3. Do your Research

I like a fast-paced environment with a lot of unknowns. Does that mean that I should join a startup? Do I like the big tech corporation that is more established but likely slower than a startup? What kind of technology do I want to work with? Do I like more of the frontend or backend consumer experience? Do I want something very specific like web3, blockchain or things like that? These are vital questions any pivoter needs to ask themselves.

Once you start figuring those things out for yourself, then the best thing you can do for your career is to talk to as many Product Managers as you can from that industry. Because the concept of the product manager as the one who drives all the initiatives and talks to customers; sets the vision and the strategy and creates the roadmap; influences engineers and designers;  carries out the user research and all that you might have read that are wonderful about product management, may not be true for that industry. You need to arm yourself with information in order to make the best decision for you. 

As a newcomer, you really cannot go wrong with seeking out information on the Product Management field. As is often mentioned, Product Management is nebulous therefore in order to come to the best possible understanding of the demands of the job, what company fits you best, how to stand out, you have to read everything you can lay your hands on and speak to anyone willing to speak to you about Product Management. Knowledge is definitely power.

4. Stop preparing your resume for yourself

The resume is for the hiring manager. Thus you have to make it easy for them to look at your resume or your LinkedIn profile and see these transferrable skills. Sometimes the way the resume is set up can make the hiring manager say “yes, I see your experience as a Personal Assistant and I know you’re going to do a good job as a Personal Assistant” but what would be better would be to mention the relevant things you did as a PA that will make you a good Product Manager. 

So including specific statements such as “While working as a PA, I made this deal happen for X million dollars by…” or “I did this financial analysis for X market” and “I raised this campaign for 1 million budget in marketing” is an excellent way to give the hiring manager all the relevant information at a glance.

Hiring Managers and recruiters are vetting hundreds or even thousands of candidates. Get yourself noticed by putting forth the details you’d like them to know at the forefront of your profile and don’t assume that they’ll reach out to you for clarification.

5. You don’t need to build the ‘next’ anything

In moving to Product Management, you need a game plan and that plan need not involve competing with Airbnb or building the next cool, viral app for people to download. The plan can be volunteering, working on a side project or building your own product. The projects could be something relatively inelaborate such as a podcast, a blog, a newsletter or a vlog. 

What you’ll very quickly realize is that there’s nothing that’s actually ‘simple’. Regardless of the project you decide to take on, you’ll have to talk to users, they're going to give you feedback, everyone's going to have different preferences, you’ll need to adjust to the market, you're going to proffer hypotheses, maybe you hit a wall, you’ll need to change direction, and then you start writing in a different way, you're gonna get more feedback, then you're going to need to grow your team. 

You may hire developers, editors, content writers or whoever is going to help you.  Now you need to manage people, then you're gonna keep growing and expanding, testing and iterating. And at the end, you're going to have a ton of stories of how, by doing this side project, you not only gained experience in the industry but also transferable skills into product management. It takes time, it takes grit and it takes patience.

6. Look internally

Say you’re looking to move to Product Management and you're currently working a role in project management or program management or marketing or finance. You can shadow Product Managers in your current company and learn from them.

You can approach them and say that you’ve noticed the work they’re doing and are interested in an opportunity to shadow them perhaps on a customer call. You can offer to take notes, recaps of meetings or spend time relieving them of some tasks that will reduce their load and increase your knowledge.

After doing that for a little while, you can ask for more responsibilities until you gain confidence and are convinced that you can do the job because you’ve been shadowing the Product Manager. And companies notice this. They notice people willing to work and those putting in the work and all things being equal, they do not forget about them when it’s recruitment season. Or, as always, you gain the transferable skills you need to tell your story to other companies if you so decide.

All the above lessons culminate into what Diego considers the most important thing that Product Managers need to do – keep learning. Whether you’re an established Product Manager or looking to transfer from a non-technical background, you cannot build a product by yourself. Products work within an ecosystem and Product Managers need to see the bigger picture. In his opinion, the worst PMs are those who come into the room assuming they know everything – you always have to learn. So keep learning, do your research, keep building,  craft a good story and put your best foot forward as you prepare to take on Product Management.

You’ll make it - you belong in tech.

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