Transitioning Into Product Management

One of the most challenging careers to get into is, without a doubt, product management. There’s no degree path for it like most other disciplines, and there aren’t any certifications that employers or hiring managers respect enough to matter in the recruitment process. So, where does that leave you?

You want to land your first product management job. I assume you wouldn’t be reading this if that were not true. So, what are you to do? How did everyone else get into product management? What’s the secret? Well, there are three things you need to know about most product managers today.

1. Most product managers today did not even know what product management was before they got the job. As frustrating as that is, it’s true.
2. Not one of them had product management experience before getting the job unless they were previously a startup founder.
3. Most early career product managers internally transferred from one department to the product team.

Now that you know the truth about how most PMs got their start, how does that help you? Well, it leaves you with a few options. However, the easiest route is through internal transfer.

Internal Transfer

I’ve interviewed over 100 product managers and leaders on my podcast, Lessons in Product Management. They all got into product management in one of the three ways I described above. However, the ones who got into Product within the last few years got their shot through internal transfer. Here are some examples:

Eric Perkins is a Director of Product for Entrata. He’s only been in Product for four years and transitioned from a product support role when his company saw there was a need.

Megan Bubley was an innovative English Teacher when she transitioned to a customer service role for a tech company. She quickly climbed the ranks into leadership. During this time, Megan discovered a desire to become a product manager and made the internal transition. Now Megan is a Group Product Manager and became Director of Product after only four years in Product.

After spending several years at the same company leading professional services and community strategy, Larry Imgrund recently became a Product Manager.

Making an internal transfer was my story too. I tried pivoting into Product for two full years before deciding to take a significant career risk. Although I was working in a role akin to product management, recruiters had a hard time recognizing it. They thought I was in Sales, although I had never held a Sales job. That is until I started hearing the same feedback from multiple recruiters. Their advice to me is my advice to you. If you’re in a company where product management exists, you’re in a good position to attempt an internal transfer. If you’re like me, where I was not in that position, you might need to change companies. Changing industries or roles is complicated enough on its own. Doing both at the same time is nearly impossible.

Knowing what to do is half the battle. But I bet you’re wondering?how?to make an internal transfer. Don’t worry. I won’t leave you hanging. There are the five things you should be doing right now to enhance your chances of successfully making the internal transition. These are the same five things everyone I’ve spoken to, including myself, has done before making our transitions.

To see the five keys to successfully making an internal transfer into Product Management, join the Path2Product community on Slack