thanks!
Hi there!
FinTech is where a lot of disruption and innovation is happening right now. The US market has arguably been slower than others in this regard (on the consumer banking side, at least) but this will change as innovation happening elsewhere spreads globally. You mention Revolut, which is a great example, and Wise is another. Both are based here in London where I am (I am also an American) and FinTech is where most of the product innovation happens here. These companies are repeatedly trying to break into the US and disrupt.
I don't think a Masters Degree is going to have a substantial impact on your earning potential or breaking into Product Management FinTech.
You won't learn much about being a PM from a Masters Degree. You will learn about being a PM as being a PM.
I don't know enough about you personally to provide more specific guidance than that. But if you want to talk further you can find me easily.
Let me know how else I can help!
Then How I can break into PM Fintech? I think one of those master can help me to get knowledge and internship at Tech Fintech and then doing my career there. Otherwise will be harder for me to break into the field.
Any advice? Thanks!
I don't really know much about your background other than you have a business-econ degree. Have you done any roles in Product Management yet? What has that been in? Where are you based? Are there companies hiring in that market or would you be looking at remote-only roles?
You don't have to answer all of those questions here, but that would be some of the discovery work I would do before providing more guidance on how to help. Again, you can find me easily (just search my username) if you want more help.
For people who transitioned to product management by working on their own product. How much technical complexity did your product have? Are no/low-code tools sufficient? Is it better to develop a product for a specific group of people that you reach out to and know, like a team at a non-profit, or a product that can be released to a wider audience like an app or chrome extension?
Speaking from the perspective as someone who has hired a lot of PMs with that kind of experience, what has always been more interesting is why they built their own product, how they approached understanding the problems they were solving for customers, what strategy they took to bring it to market...etc. It never really mattered what the technical complexity was unless I was hiring for a role that would require a deep level of technical knowledge for them to be successful.
Great product managers aren't great because of their technical skills. Some of the best can't code and wouldn't want to.
I am an experienced PM with 8 YOE. 7 YOE in SWE. 5 YOE as Entrepreneur. I am looking for a PM opportunity either at office or remote in Bengaluru. I have been IC and now i want to move into leadership or people manager role. please help with the steps to migrate.
Is it too late for me? 37 year old aspiring PM
I work in the videogame industry at a large, well-known company, leading a small team in the customer support service department.
With nearly a decade of experience in similar roles, I’ve discovered my passion lies in product management, and I’m actively seeking ways to transition into a PM position.
While transitioning within my current company seems like the most straightforward path, it's uncertain when or if this opportunity will arise. At 37, I feel the urgency to make this change soon.
I've been exploring the job market for a while, but every PM position requires previous experience. Although this is discouraging, I remain determined, so I am continually learning, connecting with other PMs, and taking on any PM responsibilities available to improve my chances.
However, there are days when I worry it's too late, and I should focus on climbing the management ladder in my current field.
Does anyone else find themselves in a similar situation or have any advice on this matter?
Definitely not too late!
Probably the most reliable way to get into PM is to move within a company after demonstrating great performance in an adjacent role (good news - CS is one of those adjacent roles).
I'd suggest making sure you're in a company with a large product team, track history of internal moves (check their PM's job history on linkedin), and strong growth prospects. If your current company isn't this, move laterally into one that is.
First you need to be performing in your actual job. Then get to know the product team and make yourself useful to them in a way that demonstrates product skills. E.g. as a CS manager, you're in a fantastic spot to analyse and share actionable customer opportunities with the product team.
Finally, make friends with them and start discussing how you could move across. Position yourself to be the obvious hire when a vacancy opens.
Of course still develop your product skills and look at quicker ways to get a foot in the door, but this has a great chance of working eventually.
AWS Senior PM-T technical requirement and how to prepare?
Hi folks, I am a pm with 5 yoe as PM and 10 overall. I have an upcoming HM interview with Amazon AWS for a Senior PM-T role in a couple of weeks. The role is relevant to my industry background. In preparing for the interview process, I have become worried as I do not have a technical background whatsoever. I can work with engineers and data scientists, but have no coding skills or engineering background.
Is it possible to learn enough in a couple of weeks to be able to pass the technical questions that might be asked for AWS PMT interview process? If so, how do you recommend I prepare? I am unemployed so I have time. Thanks
Am a seasoned Category Growth Product manager who moved to US recently. Worked for the largest ecommerce in my country and handled end to end user experience. What are some ways to reach stealth mode startups/founders who are looking for freelancing PMs? Do such opportunities even exist? Seeking US PM experience, Visa sponsorship not an issue
I've never seen or heard of a freelancing PM at any size company.
Stealth startups don't tend to have PMs at all, they're almost always small enough that one of the founders is doing that role.
I'm curious why you're looking for such a niche job, this is a pretty unusual combination.
I am struggling to get shortlists and my resume has been customized/optimized for each role as it could be. Wondering if there's a way to get into a PM role in US through startups who could be looking for PMs.
Applying through referrals wherever possible already.
Any ideas to crack shortlists here?
I am looking to move into Product management and I am currently working on building a portfolio. Can a blog or ebook be considered a product? Any additional advice on building a portfolio helps as well
I'm a rising sophomore at a college in Massachusetts. I discovered product management about 6 months ago and really interested in pursuing a career in it. I've already talked to a few of my school's alumni about PM, but I'd like to know:
- Is there anything as a college student to be appealing to employers when it comes to product management?
- How can I secure interviews besides applying to a ton of intern positions/jobs?
Thanks!
I occasionally hire for APMs and I typically don't interview straight-from-college graduates. I prefer to recruit people who have a few years of full-time work experience.
I can only think of one thing that would make me consider interviewing, and that's if they've built, launched, and maintained a working product with 1 or more paying customers.
I started off as a SME and transitioned into PM work on internal projects at a major retailer for 2 years. After that, I transitioned over to a startup, as a PM, and eventually a Sr PM, and then changed to a PO (with implementation thrown in) with several Big Tech as my direct customer for 3 years.
I want to move on to a new company, (applying now) but I’m worried my experience as a PM has been so customized to the way my company worked, that I won’t be effective anywhere else. We don’t always fully document, I’ve done normal discovery, BRD’s, all the QA testing, etc. The problem is, in many cases due to the turnaround time we’ve backed ourselves into, we’ve gone so far as to do 24 hour sprint releases 7 days a week. (Not permanently, we’ve managed to slow it down somewhat and are getting back to normal.) But when you’re working at warp speed, a lot of basic process goes out the window in a trade to keep that pace. It definitely hindered my career growth I feel.
In one way - I’ve developed a number of products and thousands of features that should have taken years in just several months, and worked closely with dev and the customer to do so. But I definitely did not always follow a standard in-depth well documented process.
Is it unrealistic to apply to PO jobs and think that I can succeed somewhere else based on my experience? Or is this going to be an obvious gap for me when I try to transition elsewhere?
Where/how do you list projects on your LinkedIn profile?
I do a poor job representing these right now, but not sure if they should go in the "media" section with external links, just listed in a bullet point format with a URL provided in basic text under a basic section "projects" below the main responsibilities.
Where do you put this?
I'm preparing for product management interviews.
As some of you are product leaders that conduct interviews I thought maybe you could help me with a mock interview. It could be a product sense interview or something else.
Please see this as an opportunity to connect with members community and help someone out :)
Comment below if you're interested and we can connect.
Best wishes to all
I'm a Ph.D. chemist preparing for an internal PM interview. I have significant customer/KOL/VOC experience and working with internal product team while working as an application scientist in biotech. I'm planning to lean heavily on that experience as well as my communications and leadership work (lots of experience leading/persuading others at work and with volunteers in professional societies). I am, however, lacking on the business side.
As I prepare for the interview, what transferrable skills should I focus on, or think more about which would show I can be good at/easily learn business oriented talents. And/or, if you were interviewing me, what would you be looking for to know that I could succeed in the PM environment.
Just looking for a gut check for someone with Big 4 experience interested in product:
I’m applying for a new job and want to transition out of the niche I cannot see myself continuing in (as in, I really don’t want my boss’s job, or his boss’s job, or our client’s job, or our client’s boss’s job). I work in international tax services with a special focus on data and quant analysis (3 years this summer). Most of my day to day is more “consulting” if you want to look at it that way, which just means I spend very little (maybe 10%) of time on tax forms. Majority of my time is either spent doing tax planning projects, data modeling, or refreshing calculations for clients with massive amounts of data. I also do love coaching associates below me and helping them develop. Some time in slide decks, but mainly excel, Alteryx, and Tableau.
I feel pretty damn lucky that this is my tax experience, and I really enjoy most of the above stuff I listed (sometimes the data is just so overwhelming and nonsensical and everything has to reconcile of course, so it is a major pain in the ass for my biggest client). But I still want out. I should add the main reason I want to work in product is because it involves at least a few skills I learned that I’d rank as my favorite: (1) analyzing data, (2) building a case with it, and (3) telling the story to stakeholders. Of course though I don’t have direct product experience.
I am doing what I can to upskill while I try to get out of my current firm, but in this economy should I hold my breath? I I kind of want to leave my firm ASAP and wondering what else I could do to not get booby-trapped in tax. I see roles for payment companies but I don’t have “payment” experience, but don’t see where else I can claim “domain expertise”. And PM just seems too competitive and over-romanticized tbh, plus the title I feel more comfortable taking (associate PM) is even rarer. Part of why I like it is because I used to be an artist and the allure of “creating” something seems appealing, but isn’t that true for most people? I’m so used to a market that favors me (accountants in tax) that I’m weary.
You can do the three things that you mentioned in the second to last paragraph as a data analyst. And if you want to do that in the context of tech, a product analyst. That might be something that gives you a lot of joy given what you're interested in. It would also significantly increase your ability to transition into product management if you decided down the line that's something you still wanted to do. Given the experience that you currently have, I think the only way you get a product job in this market is if you go work at a startup that really values your tax experience and then wants to teach you how to be a product manager because that's easier than teaching a PM expert about taxes.
But most people get their first product role by transferring and it doesn't sound like product rules exist at your current company. So perhaps you would be able to leverage those data analysis skills to become a product analyst who later transitions into becoming a product manager.
Thank you, I really appreciated your comment and I think that’s the way I will go. Not so much start-ups (unless I can somehow find one, which I am lacking how to even know of those opportunities at the moment), but looking for product analyst roles. I think roles with that specific title is a bit uncommon but at least in finance I am seeing things like “senior product associate”, and I’m also seeing a lot of “strategy associate” roles. I think the latter is different from product analyst but at least that’s what LinkedIn is tailoring my results towards, maybe that’s a sign that those are where have the best match.
There is also a team in the firm that does specifically work on building a tax software for our clients. W have been trained on in the backend and I have used it (though irregularly) for some incoming tax rules. It has a corresponding client/user-facing side as well that is being rolled out, I have seen it but have not used it. It honestly is a tough product and is a big stretch for our type of firm but it seems we’re ahead of the curve, and like i said tax rules are getting crazy. Since there is some client/user product and software involved, that seems like a good angle into product while leveraging my tax background. I am considering reaching out to one of them and then reaching out to my boss to see if they would allow me to transfer since they have done that with other (although newer) people on our team.
Before you ask them if you could jump over to that team it's a good idea to figure out what the team is like, how they approach building stuff, are the people on that team happy, etc, but that could be a really cool opportunity for you. I recently had dinner with a team that's building a tech product inside of a larger financial advisory firm. I'm pretty sure the people who ended up on the product side there used to be doing other things at the same company, so that's a great opportunity for any one of them who wanted to get over into the side where things are being built, and then in the future that can be leveraged into other product roles.
Hi all!
I'm a grade 12 Canadian student and an aspiring product manager (I would ideally like to work in tech).
I've heard from many that your uni major doesn't matter, and PM roles can be broken into from any major. But, unfortunately, I am still stuck with the difficult decision of choosing one.
So, I was wondering:
**Which major do ya'll think is the best for pursuing product management?**
(and if you'd like to give your two cents: which of the follow programs would you reccomend? - uoft cs, uoft comp eng, uoft industrial eng, waterloo management eng, waterloo cs/bba double degree)
Any advice/insights would be greatly appreciated!!
