So you want to become a Product Manager?

Career paths have evolved considerably over time with some key shifts. Historically, careers often progressed in a linear fashion with steady promotions in one company or field.

However, what I've come to witness in my own experience and public forum, today's careers are more dynamic with lateral moves across industries and functions becoming commonplace.

Due to evolving economic landscapes and business needs, people change roles and reinvent careers more frequently now, leading to more transitional career phases.

Another notable career trend is the level of training required for specialized roles. Careers have become more specialized with targeted opportunities to deeply specialize as an individual contributor vs only management tracks. Many specialist roles like data scientists did not exist before.

Looking to creatives or creators, we see the growth of the gig economy and portfolio careers has amplified the self-directed career where professionals increasingly manage their own career trajectories.

With rapidly changing workplace dynamics and longer working lives, reskilling and continuing education throughout life to take on new career directions has become essential.

Overall, mindsets have markedly shifted away from linear, stable lifetime jobs in one domain to more fluid, multifaceted careers with frequent pivots, transitions and continual reskilling as key differentiators. Careers are now complex journeys rather than predefined destinations.

In my own experience, I'd largely abided by the old school approach of one track mindset until graduate school. Now as a senior consultant at a technology firm, I am excited to explore projects and internal initiatives both strategic and technical in nature. Alas, after working as a business analyst, performing evaluative work in service line strategy, and networking with peers, I became curious about product management.

What is Product Management?

A product manager is an important strategic role responsible for the development, marketing, and profitability of a company's products. Here are a few key reasons why being a product manager is an attractive career path:

Impact - Product managers have a direct impact on product strategy and development. As the voice of the customer, PMs influence what problems get solved and what products get built. Seeing your ideas turn into real products is highly rewarding.

Leadership - PMs lead cross-functional teams to achieve a shared vision. You get to inspire, motivate and bring out the best in engineers, designers, and other stakeholders without direct authority. honing leadership talents.

Creativity - Product management allows applying creativity in a business context. You conceptualize innovative product ideas, solutions and go-to-market strategies and influence their development.

Business strategy - PMs get complete oversight of the business case of products from conception to launch and beyond. You control product positioning, pricing, partnerships and other areas driving profits and company success.

Upward mobility - The responsibilities garnered in product management make it a stepping stone to executive roles like Head of Product or Chief Product Officer and beyond.

In summary, being at the intersection of technology, design, business and strategy propels product management as an attractive experience to acquire.

What do I need to get started?

Given my interest in getting more technical experience under my belt, I thought I'd share some of the information I've learned. If you are just starting out in your career, here are some tips for becoming a product manager:

Get a bachelor's degree. Many companies want PMs to have a BA/BS in a quantitative field like computer science, engineering, math, economics, or business.

Learn technical skills. Having an understanding of software, data, and technology is crucial even if you don't code as a PM. Take online courses, read books, or teach yourself basic coding.

Gain business experience. Get an internship or entry-level role in product management, marketing, project management, or a related field. This will help you understand business operations.

Develop soft skills. Strong communication, ability to influence without authority, emotional intelligence, organization, analytical thinking, and leadership are key for product managers.

Network. Attend local tech or PM meetups and conferences. Talk to PMs about how they got started. A connection could lead to mentorship or job opportunities.

Consider getting an MBA. While not required, an MBA can advance hard and soft business skills as well as provide new job prospects. Many PMs get MBAs later in their careers.

Build a portfolio. Create documentation that shows your understanding of what makes a good digital product by developing sample roadmaps, presentations, analyses, requirements documents etc.

Continually learn and be curious. Read PM books and blogs so you're up-to-date on industry practices as you job search or transition roles. Staying current is vital.

How can I transition later in my career?

Transitioning to Product Management at a career midpoint is also an option. Some of the best jobs to prepare for a transition into product management include:

Program Manager or Project Manager: Builds business acumen and experience with strategic planning, delivery coordination, and stakeholder communication.

Systems/Business Analyst: Understanding how to gather requirements, document systems processes, analyze data, and translate needs is crucial for PMs.

Marketing Manager: Develops marketing strategy and positioning expertise which are directly applicable to formulating messaging and go-to-market plans for products.

Operations Manager: Managing operational issues, budgets, resourcing and schedules scales well into overseeing product development processes.

UX Designer: Design thinking exposure complements the technical aspects of product development that engineering provides. Design and prototyping experience is highly valued.

Associate Product Manager: Direct apprenticeship in a more junior PM role is a natural stepping stone to lead PM responsibilities.

Management Consultant: Consulting pitches analytical abilities, business evaluation techniques and strategic problem solving that are very relevant to product management.

Any roles that provide experience with leadership, design thinking, technical implementation, launch planning or market analytics serve as a great feeder to transition into a product management position.

What if I don't have experience?

You can still make a compelling case to transition into a product management role, even if you don't have direct prior experience. Everyone has to start somewhere!

Highlight relevant transferable skills from your past experiences that map well to the PM role like data analysis, project management, marketing, or engineering. Draw clear parallels.

Show motivation to take on PM responsibilities by getting trained and certified in product management through courses and education. Proactively build your PM knowledge.

Emphasize examples of leadership impact where you have influenced outcomes and delivered business results without having direct authority. Provide measurable results.

Share instances where you have identified market problems or customer needs and proposed innovative solutions. Use cases are very persuasive.

Create a sample product requirements document, product demo presentation, or strategy proposal deck for an existing or new product idea to showcase PM abilities.

Network internally to better understand company product needs and pitch how you can add value to the product team based on your unique skills and fresh perspective.

Highlight your passion for the product space the company focuses on and why you are motivated to combine your skills and background to take on strategic product ownership.

The key is crafting a compelling, well-rounded narrative – backed by demonstrated initiative to build PM credibility - on how you can positively impact products and add strategic value.

Let me know if you resonated with anything in this article. I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'll be sure to post more after I study for the SAFe POPM exam - wish me luck!

Resources:

Product Management Association (PMA)

Association of International Product Marketing and Management (AIPMM)

Journal of Product Innovation Management

Further reading: Foundational books on product management by established experts like Cagan, Pichler, Magennis etc.