How To Break Into Product Management
Ah yes, the breaking into product management question that I usually get once a week from people on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Here’s my take on how I would approach “How to break into product management” in 2022 with a brief glimpse into how I did it in 2015.
I got into product management, the extremely traditional way of doing an MBA and then getting into the field. Even then, it wasn’t a cakewalk. This is a much longer approach that can take 1 or 2 years and a lot of money. I don't always recommend this approach now.
Let’s list down this approach:
- Build proof-of-work
- Read the best PM content
- Create an online presence
- Network with relevant people
Build proof-of-work
If you don’t have any full-time experience, you will need to showcase that you have the required skills and interests to make you suitable for the role.
Certificate courses on their own wont get you anything, because there is no entry barrier there, and there’s no separating one person from the other. You can join some of them, I would highly recommend The Product Folks’ free Insurjo program
UX Teardowns
UX Teardowns are one way, but I think they are very narrowly focussed on design. Whereas in product you have to consider so many other factors like the competition, the market, user’s needs, etc
What worked for me was taking part in product case competitions, doing well, and showcasing my proof of work
Write
Write longer deep dives into a product or a space and cover more aspects than just a UX teardown. What to build is an important question for a product manager. How to build can be a more pertinent question for a designer or developer
Build
You have several no-code tools available. Identify a problem or idea and build a solution, get feedback from users, and iterate on the product.
Internship
Offer to do an internship or help startups or solo creators with side projects and learn while doing
Read the best PM content
The reason why I didn’t place this above is a lot of people get stuck at this step.
Resources:
- The Discourse, Lenny's Newsletter, books - PM books (Marty Cagan)
- Treasure Trove of PM content - Open Product Management Github repo
Create an online presence
Create a presence online on Twitter/LinkedIn/Instagram/YouTube
- Post your writing/analysis on Twitter/LinkedIn
- Build in public
Network with relevant people
Internally at the company
Take up product management duties, shadow the product manager. Make their life easier by helping them out.
Network in your friend/alumni groups
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https://kavirkaycee.com/how-to-break-into-product-management
Really timely post for me — I've been a PM for several years and recently built a tool specifically to solve this problem after seeing so many people struggle with the same question.
The biggest thing I'd add from experience: the PM career path is unusually opaque compared to engineering or design. There's no clear curriculum, no standardised hiring bar, and advice varies wildly depending on who you ask.
What actually works in my observation: (1) get as close to a PM as possible in your current role — own a small project end to end, (2) build something, anything — the act of shipping teaches you more about PM than any course, (3) treat your job search itself as a PM problem — define the user (hiring manager), identify their pain (finding someone who can hit the ground running), and position yourself as the solution.
Happy to chat more about this — just launched a tool this week aimed at exactly this problem if anyone wants to check it out.
Thanks for this write-up
thank you! my pleasure
Currently taking a coursera course on project management, I am hoping to find an internship on it. On the product management, apart from "The Product Folks’ free Insurjo program", is there any other good course you can also recommend.