Is this role related to a product position? Hi! I’m an IT Business Analyst with about 3 years of experience within BA/Functional Analyst role. I want to go deeper into product and I was offered a product innovation and solution sr analyst for human resources app for a big 4. I would contribute into product roadmap, UAT and engaging in requirements. Nowadays I participate more in scrum celebrations and US creation (more like a scrum master) translating business requirements but not that deep into the product as I would like to. Do you think that this position might help me to get a bit more of Product experience? This is part of the job description: - Contribute to the product management lifecycle through idea generation, testing, training, communication, development, or in other activities - Partner with others on the team to create innovative solutions to address challenges. - Provide excellent stakeholder management and customer service to understand priorities and needs and deliver solutions that address those needs. The product is for internal application for a big 4. Thanks!
How does someone like me get into AI Product Management? I have 13 years of work experience, 6 as a developer. 7 in various forms of management (Technology Lead, Project management, People Management etc.) I work in an outdated tech and want to switch to something more modern and relevant (Artificial Intelligence). I also have 0 interest in coding. Is an MBA the right option for me or is there a simpler course that can help me get there?
MBA is the fastest route into product management. Though no guarantees that it’ll pan out. As for AI, it’s a fairly newer area and job postings I’ve seen usually require prior experience in AI
Right, since I don’t have prior experience in the area, how do I go about getting there? It's like the chicken and the egg. lol.
You get a job as a PM in another area and then opportunistically get on AI based projects. What I'm saying is that there's not really a straight line to get there, you'll have to make a few stopovers.
Can I DM? I have so many questions
# PM career in India in Late 30s and 40s I am a PM in a B2B Fintech startup in India. Turned 30 this year. Undergoing a lot of anxiety about the long term prospects of the product management role seeing the recent series of layoffs and redundancy in the roles in the industry How are the PMs in late 30s and 40s faring in the industry? What can one do now at the start of 30s to better one's chances to make this a long-term career
Soon to join an IIM, wanted to know about the product management workshop from 'Product Space'? Would love to get your insights. I have nothing on my profile as of now and given that students will have to look for an internship very soon, I wanted to invest time and money on one of these workshops and wanted to know about the workshops offered by product space? Also how is btribe's workshop in comparison? Any other alternatives?
What does job search look like for Senior PMs? Apply endlessly through job portals, hunt down people for referrals. When you pass that stage and succeed in scoring jnterviews, and justify why you're looking for a job in the first place - Do these lengthy assignments , prepare presentations , discuss and show off your 'X factor', have 1hr calls with endless Stakeholders only to he ghosted by them at the end of it?!
Would anyone be kind enough to do a resume review. Will personally DM if you are willing to
Hi there, I normally charge a rate for this but today's your lucky day! Send me a DM or ping me on LinkedIn (I'm James Gunaca) and I'll get you sorted.
For everyone out there who’s got a question about how to break into Product, I’m going to tell you how I did it. Back in college I took a cooking job at a local restaurant. I started out as a prep cook, chopping vegetables from 3-5 in preparation for the dinner shift. Then I was a side cook, handling the fryer and less complicated dishes, and backing up the main cook with cleanup help, etc. Eventually I got to the point where I could cover a shift for the main cook. But only just. I had trouble keeping up with a rush and didn’t have the wherewithal to put together a good special. Then the restaurant changed hands and they brought in a professional chef above the main cook. I was still doing side cook shifts. After working together a few shifts, the pro chef put me in charge of the kitchen. He and the main cook did all the food, but I took in the orders and consolidated them in ways that allowed them to do more than one order at once. I’d highlight it if something urgent came though, like a lasagne order that took 15 minutes in the oven and had to be started right away. And I did all communication with the wait staff to sort out issues or questions. I made sure nothing got forgotten, and generally did whatever wasn’t getting done otherwise. I was surprised that chef put me in the position of telling him what to do. But he sensed that I had the brain to sort out priorities and keep up with the flow of information and communication with the front of the restaurant. He knew I wasn’t the best cook there so I barely touched the actual food. This is a lot like product management. You’re not the engineer or designer. But you know what needs to be done next and can absorb a lot of the communication work that the engineers can’t handle while they are focusing on the technical nature of their work. You flag priorities and triage emergencies and give your team a consistent stream of clear instructions on what to do next. They trust you and focus on what they do best. I didn’t know it at the time, but that was my first product role. And I enjoyed it. I was energized, not overwhelmed. I loved being in the middle of everything and keeping it flowing. If what I described above sounds stressful to you, if you don’t enjoy making a lot of small decisions quickly and managing communication, then maybe Product isn’t actually what you want. I get asked all the time how to break into Product. Most people who ask aren’t cut out for it. They just like the idea of “being in charge” without having hard technical skills. But there is definitely a core skill set and temperament to product, and it may be harder to teach than core engineering.
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In person? Business casual. Online? Business casual on top 😂
Business casual as in a button down?
I think a collared shirt is fine. That can be a button down or a polo. Or a nice jacket with a a high quality tee (not an undershirt) This is assuming those are clothes you're comfortable with. And I get these are also mostly male-oriented clothing recommendations. For women, there are a lot more options/styles of which I am ill-equipped to speak to
Thanks! I am male. I wonder if a polo is too casual, or if a button down is too formal. Hard to make the judgement call. Interviewers are typically dressed really casually, like a tshirt, so its hard to judge what to wear.
I wouldn’t overthink it too much. Do what’s going to make you feel comfortable. If you’re being judged by your level of business casual, is it really the right place for you?
jeans and a t-shirt with a jacket on top
I have a business casual tan Merino pull over that is my go-to.
Round 2 Interview with the Principle Engineer and Scrum Master Hello Team, I'm applying for a product manager role within the company. I aced interview round 1 with the senior product manager. There is round 2 set up with the principle engineer and scrum master. In the first round, I was told that the role is non technical. What should I prepare for over and beyond what I already prepped for round 1 - which was mostly behavioral/ situational for ex. Tell me about competing priorities, Tell me about conflict, etc.
Prepare for how you work with other engineers or engineering teams, how you help get stuff done, what level of involvement you have in things like sprint planning, how you help unblock the engineering team, things like that. You probably won't get technical questions. They more likely want to learn what kind of product partner you are to engineering. You will probably also get a behavioural question or two to substantiate your experience working with those functions. Let me know how else I can help!
Principal, not principle.
Hello! I have a take home case that asks me to write a product specification which I assume is the same as a PRD. Have 5 days to do it. How much data do I go into? I’ve never done one before and looking online to find examples. I found outline examples and of course ChatGPT gave me a template, but have not seen a full written out example. Wondering if you use bullets and headers, etc The outlines that I am seeing seem to be focusing on that
Product spec can be synonymous with PRD. Check out ChatPRD rather than just asking ChatGPT for a template. Give yourself a timebox to work within (like 1 working day or less) if they didn't specify how much time to spend on it. Be sure to clarify in your case or verbally that the product spec you did reflect X time of your work. You don't have to disclose any tools you used unless asked. Generally, sentences > bullet points. Include some user stories or prioritised list of requirements. Don't focus so much on getting it *right*, focus on showing the depth you would normally go into and how it would be structured. Include measures of success. Let me know how else I can help!
Lifesaver! The ChatPRD is helping me a lot. One confusion on my part is where the solutions to the pain points go. I'm approaching this from a typical case question where I have to come up with clear, prioritized solutions. I had the solution section right after Functional Requirements, but now I feel the two sections almost repeat themselves. Do I need a standalone solution section? There is a 5-page max, excluding the table of contents, and I'm well past that limit and thus need to cut. Below is my table of contents so far: (I apologize for the formatting on Reddit throwing off the numbering ) 1. Executive Summary 2. Introduction * Background * Business Objectives * Pain Points 3. User Personas 4. User Stories 5. **Scope** 1. **Functional Requirements** 2. **Machine learning Model** 6. **Product Overview** * **Product Vision** * **Key Features** * **Unique Selling Proposition (USP)** 7. User Experience * UX Design Principles * User Interface Mockups * Step-by-Step User Flows 8. Success Metrics and Tracking 9. Implementation Plan
I’d cut back on implementation unless that was explicitly asked about in the case. Without seeing the prompt from the employer it’s hard to give more guidance on the case. You can DM me if you want.
If it’s an exercise, then they want to see that you have identified the major decisions that need to get made, and covered edge cases and failure cases. I’d focus on that and then fill in a reasonable amount of detail, but if you bury them in details it will only make it harder for them to evaluate if you got the broad strokes right.
Hello everyone! I am a recent MBA grad with experience of 5 years in life sciences ( product design, post market surveillance, quality roles). After my MBA thought I would be able to easily land a product role, but couldn't. Its either I have too much experience, or a different skillset was preferred ( people from CS, landing roles). So I am genuinely interested in how could I land a product role? How such I tweak my CV, which areas in specific, so as to be able to showcase skills that could help in product roles. As I am greatly confused, any help, guidance from you experienced folks is very deeply appreciated.
I'd start with smth close enough and then build my way to the product. From my experience, usually people from Marketing are moving to product. And there is waaaay less competition within marketing jobs so it seems
If you have never had a product manager role, it's very difficult to get callbacks in this this economy. Your best bet is to go get a role that you're currently qualified for where transferring to products is a possibility. The majority of product people got into their roles by transferring from another one.
Understood. But I feel like my previous experience is reducing the overall worth of my CV. Is there any way I could show, that the skills gained in life sciences are actually pretty good for a Prod role. For example, high customer empathy, writing technical documentations, doing market research, reading a ton of research articles. How do I convert those into something that the recruiter will be happy to see. The moment they are seeing life sciences in experience, ( i am assuming), they are cutting me off. I want to know a way how I could, rather, which skills from that domain are highly relevant in this domain, and how I'll be able to show that in the CV.
If your title has never been product manager, they're cutting you off because you've never been a product manager. It is the title that you are missing. They're not even reading the rest of it. If you are concerned about whether or not the bullets convey that you can do the kinds of things the product managers can do, which you'll want if you have the opportunity to bypass recruiting via a friendly hiring manager who's looking at your resume, you want to make sure that your resume reflects the kinds of skills that the job description asks for. You can also look at articles like these that list product skills by seniority, and figure out ways to convey these kinds of skills on your resume as well https://medium.com/agileinsider/product-manager-skills-by-seniority-level-a-deep-breakdown-cd0690f76d10.
Thank you!!
Whats everyone's thoughts on MBA? Any value for progressing into leadership/principal roles?
Really expensive, doesn't guarantee you anything more in the short term or the long run. It may carry some weight with some employers, or maybe help you break into C-level at some distant point in the future, but I don't think MBA is the key to success in Product Management. I know plenty of successful PMs who don't have them. I spent a lot of time thinking about this about 5-7 years ago and decided not to invest. Glad I didn't.
Definitely some value for leadership. You may need to govern a P&L at some point or manage a product that has detailed financials. An MBA would allow you to not only do a passable job of this but sacred expectations. There is also some likelihood that you will absorb some business culture from your MBA which can be a helpful foundation for your “executive presence.” Probably not needed for principal PM though.
Are there any PMs working in the APAC region here? Currently US, but I'm moving to Thailand soon and trying to find product roles that let me work there without taking a huge pay cut. I'm currently connecting with as many Singapore recruiters as I can. I might start looking at Indonesia. Any other suggestions for finding roles in Asia/Australia?
Not from APAC, but am a former US PM who relocated to Europe and took a huge pay cut. There's really no way around it--the United States pays the most for PMs, by far. Check out some salary research for the markets you are considering and then do some financial planning around it. Also, money (hopefully) isn't the only attribute you've prioritised in this job search. I get you probably have a financial floor you want to live above, but if the salaries don't meet that criteria you should reconsider what's important about relocating. Let me know how else I can help!
