Product managers can come from many different backgrounds — engineering, marketing, business, and even fields seemingly unrelated as psychology or the arts. Regardless of your origin story, if you’re reading this, you’re probably considering a shift to product management. You’re in good company. Many professionals may find the cross-disciplinary nature of product management appealing, not to mention the prospect of playing a crucial role in bringing ideas to life.
If you’re an engineer, marketer, or business professional, you might already have an idea of what product management entails. But how can you transition successfully? This post aims to guide professionals like you who are keen to break into the world of product management.
Why the Shift?
From Engineer to Product Manager
- Broadening Scope: Engineers often seek roles where they can have a broader impact beyond coding. Product management allows you to see the big picture.
- Interdisciplinary Skills: Engineers bring strong analytical and problem-solving skills, which are highly valued in product management.
From Marketer to Product Manager
- Customer-centric Perspective: Marketers excel in understanding customer needs, which are at the core of product management.
- Strategic Vision: The ability to strategize and position a product within a market is a skill that marketers can easily transfer to a product management role.
From Business and Others to Product Manager
- Operational Efficiency: Business professionals are trained to optimize for efficiency and ROI, both key metrics in product management.
- Diverse Skill Sets: Product management often requires a bit of everything—finance, marketing, tech, and design. Those from diverse backgrounds can bring a unique blend of skills.
Necessary Skill Sets
Before we look at what skills to focus, remember that all of a product manager’s core skills are learnable. Check out resources such as Reforge, Udemy, or Coursera!
For Engineers
- Business Acumen: Engineers should invest time in understanding business strategies, market analysis, and financial metrics.
- Communication Skills: While technical knowledge is your forte, communicating these technical aspects to non-technical stakeholders is a critical skill to have.
For Marketers
- Technical Skills: A basic understanding of the technology stack, and perhaps even some coding skills, can greatly improve how your product progresses.
- Data Analytics: Marketers should also develop skills in data analysis to drive product decisions based on metrics.
For Business Professionals
- Technical Proficiency: Like marketers, business professionals also need to gain a working understanding of technical components.
- Customer Empathy: Skills in customer relationship management can be redirected towards understanding user needs and pain points.
Making the Switch: A Step-by-Step Guide
Self-Assessment
First and foremost, evaluate your existing skills and identify gaps. Resources like online courses on platforms like Coursera and Udemy can help you upskill and address your current weaknesses. You don’t need to be a master at everything, but being somewhere between beginner and intermediate in all relevant skills is a good place to start.
Networking
It goes without saying, networking is an invaluable skill to have a product manager. Much of what product managers do is or relates in some way to relationship management.
Building a Portfolio
If you have any experience in hackathons, online courses, or your current job related to managing products, a portfolio is a great tool to maintain. Document these meticulously. Place particular focus on things that demonstrate understanding customers/users, identifying problems, architecting potential solutions to such problems, strategy and prioritizing, and, arguably one of the best options, something that demonstrates cross-collaboration towards a specific goal.
Revamping Your Resume and LinkedIn
Ensure your resume reflects any product-related projects you’ve worked on. Use your LinkedIn to showcase your skills, projects, and to share insightful articles or posts related to product management.
Job Applications and Interviews
Once you feel ready, start applying for roles. Entry-level positions like associate product manager (APM) or product owner are great starting points. Prepare for a range of questions that will test your technical skills, problem-solving abilities, and your understanding of the product life cycle.
On-the-Job Learning
Once you’ve landed the job, the learning continues. You’ll be expected to get your hands dirty from day one, so be prepared for continuous learning.
Pitfalls to Avoid
Lack of Clarity
- Transitioning because it’s the “in thing” is not a wise strategy. Have a clear understanding of why you want to switch to product management and what you hope to achieve.
Ignoring Soft Skills
- Your technical or marketing skills alone won’t make you a successful product manager. Soft skills like communication, leadership, and negotiation are equally, perhaps at times more, important.
Over-reliance on Past Experience
- While your past experience provides a solid foundation, being rigid and not adapting to the multi-disciplinary requirements of product management can hamper your progress.
Not Networking
- In your quest for acquiring new skills, don’t neglect the power of networking. Your network can be an invaluable resource when making a career switch.
Conclusion
Switching to a career in product management is an exciting journey that offers rewarding challenges and the opportunity to create impactful products. Whether you come from an engineering, marketing, or business background, the transition, while challenging, is very achievable.