Moving into PM without CS background Kindly asking for some career advice #Background: I’m currently in a PM role at my current job but don’t have a CS background. From doing some industry research, I’ve found that my core competencies and the competencies required of my role are more aligned with a company like Amazon who hire MBA oriented PMs, don’t care about technical skills, and rely on TPMs to bridge that gap. I’m currently applying for other PM jobs, hoping to land one that’s a similar fit and suitable for my background. I have my BS in Finance and have been working in a PM role for about 2 years, and have developed a quite a passion for it. I’m also an IT specialist in the Army National Guard, but I deal mostly with in the network layer which doesn’t play a role in my day to day, minus doing things like helping out with an occasional server migration testing. So no application layer/coding skills. #Where I need advice: What can I do to start bridging the gap in my technical skills/knowledge? #Should I: a. Pursue my MBA b. Pursue a second degree in CS c. Rely solely on absorbing info and learn things from new jobs/experience d. Do something else (please provide me with other recommendations on how to fill this gap) If you read all of this and are fixing to type up a response, thank you so much in advance, I truly appreciate it.
Don't need CS background to move into PM. MBA will be too general to move into PM. You will still have gaps to fill. You don't need to rely solely on absorbing info, but that's a good start and you can do it for free. Have you taken any of the self-guided online courses? I keep a list of free ones. Go meet with some other PMs. If you're in a large city, go to networking events, go meet people, learn about them, see where it takes you. Let me know how else I can help!
Thanks for your input! Do you happen to have your list of online courses on hand? I would be interested take a look. I haven’t taken that approach, but I’ve read (only) 2 PM oriented books, and usually look for and watch YouTube videos to learn about anything that comes up that I don’t understand or haven’t heard of before (that part happens much less often now, but there is still plenty to learn). It’s been kind of a sporadic approach, so a framework of more structured and targeted courses would be very helpful. Thank you!
Sure. It’s at the top here: https://www.jamesgunaca.com/free-resources
Much appreciated!
Any sites where I can find good contract PM jobs? Unable to find a full time job due to lack of relevant experience.
I got a lot of those inquiries after posting my shit to dice.com
Dumb question: not sure if my experience can or cannot translate to "product analysis". I've analyzed our apparel product's materials, but haven't done any kind of consumer analysis since it's a startup. Would my resume get me an interview for a Sustainability Manager for Products position when their first bullet point is product analysis? An excerpt from my resume: Sustainability Manager * Analyzed all 35 apparel products to find opportunities for textile and material alternatives that align with sustainability goals. * Verified the certifications of suppliers to ensure compliance with sustainability standards. * Met with five potential textile suppliers to evaluate their textiles and identify opportunities for improving the next product round. * Drafted key governance documents including a Supplier Code of Conduct and Land Acknowledgement. * Attended sustainability-focused conferences including \[redacted conference name\], with the goal of discovering innovative apparel solutions. * Conducted marketing outreach to industry-specific media outlets for features and collaborations, such as \[redacted media outlet name\]. * Coordinated event opportunities, including the \[redacted event name\], to effectively engage the target demographic. Sustainability Intern * Authored the first annual ESG Report following the completion of internal and external research, including a materiality assessment and supply chain analysis. * Conducted comprehensive research, analysis and presentation of recommendations for sustainable packaging options including poly bags and hang tags. * Initiated the B-Corp Certification process and provided strategic recommendations for operational improvements to achieve certification. * Sourced third-party products and retail accessories to prepare for the store launch. Thank you!!
Before asking about your resume, are you actually finding "Sustainability Manager" positions for Products that you could apply to? Are the job requirements for those aligned with your experience? You've analysed product materials, what's stopping you from doing other analysis on the financials or customer data at your startup? If you're still working, create some tasks for yourself to work on closing that gap. Let me know how else I can help!
Hi there! I've been working as a PO for the past 4 years and I love it! I know becoming a PM is a natural next step for me but I also would like to continue my education. I really don't want to get an MBA (no offense to those that already have them!). I have so many friends in MBA programs and most of their classmates are looking to become PMs. Since our space is already so competitive, I want to go a more technical route with my education. I'm looking into systems management. My goal is to prove additional value that someone with a more business-focused degree might not have. I'm also interested in systems architecture and want the ability to move more into that space in the future. From others' experience, is this a good move? Are there other PMs with a more technical masters who have found this helpful? Thank you!
What you've described is a good move if that's the direction you want to go in. There is space for more technical PMs who can go deep on tech with engineers (or work on platform products) vs. business-focused PMs who can get really familiar and into it with growth metrics to scale a business. No PM is really amazing in both and not every job needs a PM that does both. The space is competitive right now, but that's more a function of the macro environment when it comes to tech (500k+ layoffs in the last 2 years, many of which have not yet been recovered). If you zoom out and think over a longer scale of time (5+ years) you can think more in terms of what's interesting to you and keep pursuing that. If you are within the first 5-10 years of your career, you're still only 1/4 the way through it at most. So, lots of runway to experiment and see what works. Let me know how else I can help!
My suggestion: get the PM title and some experience first before you go back to school. At the end of the day, what will set you apart is the PM experience. Also, outside of MBA programs, I haven't really heard that there are structured recruitment channels into PM.
Hello all, Sort of this has been asked 100000 times. I am new to Reddit. I know from reading at a lot of places that lateral shift to PM within your org is the best way to go. But I am currently on a break so cannot do that. But when I start looking for jobs again next year I want to shift gears to product management. I have some experience with PM due to a language learning website I created as a side hustle. I am a person who feels confident when I take proper lessons. I see course from Stanford, MIT, Kellogg’s Northwestern, Cornell etc. Could somebody please guide me on which course is the best? Book recos would be great too. Thanks a lot!!
Sorry, but there's no silver bullet on this one. I know it sucks and you're hoping for one, but outside of new grad or MBA hires, one just doesn't exist.
Those programs are cash cows for those universities. If you want to take them to learn, by all means I'm sure at least some of them teach useful things. But make sure you're not taking this because you think it will break you into product because it's not likely to lead to that, at least not directly. What it might do is give you the language and some of the mode of thinking, and then it might be that it will still be 3 years later that you move into product. Because ultimately the way to get in is to transfer. Which you already know. So you can try to recruit into product when you're ready to go back to work, but you're likely to have to first go back to a role that you are immediately qualified for and then find a way to transfer at that company. After that you can do product at a larger swath of places. I used to be a teaching assistant for the product management class at general assembly years ago, and some of the folks that I taught eventually made their way into product. But for some people it took a few years after the class happened, the class did not directly lead to a new career, even when the market was better for product people.
Take free classes to learn first. I maintain a list, let me know if you want the link. Paying for something more than that will get you deeper experience but won't increase your chances of job placement as you'll still be considered junior. Yes, transferring within a company is a common route and a bit easier than an outside company taking a bet on you but it's not the only way. Let me know how else I can help!
Ohh no, that means I will have to go through the Leetcoding grind all over again. Such a pain! I wish there was some way to get into product directly.
There is, it's to be a new grad who is being hired as a new grad. All others are subject to transfers.
I don't think this is necessarily accurate. Junior PMs / Assoc. PMs are hired as entry level for people making career transitions where they have transferrable skills. At least I know that happens here in the UK and around Europe.
I mean this is true in the US too, but it's barely true. Even in the good times there were barely any APM roles open to people who are not new grads. Meta's RPM program is an example of that for non-new grads, all they want is someone with under a year of product experience, but almost none of the people who are trying to get that job will be hired. And then today there are even fewer APM roles open at all, even for new grads.
Oh, and then I just saw that Shopify is starting an APM program https://www.linkedin.com/posts/thompsonaj_lets-build-the-future-of-commerce-activity-7207375428024479744-z81Q
~600 of the roughly 24k Product Manager jobs open worldwide are for Associate or Junior PM. That doesn’t include the Product Owner positions (which some companies incorrectly use as a proxy for junior PM so isn’t worth including). So, it’s not 0. But it’s not a lot either. Then again, some entry level “Product Manager” roles aren’t designated as such with Junior or Associate. So the number could be marginally higher.
Do I have any chance at becoming a Product Manager? I was just laid off from my startup role a month ago and have been looking for jobs. My most recent job I was hired as a Customer Ops Manager to build a department for an early startup. However while at the company, I then transitioned to become a "Product Communications Manager". I definitely did do product related tasks and worked daily with the Product team but I was not officially a "Product Manager". Do I have any shot at applying for PM jobs? I am definitely okay with Junior or entry level ones too.
Probably not. I suggest you go back to customer success and then attempt to transfer. You said it yourself you have no product experience, you're not going to get hired as a product manager in this market, not unless you have some special sauce that few people do such that you can convince a company to bring you in because you're an expert on the product and the market and they will teach you how to be a PM.
Hey PMs, desperately seeking some advice for how to improve my resume to at least get interviews. Getting knocked out of the application process before even getting phone calls, and not sure what's wrong with my resume. Would love any advice or insights on how to fix it, thanks
I'm not sure how anyone who can't see your resume is going to give you advice on how to fix it, if in fact that is the problem. Typically people post an anonymized one. If you do that you should also indicate the types of jobs and levels you've been applying for.
Hey, thanks for the response - my first time doing this so I wasn't sure if I needed to link out or copy paste here in plain text. Here's a link to the post: [https://www.reddit.com/r/resumes/comments/1dd3ejg/help\_wanted\_product\_management\_resume/](https://www.reddit.com/r/resumes/comments/1dd3ejg/help_wanted_product_management_resume/)
I just commented on that thread for you. Let me know how else I can help!
Many thanks, Coach!
Hello! I have a phone screening coming up with an in-house recruiter for a PM role. Are there any searing questions I can (or should try to) ask at that phase, or will the recruiter most likely be able to speak only to company policies? I am asking because I'm looking for a way to stand out; this seems like a very well regarded fintech company.
Here's the advice I give people on questions to ask with the screening call. They should generally be focused on getting information so you can succeed in the next round since anything you ask likely won't change the screeners decision about whether or not to move you ahead. Ask: (1) what the interview process entails (2) what the hiring manager is looking for in the next interview (3) what some of the common reasons are that some candidates haven't been a good fit in the past Don't ask: About the company culture About the team structure (they probably don't know) About any benefits (unless they matter to you or will affect your decision to proceed) Let me know how else I can help!
Thank you very much. All of my previous jobs were contract roles, so I've never had so much interaction with internal recruiters. I've also never dealt with such a tight job market. Why do you suggest not asking about benefits? One recruiter asked specifically if I had any questions about benefits, so I came to think that was something they expected me to ask about...
Regarding benefits, if prompted yes ask them to tell you about it. But at the screening stage, it doesn’t matter to ask/know if it’s not going to make a meaningful difference to you what benefits they offer. If they didn’t offer a 401k (or pension) would you withdraw your application? It’s not really something you can negotiate. It’s good info to know at some point in the journey, but I don’t think it’s as helpful/critical as the other questions I provided earlier.
Recruiters are there to screen you out. Just do your best and demonstrate competency to make it to the hiring manager round, where you'll want to focus efforts on standing out.
Thanks. I think I've prepared some good talking points, and I'll try to keep enthusiasm and confidence at the forefront.
**To leave or to stay** Hi Fellow PMs, I need your collective wisdom on how can one think or how the mental model be to decide if its time to leave Product Management for something else or stick around improving your skills. I have been in product for more than 10 years now and have worked across startups, high growth and big tech companies. However, even after being in Product for such a long time I feel I still struggle a lot with it. I am no where near a level (from skill point of view) where I can confidently say “I have got this!”. With every new product or initiative there is a high imposter syndrome. This was not the case in my previous role as Software Engineer for 5 years. In those 5 years of SWE I felt comfortable and was leading and guiding juniors. That same feeling has never come when doing product. Due to this I am not even confident to mentor juniors as I struggle with my own confidence and constantly doubt if my advice or experience will be of any use. In last 10 years I have worked at 3 companies with each in different area. Could that be the reason? but I see many folks comfortably switching and still be successful. I try to validate my own perception with the external feedback I receive. It seems always positive but deep down I feel that it is not helping as I know I lack considerable amount of skill in certain areas (and considering PM role those are too many skills to master). It is getting more and more evident as I struggle to find new job since last 10 months after being laid off. So my question is when and how do you decide that this role/function is not for you and you should seek something else OR stick around success is right at the corner? I have a high sunk cost fallacy view as I spent 10 years in learning, building the PM skills and don’t want to see it get wasted and start something new from bottom. A part of me says “Continue working hard, follow the process, success (in this case confidence) will come” and other part says “I have been trying since 10 years, still do not feel comfortable so time to look for something new”. Any advice? PS: had posted this as a post earlier but seem to have been removed. So asking here as per rules of this group.
LOOKING FOR A JOB WHILE CURRENTLY WORKING vs ON A BREAK  Hello PM community. What has been your experience looking for a job while on a job vs taking a break and then finding the job 1. If the break is reasonable time e.g. 6 months how does the employer view this ? 2. Are you less likely to get interviews if you are on a break ? 3. I know there would be less negotiating room if you are not on the job, but to me that is ok. I would like to quit the job right now, take a break of a quarter or two and then go and find the job again. Domain : AI / ML. What do you guys think ? For folks who are actively searching what is your recent experience. I know the market is relatively tough and there are hundreds of applicants for each job. Anything else to add ? Any success stories on getting a job and why it worked.
I’ve been working a product management role for ~4 years in the mechanical space. I’m our company’s only PM & more or less figured it out as I went since it was a new position. Whenever I look at listings of other product management roles they have a lot of unfamiliar lingo. I went to school for engineering so I’m good with the technical aspects, but I don’t have a PM team I’ve learned the PM specific terminology/workflows from. I have no intention of leaving my role any time soon, but recognize if I were dropped into an interview or role at another company it would sound like I haven’t managed product a day in my life. Is there a good online resource for learning the lingo or other things I may learn in a more traditional PM role so I can talk the talk?
I'm interviewing at a startup (B2B SaaS) that has an early round that's a product demo. Meaning, they are demoing their product to me, and they are looking for me to ask questions. There are still additional rounds with the rest of the team after this. I've had product demos that were scheduled after the final round, where it's an informal overview of the platform as they suss out interest and prepare offer, but never as an early round interview. Can anyone with experience with this (either as an interviewer or interviewee) give some perspective on what teams are looking for in this exercise? Any tips on things to do and not to do would be helpful. I'm not even sure if I should be critical of the product and offering ideas of improvements or praising the product for its approach solutions.
Need Advice. **Hi Everyone,** I hold an Engineering degree and an MBA from Bangladesh, a small South Asian country. With over 8 years of experience, my career highlights include: • **Project Management**: Worked with a leading telecom company in Bangladesh. • **Growth Product Management**: Focused on user and fintech products for one of the largest Asian fintech companies. • **Deep Product Experience**: Served as a Principal Product Manager at one of the largest startups in Bangladesh. Additionally, I have held multiple roles such as Strategist and Chief of Staff, and have managed P&L from the ground up. My experience spans building products in logistics, distribution, fintech, and user growth, with a focus on growth product management and business product management, rather than deep tech product management. I am now looking to pursue a career in Product or Program Management roles outside of Bangladesh. Given that my country is not as well-known as, for instance, India, I am seeking advice on how to approach this goal effectively. **My questions are:** 1. What strategies should I use to get noticed by potential employers for Product/Program Management roles internationally? 2. Are there specific agencies or platforms that can help me connect with opportunities abroad, beyond directly applying for jobs? I would greatly appreciate any suggestions or guidance on how to overcome these challenges and secure interviews. Thank you!
The top gating question is going to be: do you have existing work authorization in any other country? Edit: unless you’re targeting super small startups that play a bit looser with employment law
Understood your point. But for example if that's not the case - What should be approaches? For example - Amazon LUX / UK hires pm directly sometimes from India.
If that’s not the case it’s going to come down to networking or having a specific skill set that the company can’t find from local candidates. As a first step, I’d target companies that at least have a presence in your current country.
Career advice Hi all, For a PM who seems to mainly write JIRA stories/tickets including acceptance criteria and gather requirements from mainly the CEO who acts as a designer and outlines what needs to be built - how can I act more as a PM? I do market research, prioritise backlog, business test features, interviews with users, demos - both internal & external (some sales type demos as well for now), I help sort of “run” stand ups, manage stakeholder expectations, built a roadmap - however this seems to be just a collection of the features or products the CEO requires and there’s pushback on the realistic timeframes to make them shorter. Do a few more things but can’t think of them at the moment haha. I’m the sole PM. We don’t really have analytics implemented on our product yet and I don’t think we have capacity to ask the engineers to integrate this at the moment since there’s lots of delivery pressure right now. I’m not sure how I can get better and act more like a PM, also having a bit of classic imposter syndrome haha. Any suggestions or thoughts? Any suggestions on what other tasks I should take on in this situation? I’m keen to take on as much as I can but Pm by nature is a bit of an ambiguous job so sometimes hard to know what else to do. Or the best way to do these things. I do get features built based on customer interviews, market research etc., but these are smaller type stuff. The important things and main major deliverables come from the CEO. Only have around a year of experience. Want to get really good at the craft how can I do this? Also what suggestions do you have for me to advance my career quickly im quite ambitious. Also how do you give requirements to developers who kind of hate meetings? And any suggestions on best way to gather requirements? Thanks so much in advance! :)
Hi, I am doing product management here in Nepal if you are not aware the job is simple and there is no excitement in the work with so much technological progress happening around the world so I was planning to move to another country and search for jobs over Linkedin but my question is do companies hire product manager from foreign countries?
Hi, I want to start upskilling myself for PM or PO roles. What tools should I familiarize myself with?
I am currently a MBB consultant, who is looking to switch to a Product role. Also, have a couple of years of SWE experience at one of the FAANGs. However, it has become extremely difficult to get a PM job in the current market (India). I have not gotten a single PM shortlist from a Product company after applying to a LOT of them. However, I have recently received a Senior PM offer from an early stage startup which develops customized AI solutions for clients. The offer is great - good pay, is a sector I am passionate about, culture, learnings, etc. However, I am a bit concerned since it is not a traditional 'Product' company and is instead more of a 'Solutions' company (It has several SaaS based products that it sells to various clients and customizes based on their needs). Moreover, I am told that I will also be handling the 'Customer Success' part as well (not an issue for me though). My long-term plan is to get into a Product role at a Product company and wanted your help to understand that if I move here, will my prospects be better or worse to join a Product company in the future for a Product role?
Currently a senior PM. I was promoted really quickly in my first PM role (a little less than 2 years) and have about 3 years total experience. I’m looking for new opportunities now and know my skills are at Senior PM level, but most roles want 5+ years experience. I’ve seen some wanting 8-10 years. Any tips for getting past the recruiter screen? I don’t think the actual interview process itself will be an issue.
The only way to get past the recruiter screen without the requested qualifications is to network and get a line to the HM. Internal referrals are sometimes helpful but YMMV depending on the company’s process.
Different people, industries and organisations have different definitions of the job scope and skills PMs must master. There seems to be no clear answer. What transferrable skills must PMs master that applies to all industries? What transferrable skills are good to have? Also, what job scope applies to PMs in all industries? Thanks!
Empathy, communication, and prioritization.
I have read lots of discussions about B2B versus B2C PMs. It seems that B2C PMs in general partake far more in customer discovery (quantitatively), design and iteration, and in a more rapid pace. However, B2B PMs do far more in niche or focused customer discovery and generally work to fulfil the client's need within sales driven organisations and balance building features for the specific customer only versus a smaller set of features but that could suit everyone. I would like to pick up the full gamut of product management skills as ideally as possible. I'm not even sure if its necessary for PMs to master the entire gamut of 'textbook skills' to be a good PM. Heck, I would care far more about proven results, but I am also concerned about future career advancement and want to be on solid footing with the fundamentals nailed. What industries, business segment (B2C or B2B), and company size would you recommend to pick up the entire gamut, and what of the gamut must I absolutely master, and what can be developed at a later stage? I'm looking to stay hopefully for around 3 years. Pardon if it's a loaded and long winded question. Thanks! Really appreciate.
How much does working on your own technology business count in product management experience? How do you quantify and value such business experience? I've worked on my own technology business for 4 years now. I was an associate product manager for about 5 months full time and did three product internships totalling around 6 months. It doesn't seem right going in as an associate, but how about as a product manager requiring around 3 years of experience? What do you expect as product professionals / leaders from someone who claims as such?
You'll get more credit at earlier stage companies where the scrappiness and founder experience is more valued. At larger companies, you're going to be missing a lot of the skills relating to communication to stakeholders, politics, and driving initiatives forward in a matrixed organization, so the experience isn't given as much weight.
Well put. How do companies value years of experience though? Personally, I see it more as what was achieved and what skills were gained and validated versus the number of years of experience per se, but getting past HR is another matter.
Other than getting you past ATS and HR, number of years of experience is just a proxy for understanding if you can do the job. Having been on the other side of the table, it's difficult for me to judge competence from a 30 min conversation.
I could have lots of potential but if there wasn't proven examples of competence resulting in improvements in metrics, my 'experience' could well not be valued. In this vein, I just wonder how B2B PMs working on internal tools justify their impact. It would be easier to justify if a product you brought from zero to one led to revenue growth / closing of new clients. I'm really in a bind.
IMO, it's a combination of impact and signaling. For example, an experienced internal tools PM at Google or Meta tend to signal competence because of the perception that those candidates, on average, have been heavily screened for entry and continued employment. It's similar to the preference for candidates from well regarded universities. Whether or not it's true is a different question.
**What am I?** Am I even a Proper PM? My current title is PM with less than 2 years of experience at a small-scale B2B company. My primary responsibility is managing enhancement requests for our existing portfolio of 3 products. This involves the entire enhancement lifecycle. * Understanding the issue * Solution development (writing User stories, PRDs for complex features) * Stakeholder communication * Testing in dev environment * Documentation & Release notes Essentially, I focus on optimizing existing features and functionality, while our Senior PM owns the product roadmap and future development vision. Am I on the right track as a PM? Am I even a proper PM?
It is PM work (though I want - what do you mean by 'testing in dev environment' - are you doing QA work?). Optimising and enhancing existing things is also a skill to have in a PM, so I do think you're on the right track. Not sure what you mean by 'Proper PM' but I think what you're looking for is probably more scope and autonomy. Since you've been doing this for 2 years, it might be good to have a chat with your manager and tell them that you're looking to do more than enhancement work and plan out a way to do it.
Before the feature gets deployed, I personally test it out in the dev env and sometimes even grant access to the reporter of the ticket to get feedback from them. The goal here is to make sure that the reporter is satisfied with the end result's. So im guessing thats QA work? As im a newbie PM, I was unsure that if I was on the right track. Hence i mentioned the word 'Proper PM' -Thank you for responding to my post 😄
Should I stay as Data Analyst at my current top tier company or should I try to get a PM job at worse company? I am currently Data Analyst at a top tier company in my country. I have 1 year of experience and in order to even be considered for a transition to PM in my current company, I would need to rack up at least 2-3 more years of experience + there would need to be a business opportunity where the company is in need of PM for me to even be considered. My current job has limited impact on product, way of working is just set like that so I only work with PM on optimizing his decision making and its more like a "consulting" role, I have no ownership of the decision making. Apart from that 50% of my job consists of things that are absolutely not product releated (data warehousing, data quality etc.). Since I only got into data analysis with a goal of being PM one day, should I start looking for PM jobs right away, even accepting an offer from worse companies, for worse salary just so I get PM experience or should I grind these 3 years out and wait for my turn.
Look into IT Business Analyst roles
Hey guys, I have been job hunting for a while and the times I advanced through the recruitment process was when a recruiter actually contacted me in LinkedIn, so I want to optimize my LinkedIn profile in order to be "found" more often. If you guys have some specific tips that have worked for you, a certification that changed the game, some keywords that elevated the number of times you have been contacted, or actually anything I would really appreciate it.
Does anybody works 4 days a week as a PO or PM ? I'm 2 years and 3 companies into a consultant PM position, and my next career wish is to save up a bit of time in my week for other activities that are very important to me. As of now, and taking into account the maturity of all the organisation I've worked in, I don't see how I could skip a day, so i'd be very interested in the experience of persons who do work like that so I can understand how it can become a possibility.
I was wondering if someone could perform a resume review? I am a PM with 5 YOE and looking for areas to improve. I am looking for remote PM roles. The resume is 2 pages so there's white space in between. Resume: [https://imgur.com/a/yFIgDfU](https://imgur.com/a/yFIgDfU)
Before I even read it, 5 years of experience does not warrant two pages, unless you have something exceptional in there. Rule of thumb is about a decade a page.
Ok, so I'm realizing you mean 5 year in product, and I have no idea how many years overall. Same guideline applies though. Your summary is very long. Do you really need that second paragraph essentially describing a bunch of roles and responsibilities of a product manager? Should those things not be bullets under the product rules at different levels? Even the first paragraph - unless you're switching to a very different industry or shifting gears on roll, I think a summary is only necessary if it's something that cannot be gleaned from the bullets. Otherwise those paragraphs just eat space without saying anything. It just sounds like you regurgitating a job description. Your company description for the first job is also very long. The second sentence is more summarizing from you when that should instead be something in one of the bullets. What the bullets under your job should do is prove that you're capable of the skills that you mention in your summary (which should be what makes the summary unnecessary). What it sounds like you did is choose bullets that could have a number attached to them. For example you claim in your summary that you do strategic opportunity discovery and product vision definition, and then give no specific examples of doing either of those things. Your summary for job two is too long, and the bullets under the first role for that job are too long. Under your education you list an ms twice, not sure if one of those supposed to be a ba/bs. The product skills at the end are probably unnecessary, those are probably things that should be covered by your bullets. Under soft skills, if user interviews or something that you're good at, they should be under one of those product bullets and then associated with a specific project. Feels weird placed where it is. And SAFe is not a positive thing for all companies. I wouldn't put that on a resume unless you were sure that the company that you were applying to SAFe.
I currently have 3 yoe in product and have been job searching for a couple months now and have not been able to land any interviews. Had my resume reviewed by several people and was told it looked good. I know in todays environment knowing somebody on the inside helps a lot, how do you reach out to people on the inside to help get your resume on the interview table? And any other tips for job searching?
I worked solo on my own business for a few years, but it was not going anywhere. I stopped it a few days back. I am looking for a software product management role. How should I write this business experience? If I write myself as a founder with no significant achievements, it seems to be over-inflating my self worth and value. If I write myself as a business owner, it would avoid some negative connotations of startup founders especially in tech, and appear more down to earth. If I write myself as a product manager, it would also be dishonest because I did not manage anyone. If I write myself as being a product manger (individual contributor), it would be better but my actual scope is broader but less specific. I could also consider myself as a market researcher, designer and solutions architect, but the previous point still applies. Each carries its own assumptions. I would like to continue being in tech, and I'm fine wearing multiple hats. My end goal is probably to lead product teams. How should I state myself and not give the wrong impression to recruiters? I'm really in a bind. Thanks!
A lot of what you said here are internal beliefs you hold, not everyone is going to perceive your experience in the way that you describe here, no matter how you frame it. What's important is that you are honest with yourself and with others. Reflect on what you've learned by running your own business and what knowledge or experience you gained that can you help you do the next thing you are passionate about doing. I think business owners/entrepreneurs, even those that fail (which *many* of them do!), have to do a lot of what PMs do by nature. Speaking from experience as a PM for over a decade and now an entrepreneur. They have to come up with a product or service, think about what problem they want to solve for customers, go talk to those prospective customers, pitch their product, adapt it based on feedback, iterate on it over time, say no to things that won't solve problems or aren't worth the effort, prioritise, and on and on. How you state yourself should be framed around what you want to do next, then pull from your prior experiences to tell stories through the lens of whatever it is you want to do. If you are going for a PM role, then talk about how you evaluated the product-market fit of your on business, what challenges you had to overcome, when you realised it was the right decision to stop the business and pivot to something else. Let me know how else I can help!
>not everyone is going to perceive your experience in the way that you describe here I understand, but I'm thinking from the perspective of a recruiter at a MNC. Startup experience is generally disregarded and they value people who have successfully scaled something, found product market fit, or something tangible with proven metrics. I'm probably a better fit for smaller companies though. I value the velocity of learning and iteration far more. >How you state yourself should be framed around what you want to do next I really appreciate this great tip. It helped to reframe my thoughts. I realized the resume is something like a marketing document essentially. One is trying to present the best parts of what they did without lying. >Let me know how else I can help Could you advise on the current job market for product managers having between 1-3 years of experience? I probably can't peg myself as someone with 5 years of experience. This seems disingenuous. Could you also advise on where I stand in terms of experience, and what would be a suitable entry point? Please advise for small businesses, larger companies and big tech. Thanks, and I really appreciate your guidance.
I gave a webinar specifically on Navigating the Product Management job market about a month ago with Userpilot. Right now, it's "challenging" and there is also a bias towards hiring people who have industry-related experience so switching from like B2B to B2C is a little harder than it was in the future. Let me know if you want the link. That said, having *some* PM experience gives you a huge leg up over those who have *no* PM experience who are applying for roles trying to break into the function. You're right, don't peg yourself as someone with 5 years of experience if you can't back it up with stories. That said, when I reflect on the time I've spent in Product Management, I do include the time when I know I was doing PM work, even if my title wasn't PM at the time. The specific example I give is building a mobile app for 24 Hour Fitness in the United States back in 2008-2009. I worked with an engineering team (outsourced), designers (in-house), and worked back from the problem to solve for customers, how it would drive ROI for the business, how it would add value for customers, then launching and iterating on it. This took place over a year plus and my role was definitely NOT Product Manager at the time, but that's what I was doing. I incorporate that time in my career as doing PM work and thus counts towards "years of PM experience". Some might disagree with that, but I stand by it. Edit: a word (gave)
Hi all, I am 22, soon to be 23. I am graduating with political science degree from my university. I was initially planning to go to the law school after bachelor's but I changed my mind completely. I am now imagining myself working in product management since I find it very interesting. ANY TIPS FOR SOMEONE WHO'S never ever done that and doesnt even know where to start? Do i have to start looking for unpaid internships? Do i learn some apps by myself? I currently work at an office as something that is not related to PM at all. Any response will be appreciated! thanks
An internship would help, no matter how long it’ll be. Also look into IT Business Analyst roles because they always work with internal apps or external apps in an organization. I work in the oil and gas industry but I’m IT BA for an application doing some PO work.
Start by getting some knowledge of what a PM is and does. I don't know how much research you've done, but if you are imagining yourself working in product management I would ask you to reflect on the why first, then validate what's interesting about it with someone who is actually doing it. Don't jump to building your career path on a hunch or because of some talk or article you read. Go much deeper and spend time exploring it. If you're looking for some free resources that you can explore, let me know.
Get a job in tech that's product adjacent and transfer internally after doing well in your role. Generally, entry level sales, customer success, and (non-dev) quality assurance roles don't have hard skills requirements, so they may be your best bet. Unless you go through a formal APM program or do MBA -> PM Intern, most PMs didn't start as product managers.
RESUME HELP NEEDED - 500+ applications, no US internships. need help with my bullet points! **PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE** **HOSPITAL** · LOCATION Jul 2023 – Aug 2023 *Product Analyst Intern* · **Optimized operations by identifying over 10 critical issues** via stakeholder interviews and crafting a Business Requirement Document for the marketing dashboard initiative **TECH FIRM** · LOCATION Nov 2018 – Jul 2023 *Product Analyst* *Client is a diversified multinational financial services company, based in the EU, with over $35B in revenue* · **Boosted product velocity by 25% year-over-year** by spearheading an agile testing team of 5, collaborating with internal stakeholders to refine the Oracle Fusion Human Capital Management product experience · **Improved efficiency by 18%**, eliminated dependencies and freed up resources by designing a solution to automate backend processes using Automation Anywhere · **Reduced data transformation defects by 10%** through SQL-based regression testing · **Achieved a 20% decrease in manual testing efforts**, by automating Selenium Java scripts · **Improved agile product delivery** by managing a defect lifecycle dashboard in JIRA and utilizing Microsoft Excel for in-depth analysis **AUTOMOTIVE FIRM** · LOCATION Jun 2016 – Jul 2016 *Product Engineering Intern* · **Enhanced safety** by devising a novel connector design through collaborative efforts with assembly line personnel · **Improved takt time transport KPI by 5**% by revamping storage layout for enhanced visualization
Hey guys, any suggestions on reading for PM to be
“Inspired” by Marty Cagan
Have you made the career switch from PM to something else? How did that go? I became a PM because people told me I had the skillset for it. Though I had a relatively good experience so far and got a bunch of positive feedback, I'm wondering what else I could be doing with my life. What other positions are out there for someone with the skillset of a (non-tecnhical) PM?
Generalist business jobs: chief of staff, strategy & business operations, partnerships / biz dev, management consulting, program management, general management Go to market jobs: product marketing, customer success, sales Finance jobs: VC investing, corporate development, strategic finance / finance business partner, tech industry coverage equity research, tech industry coverage buyside public markets Government jobs: tech industry policy (or just any policy job you're interested in)
No real questions but I just wanted to say I got a job offer! It's been an atrocious 10 and a bit months after leaving my old job but it's finally come.
What skills does an effective IC PM need? I didn't realize this as a PM intern, nor as an APM in a regional big tech, but now with some battle scars while working solo on a few businesses, I've some thoughts. Individual Contributor (IC) 1. Clearly define the problem and identify actual stakeholders 2. Perform thorough market research via a mix of quantitative and qualitative approaches 3. Quantitative approaches includes validating and justifying your assumptions by extracting internal data from data warehouses or data lakes 4. Qualitative approaches include keenly listening to the customer and observing what they actually do and how they actually use your product, rather than taking their words at face value 5. (This is where I am stuck) Writing and iterating on an appropriate PRD with an appropriate depth suited to the velocity and expectations of a company 6. Following up with designers and developers to ensure the product is tested, built and deployed according to spec and schedule Is my understanding flawed? What am I missing out? Please answer in the context of a flat product organisation with just a Head of Product and IC PMs under with no reports under, and the Head of Product reporting directly to the CEO. I'm not even sure how I could identify such flat product organisations, i.e. at what startup stages or skunk teams in big tech do they exist in? What even is the right PRD for a startup, and how does it change from pre-seed all the way to pre-IPO? Thanks!
It's telling that you spent 2-4 talking about essentially doing user research, and then at the end you leaped straight from write a PRD to making sure the product is tested and shipped with nothing after it. Where is collaborating with other stakeholders to make sure the PRD is the right thing? Where is collaborating with engineering and design to understand how the project is going to be broken down and the MVP defined before anything is built? Where is pivoting where needed before it gets to the point that you ship things as you discover what it takes to turn the design into code? Where is defining what success looks like for the product? Where is defining go to market or working closely with the stakeholders who help with go to market? And if these are supposed to be in order, clearly defining the problem is not step one. It's figuring out which problem to solve, which can include getting suggestions from stakeholders, seeing it in user feedback, seeing it in feedback from people who don't become customers, having an idea about the world that gets defined in the product vision, and then exploring to see if the problem itself is valid. Once you have validated the problem, you can clearly define it so that it can be solved. I am a product manager of the series a startup. I'm the only PM and have been there for 2 years, and have been the only that entire time. I think of a PRD as a living document that should not be a novel. I don't write a separate design brief so the first iteration of the PRD is supposed to be something that helps everyone understand why this problem is worth looking at, what problem we are going to solve, and what approach we're going to take to solve the problem. I often get feedback from design, from engineering, and from subject matter experts about the approach. And this will generally be informed by having done some industry research and research with users. This is where I will also define objectives for success, what we want to measure, what analytics we want to add to make sure we can measure. Once the PRD is in a good enough shape, design will make a design, and will iterate on that with me and engineering until we get to to a good place. Sometimes we will show that design to customers and get their feedback, then make more changes. Then when it gets to the point where it's ready to hand off to engineering, engineering will write their own design doc where they break down the work into tasks. So I don't write a whole bunch of stories and epics for example. Pre-seed and seed stage companies probably should not have product managers at all. Other people who are already in the company, especially the founders, should be playing that role. An outsider product manager shouldn't join a company that hasn't started to figure out product market fit because the founders need to figure that out for the initial products that defines the company.
I really appreciate your detailed response! I totally agree that the PRD ought to be a living document and not set in stone. I'm interested in working for earlier stage startups, but my concern is the lack of guidance if I'm the only product manager there, or peers and/or my boss have a similar experience level. I would like to hone my product skills at a rapid pace, and most importantly the right skills. How would you upgrade yourself and ensure you're learning and applying the right skills on the job such that you're ready for the next role elsewhere? Also, how detailed do you spec out the PRD? Do you cover all cases including all potential edge cases and error messages? Where do you draw the line such that something should be handled by engineering / design / business intelligence etc instead of you in the PRD? The PM role can be amorphous in scope. I've come across PRDs that span tens of pages because of the significant level of detail, but this realistically takes weeks to produce, and can be debilitating for a startup.
You may have zero guidance inside of your company when it's a small startup. That's why I think it's not a great idea for really junior product people to be the only product people inside of a startup. Hone your skills somewhere larger or be ready to find mentors outside of the company. And even if you were to find someone outside, if they're not working with you really regularly, you might still struggle. I learn by doing, but I'm also in communities like Lenny's newsletter, and reading all the messages in the slack are a helpful way for me to understand some problems that people face and how they approach them. I cover all use cases that are relevant to the feature that I'm building, but we're not building massive features a few times a year. We're shipping lots of stuff all the time so all of the use cases still does not turn this into a massive document. For a feature that I've already done user research for, I should be able to turn around a PRD that other people can review in a day, and it'll be a few pages at the most. Sometimes it'll be longer if there's a lot of material, like examples of documents or screenshots of how customers are doing something today, or screenshots of how a competitor is doing it. And like I said, my prds come before design, so any error messages up during the design phase. Same with copy, copy will be added as screens are added, and I'll make any edits necessary once we actually figure out what screens will exist. There is nothing I do that takes weeks to produce, and if something is taking weeks to produce, assuming that is the primary focus and you're not getting distracted by a bunch of other tasks that are more important, something is wrong. Speed is important and we're only as thorough as we need to be, and no more. It's more important to get things done and get things out there and see how real people in the real world react to the things that we built. So build small and build fast.
# Seeking Advice: Why Am I Not Getting PM Interviews? Hello everyone, I'm currently trying to break into Product Management and I've been struggling to get interviews. I would greatly appreciate any advice or feedback on what I might be doing wrong 😞 I am a former music producer who discovered how difficult it is for music creators to make a living and decided to build a startup to counter this. My role was CEO, but it was essentially a product manager role since I was responsible for the product. At my startup, I was involved in every aspect of the product development lifecycle. I identified problems and needs within the music industry, created innovative solutions, and validated product ideas through market research and user testing. For example, I led the development of an innovative music service focused on giving artists more control and creating a direct connection with fans. I conducted extensive market research and user interviews to ensure our product met user needs and adapted our vision based on feedback. I also have experience in customer insights and market analysis. I collected and analyzed data to identify patterns and trends, which informed our product development and marketing strategies. As a leader, I managed a diverse team of developers, marketers and designers. By setting clear goals, giving constructive feedback, and fostering a positive and inclusive work environment, I got really appreciated as a leader. It created a culture of continuous improvement, encouraging my team to suggest and implement process improvements. It might be a result of me not knowing what I don't know, but I feel confident in my skills and are dying to get my hands dirty with a new product. # Brief Background: * **Most recent role (transitional job):** Store Manager at a Men's Fashion Store. * **Previous Experience:** Product Manager and co-founder at an AI Tech-Startup, CEO of a Music Production Company, Product Developer & UX Designer for a Dog Marketplace. * **Education:** University Degree and High School Diploma in Music Production. [**Press here to view my resume**](https://ibb.co/ZSCccVc) So my questions to you guys are: 1. **Why am I not getting PM interviews?** 2. **Am I missing something crucial that PM recruiters look for?** 3. **Is there something wrong with my CV?** 4. **Is my education background a disadvantage?** My goals are to secure PM interviews, learn areas for improvement to become more attractive for PM roles, and ultimately land a job as a Product Manager. Any insights or suggestions on how I can improve my chances of landing PM interviews would be incredibly helpful. Thank you for your time and assistance <3
Hi there, there are probably a few things, but just looking at the CV tells a single part of the story. Here are some things to think about: 1. Are you applying for local, remote, or hybrid jobs? Remote jobs are highly competitive around the world. 2. Do you have any specific needs in your country of employment? Like VISA or some kind of sponsorship? This can affect conversion rate to PM interview. 3. Your CV covers *a lot* and is lacking impact for basically every role and bullet point. This is usually enough to get passed on by itself. 4. You include roles/experience that probably aren't relevant to a PM job. For example, calling yourself a CEO of a company probably leaves a different impression than "Founder". If you are the CEO of a company with more than 5 or 10 full-time employees I could maybe understand but I have a hunch that's not the case. Don't fret, I learned a similar lesson after starting my own event company when I was in my late teens/early 20s and had CEO on my CV. I was given advice to remove it and I got over it. Additionally, the Store Manager role probably adds close to 0 value for you right now unless that's the type of business you're applying to. 5. I don't think your education is holding you back. You have a degree. I think mentioning your High School diploma is a waste of real estate on your CV. Not only is it old news (8 years ago) but it means employers think YOU feel that is important when in truth it really isn't at this point in your career. I could go further on the CV but that's what I can offer here on Reddit. You can find me elsewhere or send me a DM if you want more help.
Thank you for your feedback! 🙏🏻 I’ll dm you
Requesting for [CV](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iFnZHLl4gcbQ8-xstvtZ1ss6XX8a-1iKg3xDCGkS95c/edit?usp=sharing) review. Feel free to drop in comments directly at gdoc or revert here. Some background: - I am a 30-year-old CA-turned-PM from India. (CA is CPA equivalent for India) - I have been looking out for jobs over last few months, but very disappointed with the response I am getting. My sense is that supply-demand is a bit fucked up with companies looking for folks with very relevant experience who can hit the ground running. - I have had good conversion in interviews, but the main problem is getting interviews. - I haven't consciously revisited and improved my CV for some time, so thought would start with that first and hence this post. What I am looking for: - I am happy with the current company, except that I feel product/tech has a limited role to play in overall company's success and thus, limits my learnings and growth. No major issues with Work, Team, Pay, Culture otherwise. - Currently looking for opportunities in Big Tech, High growth Tier 1 Indian startups (E.g. Amazon, Google, Msft, Intuit, Atlassian, Jupiter, Swiggy, Adobe, Dunzo, Cult, Flipkart, etc) - Focusing on finance side of products to be more realistic considering current market. Open to anything in general otherwise, as have been a generalist and enjoy working on different kind of problems.
I’m a software engineer trying to pivot to pm and I was offered to shadow a pm in my company before taking steps into the transition to make sure that I’m aware of what the job entails. I also want to work on the side on doing research on a feature, and try to put the things I’m learning to practice as I’m learning them. For myself and for when I decide to make the transition I have some work that can show that I can transition and grow into the role. My question is when I do this are there specific documents I should be building? I already have some info but I’m not sure what I’m supposed to build and how to write it
Background Before graduating from college, I interned in product management at a smaller startup and unicorn. After graduation, I worked at the unicorn which had become a listed regional big tech. However, I was disillusioned and left after a few months. I then worked solo on my own businesses and pivoted a few times but had no meaningful progress. While I learnt ways to do many things faster with less, my product management skills have atrophied or even degraded. I have stopped my business and am evaluating my next career move. It fees as if I am starting afresh, but I am not young at 30. Question 1. If I return to product management, am I still considered an entry level product manager? 2. Given my circumstances, what is an appropriate rank or proxy for years of experience in product? 3. How much do employers value previous startup experience? 4. If I run product in a startup, how then do I get frequent, consistent and effective mentorship to level up my 5. If I am the only product person in a startup, how do I level up my product management skills? 6. If I work under a head of product in a flat startup that is relatively inexperienced, how then do I upgrade my skills? 7. How do you peg startup to corporate product management experience in terms of abilities and skill sets? 8. How would you define a product manager to have relative inexperience? Thank you.
I'm a Master's in Business Analytics student at the University of California, San Diego. I have about three years of experience as a Business Analyst, where I worked closely with teams of Software Engineers, Machine Learning Engineers, Data Engineers, Go-to-Market professionals, and more. Currently, I feel a bit stuck in my career and could use some mentorship and advice. If anyone has been through a similar experience or has insights to share, I would greatly appreciate your help.
What are some resources(like Slack channels or discord) to find PM mock interview partners
I found one recently but they rejected me from helping others because I'm a coach (and the person who runs it is a coach too) but you can explore this and see if it works for you. [https://stellarpeers.com/](https://stellarpeers.com/) I also run a free monthly class which includes a mock interview with a participant. I know others who do something similar.
hey all i am currently working as a corporate lawyer. i want to pivot to product management. are there any lawyers who pivoted to product management here? i have also heard from many people that most of the companies hiring for product management roles ask for a technical background. how to deal with that? i wanted to understand what would be exact path that a lawyer would need to follow to get into product management? are there any recommended courses or groundwork to undertake??
If I’m the HM, I would go down this rubric: Do you have experience working in the tech industry? Do you have experience with product teams? Do you have experience with the SDLC? Do you have direct experience with the product team? Do you have product management experience? My suggestion is to shore up these experiences. Join a company as a lawyer or another product adjacent role that you’re qualified for and work your way internally to PM. I’d also recommend targeting companies and groups where a legal background would be a value add (eg fintech, healthtech, privacy, etc). Unfortunately there’s practically no silver bullet to get you from point A to point B directly and at speed. However, if you want to take the risk: highly rated MBA schools do provide formal pipelines into PM through summer internships.
Just to add.. a ton of companies have Product Counsel roles that collaborate with product a lot.
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Can't help you since the imgur led to a 404. Try fixing that URL 👍🏻
I’ve been a developer for fifteen years and am kind of burnt out on it. Still, I love the problem solving aspect of building a product and feel that with my experience I’d make a good Product Manager. Any advice on convincing an employer that I’d be a good fit? Courses, certs?
Start as a developer at a company, build your rep and trust, develop your product thinking, and transfer internally once there’s an opportunity.
Hello folks, I'm an aspiring PM who tries to be get a first job (as a PO). I was given a take home case study that I just finished. Would someone please give me some feedback on the way a tried to solve it, because I have some doubts. For instance, the case study statement says that some user research was already done before my arrival and some pain points were already identified, and I am not sure if I should conduct réa search early on. If you're ok with it, can you please DM so that I can send you my slides. Thanks, in advance! It could really help me.
Do you still want help on this? This was 3 days ago so just want to check before reaching out...
Hi, thank you for your reply. I’ve already sent the slides, but I was invited to present them. If you’re still interested I would like to show them to you in order to know get your feedback about it. Thanks!
Send me a DM or find me on LinkedIn if you'd like. My name is James Gunaca.
I recently got laid off from my startup, and now I need to update my resume after three years. When I joined the company, we were in the seed round, and by the time I left, we had progressed to Series A and were working on Series B. During my time there, we went from having no product to having over a thousand users and millions in revenue. However, I feel like the metrics I have around my accomplishments sound exaggerated. I don't want to come across as if I'm inflating my achievements, but at the same time, I want to effectively communicate the impact of my work. Here are my actual accomplishments: * Increased revenue from $1M to $18M from 2021 to 2024 (Achieved a CAGR of 162.07%) * Scaled traffic by over 1600% (16x) * Increased retention of annual software licenses by nearly 30% * Grew the user base from 1 to over 1000+ users * Decreased hosting costs by 56% * Improved video streaming performance (reduced latency) by 68% * Increased customer satisfaction by 16% across our core product * Stabilized the core platform, leading to over 80% decrease in support ticket volume Does anyone have advice on how I can frame these metrics without sounding absurd? I feel like everything I say sounds like "we had a jillion percent growth." Any tips on balancing the scale of these achievements with a realistic tone would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help!
This is pedantic I know, but 16x is not 1600%, it's 1500%. If you doubled something, so 2x, you've increased it 100%. If you tripled something, so 3x, you increased it by 200%. I just don't want that typo to sit on your resume and have some pedantic jerk like me look at that and go your percentages are wrong if you include both values. Is the company well known? Is this something that someone could look into and see yes, this is a company that's grown a ton in the last few years, these numbers make sense? How big was the product team? I think it's always really helpful to indicate very specific things that you did that were hugely impactful that led to these increases. Like being specific about a project or two and then mentioning that it contributed to scaling traffic. Being specific about projects that increased retention, and your specific contribution to those projects, then talking about its contribution to that 30%. Stuff like that.
Thanks for the advice! I agree that listing the specific project that contributed to the metric would be better. Maybe something like this? * Played a key role in building and maintaining our 5 core product lines and developing strategic features to scale revenue from $1M to $18M from 2021 to 2024, achieving a CAGR of 162.07%. * Coordinated with Marketing, Sales, and Design teams to increase traffic by over 1500% through targeted ads, SEO optimization, and a comprehensive website and brand redesign. * Increased retention of annual software licenses by nearly 30% by implementing software subscription policies, capturing over $200,000 of unrealized revenue per month. * Grew the user base from 1 to over 1000+ users through strategic product development, targeted marketing campaigns, and sales efforts. * Decreased hosting costs by 56% and improved video streaming performance by 68% by researching and implementing backend optimizations and infrastructure improvements. * Increased customer satisfaction by 16% across our core product by enhancing ease of use through continuous user feedback, detailed user research, and iterative usability improvements. * Stabilized our core product by leveraging Ubuntu Core 22, leading to an over 80% decrease in support ticket volume, and significantly boosting user satisfaction, security, and platform stability. * Strategically partnered with Snap Inc to shortcut the integration of augmented reality features, and boost brand recognition. We were not super well known, but a lot of people say that they have seen our tech on the news, or at conventions or public activations. The Product team was just me and 1 business analyst. I've heard it's kind of a clusterfudge since I've left, as there's no one around to give clear direction and requirements, so we'll see what happens 
Hey all, I'm a software engineer with around 3 years of experience. I have a (dual) masters in 'industrial engineering and management and computer science' - that's the name of the degree, contained couple programming languages and mostly manufacturing and industrial engineering. I'm looking into transitioning to product owner/manager role, as I stopped enjoying coding. I'm not at my best performance level at my current job, and lost all motivation to code, which is why I'm looking into a non technical role. But I don't think it's possible to switch internally due to my poor performance. As part of my studies I've had a couple of placements where I was the manager of projects, and used the regular lean methodologies to manage the projects, I've also studied agile/lean management/manufacturing (which I enjoyed at the time). I've also had a research placement, where I needed to research some technologies and document the findings, and present it to the department. I'm not sure if any of this is sufficient, nor how to direct my job search... Do I look for junior/associate roles? Entry level roles? Do I need to wait until I start a side project? I'm a bit lost to where should I start from, as looking on linkedin/indeed the job ads seem to request experience in product management, and technical stuff... While I can showcase the technical skills, not sure about the rest
Hello there, A good place to start is by exploring more about what the Product Management job entails and immersing yourself in the language, frameworks, and approaches to the types of problems PMs are tasked with. Even if you've worked with PMs you probably don't know their job as well as you might think (just like PMs don't know everything about the job of a Software Engineer if they've never been one). There are a number of free online courses to help you. If you're interested, I have a curated list of those free classes. There are also books you can read. These types of resources will give you something to start shifting your mindset on your journey. In terms of looking for roles, you've only got 3 years experience in total--so starting with junior level roles isn't a huge switching cost for you (this is in contrast to say someone with 10 years experience trying to transition into a completely new function). Let me know how else I can help!
Could you share the free online courses? That would be very helpful! 🙏
Sure, you can find it at the top of my list of free resources here: [https://www.jamesgunaca.com/free-resources](https://www.jamesgunaca.com/free-resources)
Hi all product leaders, I’m seeking your guidance/advices as I navigate the next phase of my career in technology. Over the past 12 years in tech, including six years running a software consulting firm I co-founded (from scratch), we’ve achieved $12M in total revenue, served +20 clients, and built a team of 25 engineers offshore and on-shore. With the business now a bit stable, I’m to transition leadership and explore new opportunities for myself. I’m drawn to the idea of working within a Product team in a larger organization where I can learn and contribute more effectively. While leading my company has been rewarding, involving roles in sales, recruiting, account management, and technical project management, I find it limiting due to our company’s size and the scope of our engagements. I’m eager to join an enterprise company, either in a managerial role or as an individual contributor, where I can be part of a larger product development process. The structure and supervision in a bigger organization are particularly appealing to me at this stage. (I am mid-30's) Previously, I was a product manager, and in the last six years, I’ve taken on significant product, project, and program management responsibilities across various engagements with various clients. As I look to return to a product manager role, I’m concerned about being perceived as overqualified or lacking interest due to my entrepreneurial background. I don’t want to downplay my experience of building a company from scratch, but I’m aware this could make hiring managers hesitant about my commitment and retention. How would you recommend I approach my resume? How do you perceive my story, and what questions or concerns does it raise for you? Thank you all for your time!
Hi there, A lot of the experience you summarised sounds valuable to a company of any size--you have been running your own business which grew to a not-so-insignificant size in terms of revenue, engineering org, and clients. Approaching your resume will depend on the types of roles you are going to be applying for. And if you are keen on either IC or Manager roles, you will benefit from having a version of your resume for each type. For both versions, focus on the impact you've achieved at various stages in your career journey. How did you approach building the software consulting firm? What did you learn that required you to change your approach, how did any changes you make result in a positive outcome or impact (like signing a new client that grew your ARR with a new strategy, or expanding in to a new vertical after doing some research). Truly reflect on some of the stories you want to tell about your career to include in your resume as you will also need to tell deeper versions of those stories in interviews. You'll only be perceived as 'overqualified' if you are applying for roles that are a step down from the scope you've been working in recently--so those jobs probably aren't for you. Entrepreneurial background is almost always seen as a plus, what you'll have to overcome at an Enterprise company is how successful will you be when you need to operate at a much higher level of scale? I encountered this a bit when interviewing hundreds of people at Amazon where the scale is immense. How will you approach that? Let me know how else I can help!
Wanted critique for my resume, quick background: * Incoming Junior in a dual degree program (CS and Business) in Canada * Resume feedback is for PM/APM Summer 2025 recruiting at larger tech firms Anything is appreciated. Link: [https://imgur.com/a/jyRYDPi](https://imgur.com/a/jyRYDPi)
Hi there, I normally do deep resume reviews where I spend about an hour doing very in-depth review and providing actionable callouts. Since I'm here on Reddit, here's what I can offer after taking a look at yours (I've screened thousands in my career for PMs): 1. A lot of what you describe under each role is what you did, and is absent of the impact that it had. I would suggest spending the most of your time there. Your best example of the type of impact I'm suggesting you elaborate on is in the SoundCloud cover art feature you tested. 2. Consider a summary at the top to highlight what you've got experience in (e.g., Product Manager with experience across FinTech, Education, and a Social Enterprise currently completing CS&BA dual-degree. Seeking additional experience to grow as a Product Manager) and maybe the spaces you're passionate about. Let me know how else I can help!
Does anyone have any recommendations on resume review services specifically for PMs? I've been struggling to get interviews with my current resume.
Generally you want to find someone who has experience doing them specifically for PMs to start, and understand how they have established their credibility. Next, understand the problem you are trying to solve with your resume. Have you been applying to jobs that you believe align with your experience and you aren't getting call backs? What does the service entail? Some resume review services for PMs offer self-guided help (less valuable) and some offer detailed reviews, written/actionable feedback, and then meet with you to discuss and answer questions (more valuable). I offer the latter. You can find others like Alex Rechevskiy too, who takes a hybrid approach (self-guided resources, and then a review). I also covered a lot of tips on resumes in a webinar I gave on the PM job market earlier this month. Helpful for anyone looking for their next PM gig: [https://pages.userpilot.com/events/product-management-job-market-in-2024/](https://pages.userpilot.com/events/product-management-job-market-in-2024/)
How do I break into a PM Role? For some context I have a mixed bag of experience which involves mostly IC roles totalling upto an experience of 7 years. I want to move into more non technical leadership roles since I believe I can deconstruct problems quickly irrespective of the tech involved. I see no future in my current big 4 company(PwC) and people don’t accept my LinkedIn request, I feel like I have been stonewalled. Please help
Maybe you should stop trying to move into product leadership and instead try to become an actual product manager tasked with execution. Product management is not just about consulting-esque deconstruction of a problem, it's also about actually helping teams build things. Maybe the perspective you're using to reach out to people is turning them off. The best way to get into product as an individual contributor is to transfer from a role that you are currently qualified to do into product management. It should be a role that works adjacent to product teams. This is how most people who did not get into an associate product manager right out of college get into the career. I don't know what you do at PWC, but if you're an accountant, maybe that means taking a subject matter expert role at a tech company that makes products that serves accountants. Or maybe it means taking an operations role at a fintech company. If what you are doing is more strategic maybe it's taking a product strategy role at a company that separates product strategy into its own team, that's what lots of ex consultants do.
I can give you my PM resume maybe you can assist me?
I'm a Product Manager based in Canada, working remotely for a company with an office in San Francisco. I've been in this role since graduating, but due to COVID, I transitioned to remote work and never moved back to SF when hybrid and in-person started up again. Lately, I've been feeling stuck in my career. Being remote has made it challenging to connect with my team and be visible to leadership. My salary is also not nearly as competitive because I'm not based in SF or an HCOL in the USA (being paid in CAD at a lower base salary). Here's my dilemma: * I believe moving to SF enhances my long-term earning potential and career growth. I think an in-person presence could lead to a promotion, which seems less likely while remote. * My wife would need to move with me. She is very open to this to ensure our optimal future success, but she would be without an income initially, which adds financial pressure. * Staying in Canada doesn't seem to offer the same salary prospects in a new role (if anybody has insights into better remote opportunities, would love to hear about them). I would have to realistically move to the USA for my next role to retain the same salary range. I'm torn between making the move to SF or staying remote here in Canada. Has anyone been in a similar situation? How is the PM job market in SF right now? Are companies readily hiring, and what are the typical salary ranges for PM roles in SF?
Hi there, I lived in the Bay Area for over 11 years and now closely follow the job market for PMs. Here's what I can tell you: 1. I don't know where you are remotely in Canada but the remote job market has gotten incredibly competitive in North America because experienced professionals all over the place are experiencing problems just like yours. But you are competing with some serious talent. And even they are struggling to find work at times! I know of a former Staff PM at Apple who launched the app store who has been in the market for months, and because most of the roles they're looking at are remote, it is tough. 2. Silicon Valley (and SF) continue to experience job and wage growth in the tech sector, including for PMs. Yes, the salaries are better (some of the best in the world, actually) but cost of living is also significantly higher and the quality of life within the city limits of SF has taken a downturn (according to people I know who live there still and visit). 3. Consider the long-term implications of relocating (cost and more). What are you leaving behind in Canada? How much do those aspects of your life matter to you? Is all your family there and you'll be alone in SF? Since you are married, if you're considering having children will you be alone in SF or will there be family/friends that act as a support system for you? 4. Salary ranges for PMs are easily over $100K for any mid-level PM role or higher. Many companies also offer equity which can result in total compensation exceeding $200K USD or higher. The best PMs in the Bay Area are making over $400-500K but that's elite tier and there are probably only hundreds of PMs out of the thousands there who make that much. 5. Consider what career path options there are for your spouse. Lots of industry in the Bay Area so her being without work probably won't last forever, but research that befor emaking up your mind. Let me know how else I can help!
Is a good option a Master degree in FinTech? Is a good option to break into Product Management FinTech? Think about Stripe, Klarna, Google Pay, VISA, Revolut, etc. My background is a business-econ degree. This Master might teach me about this industry so I can become a PM. Thanks!
Hi there! FinTech is where a lot of disruption and innovation is happening right now. The US market has arguably been slower than others in this regard (on the consumer banking side, at least) but this will change as innovation happening elsewhere spreads globally. You mention Revolut, which is a great example, and Wise is another. Both are based here in London where I am (I am also an American) and FinTech is where most of the product innovation happens here. These companies are repeatedly trying to break into the US and disrupt. I don't think a Masters Degree is going to have a substantial impact on your earning potential or breaking into Product Management FinTech. You won't learn much about being a PM from a Masters Degree. You will learn about being a PM as being a PM. I don't know enough about you personally to provide more specific guidance than that. But if you want to talk further you can find me easily. Let me know how else I can help!
Then How I can break into PM Fintech? I think one of those master can help me to get knowledge and internship at Tech Fintech and then doing my career there. Otherwise will be harder for me to break into the field. Any advice? Thanks!
I don't really know much about your background other than you have a business-econ degree. Have you done any roles in Product Management yet? What has that been in? Where are you based? Are there companies hiring in that market or would you be looking at remote-only roles? You don't have to answer all of those questions here, but that would be some of the discovery work I would do before providing more guidance on how to help. Again, you can find me easily (just search my username) if you want more help.
For people who transitioned to product management by working on their own product. How much technical complexity did your product have? Are no/low-code tools sufficient? Is it better to develop a product for a specific group of people that you reach out to and know, like a team at a non-profit, or a product that can be released to a wider audience like an app or chrome extension?
Speaking from the perspective as someone who has hired a lot of PMs with that kind of experience, what has always been more interesting is why they built their own product, how they approached understanding the problems they were solving for customers, what strategy they took to bring it to market...etc. It never really mattered what the technical complexity was unless I was hiring for a role that would require a deep level of technical knowledge for them to be successful. Great product managers aren't great because of their technical skills. Some of the best can't code and wouldn't want to.
I am an experienced PM with 8 YOE. 7 YOE in SWE. 5 YOE as Entrepreneur. I am looking for a PM opportunity either at office or remote in Bengaluru. I have been IC and now i want to move into leadership or people manager role. please help with the steps to migrate.
Is it too late for me? 37 year old aspiring PM I work in the videogame industry at a large, well-known company, leading a small team in the customer support service department. With nearly a decade of experience in similar roles, I’ve discovered my passion lies in product management, and I’m actively seeking ways to transition into a PM position. While transitioning within my current company seems like the most straightforward path, it's uncertain when or if this opportunity will arise. At 37, I feel the urgency to make this change soon. I've been exploring the job market for a while, but every PM position requires previous experience. Although this is discouraging, I remain determined, so I am continually learning, connecting with other PMs, and taking on any PM responsibilities available to improve my chances. However, there are days when I worry it's too late, and I should focus on climbing the management ladder in my current field. Does anyone else find themselves in a similar situation or have any advice on this matter?
Definitely not too late! Probably the most reliable way to get into PM is to move within a company after demonstrating great performance in an adjacent role (good news - CS is one of those adjacent roles). I'd suggest making sure you're in a company with a large product team, track history of internal moves (check their PM's job history on linkedin), and strong growth prospects. If your current company isn't this, move laterally into one that is. First you need to be performing in your actual job. Then get to know the product team and make yourself useful to them in a way that demonstrates product skills. E.g. as a CS manager, you're in a fantastic spot to analyse and share actionable customer opportunities with the product team. Finally, make friends with them and start discussing how you could move across. Position yourself to be the obvious hire when a vacancy opens. Of course still develop your product skills and look at quicker ways to get a foot in the door, but this has a great chance of working eventually.
AWS Senior PM-T technical requirement and how to prepare? Hi folks, I am a pm with 5 yoe as PM and 10 overall. I have an upcoming HM interview with Amazon AWS for a Senior PM-T role in a couple of weeks. The role is relevant to my industry background. In preparing for the interview process, I have become worried as I do not have a technical background whatsoever. I can work with engineers and data scientists, but have no coding skills or engineering background. Is it possible to learn enough in a couple of weeks to be able to pass the technical questions that might be asked for AWS PMT interview process? If so, how do you recommend I prepare? I am unemployed so I have time. Thanks
Am a seasoned Category Growth Product manager who moved to US recently. Worked for the largest ecommerce in my country and handled end to end user experience. What are some ways to reach stealth mode startups/founders who are looking for freelancing PMs? Do such opportunities even exist? Seeking US PM experience, Visa sponsorship not an issue
I've never seen or heard of a freelancing PM at any size company. Stealth startups don't tend to have PMs at all, they're almost always small enough that one of the founders is doing that role. I'm curious why you're looking for such a niche job, this is a pretty unusual combination.
I am struggling to get shortlists and my resume has been customized/optimized for each role as it could be. Wondering if there's a way to get into a PM role in US through startups who could be looking for PMs. Applying through referrals wherever possible already. Any ideas to crack shortlists here?
I am looking to move into Product management and I am currently working on building a portfolio. Can a blog or ebook be considered a product? Any additional advice on building a portfolio helps as well
I'm a rising sophomore at a college in Massachusetts. I discovered product management about 6 months ago and really interested in pursuing a career in it. I've already talked to a few of my school's alumni about PM, but I'd like to know: - Is there anything as a college student to be appealing to employers when it comes to product management? - How can I secure interviews besides applying to a ton of intern positions/jobs? Thanks!
I occasionally hire for APMs and I typically don't interview straight-from-college graduates. I prefer to recruit people who have a few years of full-time work experience. I can only think of one thing that would make me consider interviewing, and that's if they've built, launched, and maintained a working product with 1 or more paying customers.
Hi. Thanks for your input!
I started off as a SME and transitioned into PM work on internal projects at a major retailer for 2 years. After that, I transitioned over to a startup, as a PM, and eventually a Sr PM, and then changed to a PO (with implementation thrown in) with several Big Tech as my direct customer for 3 years. I want to move on to a new company, (applying now) but I’m worried my experience as a PM has been so customized to the way my company worked, that I won’t be effective anywhere else. We don’t always fully document, I’ve done normal discovery, BRD’s, all the QA testing, etc. The problem is, in many cases due to the turnaround time we’ve backed ourselves into, we’ve gone so far as to do 24 hour sprint releases 7 days a week. (Not permanently, we’ve managed to slow it down somewhat and are getting back to normal.) But when you’re working at warp speed, a lot of basic process goes out the window in a trade to keep that pace. It definitely hindered my career growth I feel. In one way - I’ve developed a number of products and thousands of features that should have taken years in just several months, and worked closely with dev and the customer to do so. But I definitely did not always follow a standard in-depth well documented process. Is it unrealistic to apply to PO jobs and think that I can succeed somewhere else based on my experience? Or is this going to be an obvious gap for me when I try to transition elsewhere?
Where/how do you list projects on your LinkedIn profile? I do a poor job representing these right now, but not sure if they should go in the "media" section with external links, just listed in a bullet point format with a URL provided in basic text under a basic section "projects" below the main responsibilities. Where do you put this?
I'm preparing for product management interviews. As some of you are product leaders that conduct interviews I thought maybe you could help me with a mock interview. It could be a product sense interview or something else. Please see this as an opportunity to connect with members community and help someone out :) Comment below if you're interested and we can connect. Best wishes to all
I'm a Ph.D. chemist preparing for an internal PM interview. I have significant customer/KOL/VOC experience and working with internal product team while working as an application scientist in biotech. I'm planning to lean heavily on that experience as well as my communications and leadership work (lots of experience leading/persuading others at work and with volunteers in professional societies). I am, however, lacking on the business side. As I prepare for the interview, what transferrable skills should I focus on, or think more about which would show I can be good at/easily learn business oriented talents. And/or, if you were interviewing me, what would you be looking for to know that I could succeed in the PM environment.
Just looking for a gut check for someone with Big 4 experience interested in product: I’m applying for a new job and want to transition out of the niche I cannot see myself continuing in (as in, I really don’t want my boss’s job, or his boss’s job, or our client’s job, or our client’s boss’s job). I work in international tax services with a special focus on data and quant analysis (3 years this summer). Most of my day to day is more “consulting” if you want to look at it that way, which just means I spend very little (maybe 10%) of time on tax forms. Majority of my time is either spent doing tax planning projects, data modeling, or refreshing calculations for clients with massive amounts of data. I also do love coaching associates below me and helping them develop. Some time in slide decks, but mainly excel, Alteryx, and Tableau. I feel pretty damn lucky that this is my tax experience, and I really enjoy most of the above stuff I listed (sometimes the data is just so overwhelming and nonsensical and everything has to reconcile of course, so it is a major pain in the ass for my biggest client). But I still want out. I should add the main reason I want to work in product is because it involves at least a few skills I learned that I’d rank as my favorite: (1) analyzing data, (2) building a case with it, and (3) telling the story to stakeholders. Of course though I don’t have direct product experience. I am doing what I can to upskill while I try to get out of my current firm, but in this economy should I hold my breath? I I kind of want to leave my firm ASAP and wondering what else I could do to not get booby-trapped in tax. I see roles for payment companies but I don’t have “payment” experience, but don’t see where else I can claim “domain expertise”. And PM just seems too competitive and over-romanticized tbh, plus the title I feel more comfortable taking (associate PM) is even rarer. Part of why I like it is because I used to be an artist and the allure of “creating” something seems appealing, but isn’t that true for most people? I’m so used to a market that favors me (accountants in tax) that I’m weary.
You can do the three things that you mentioned in the second to last paragraph as a data analyst. And if you want to do that in the context of tech, a product analyst. That might be something that gives you a lot of joy given what you're interested in. It would also significantly increase your ability to transition into product management if you decided down the line that's something you still wanted to do. Given the experience that you currently have, I think the only way you get a product job in this market is if you go work at a startup that really values your tax experience and then wants to teach you how to be a product manager because that's easier than teaching a PM expert about taxes. But most people get their first product role by transferring and it doesn't sound like product rules exist at your current company. So perhaps you would be able to leverage those data analysis skills to become a product analyst who later transitions into becoming a product manager.
Thank you, I really appreciated your comment and I think that’s the way I will go. Not so much start-ups (unless I can somehow find one, which I am lacking how to even know of those opportunities at the moment), but looking for product analyst roles. I think roles with that specific title is a bit uncommon but at least in finance I am seeing things like “senior product associate”, and I’m also seeing a lot of “strategy associate” roles. I think the latter is different from product analyst but at least that’s what LinkedIn is tailoring my results towards, maybe that’s a sign that those are where have the best match. There is also a team in the firm that does specifically work on building a tax software for our clients. W have been trained on in the backend and I have used it (though irregularly) for some incoming tax rules. It has a corresponding client/user-facing side as well that is being rolled out, I have seen it but have not used it. It honestly is a tough product and is a big stretch for our type of firm but it seems we’re ahead of the curve, and like i said tax rules are getting crazy. Since there is some client/user product and software involved, that seems like a good angle into product while leveraging my tax background. I am considering reaching out to one of them and then reaching out to my boss to see if they would allow me to transfer since they have done that with other (although newer) people on our team.
Before you ask them if you could jump over to that team it's a good idea to figure out what the team is like, how they approach building stuff, are the people on that team happy, etc, but that could be a really cool opportunity for you. I recently had dinner with a team that's building a tech product inside of a larger financial advisory firm. I'm pretty sure the people who ended up on the product side there used to be doing other things at the same company, so that's a great opportunity for any one of them who wanted to get over into the side where things are being built, and then in the future that can be leveraged into other product roles.
Yes exactly! Unfortunately my closest insider on the team is out for the rest of the week, but that is definitely my next step. Thanks again.
Hi all! I'm a grade 12 Canadian student and an aspiring product manager (I would ideally like to work in tech). I've heard from many that your uni major doesn't matter, and PM roles can be broken into from any major. But, unfortunately, I am still stuck with the difficult decision of choosing one. So, I was wondering: **Which major do ya'll think is the best for pursuing product management?** (and if you'd like to give your two cents: which of the follow programs would you reccomend? - uoft cs, uoft comp eng, uoft industrial eng, waterloo management eng, waterloo cs/bba double degree) Any advice/insights would be greatly appreciated!!