How to Start Changing Career to Product Management

Hi, friends!

Since some friends asked for my advice on how to start a career in Product Management, I’m documenting what I shared, in case more people need help.

Please note that the Product Management I’m discussing here is product management in a tech companies context.

Is this post written for you?

This document is written for people that fulfills both of these 2 points:

1. work experience, min 1 year. So you have no trouble fulfilling the “work experience” requirement when you apply
2. no to minimal experience in product management. Minimal as in you had short term work or an internship in product management work scope

If you don’t fulfill any or you only fulfill 1 of those 2, I can’t guarantee that this advice will help. You are still welcome to read, though. Hope it helps!

Photo by Cookie the Pom on Unsplash

For starter

So you want to change your career to product management? Nice. It is certainly a fruitful journey to go through, but not an easy one to enter. So before you read on, I want to make sure:

1. Do you understand what a product manager does?
2. Do you have an interest in building tech products?

Make sure you answer yes for both. It’s okay if you don’t understand fully what a product manager does as it may vary according to the company, industry, and work scope.

Now, how do I prepare?

1. Ensure you’re applying to the right job

I can’t give you a strict guideline, but this may help to support your application process:

1. Start by applying to an entry-level role: product analyst or associate product manager
2. Make sure you fulfill the job’s requirements. Some companies may be strict with work experience. Some may not. If applying with not enough work experience, just make sure to keep your expectations under control

If you really want to change your career, my advice is to apply for more than 1 company. Simple, if you get rejected, you still have a chance to get recruited in another application.

Are you scared to apply to a certain company? That’s okay. We all get scared when we’re making big decisions. Although, if you apply to that company, the worst scenario is for you to get rejected, which is precious learning to have, anyway.

2. Improve your PM interview skills

Although some questions do have a right answer when asked, such as probability questions, most PM questions are asked to test your communication skill, problem-solving skill, and your structural thinking skill.

If you have no idea how to prepare, you can start with these:

1. Learn about PM interviews. I recommend reading the “Want to get started as a PM?” books mentioned in Delibr, especially Cracking the PM Interview.
2. In parallel, start practicing answering PM interview questions. Here are some resources you can start with: here and here.
3. If you are stuck in some questions, you can learn from how others will answer that question. This is a good place to learn: here

Extra tips: find a study partner or a mentor to:

• help you fine-tune your answers
• do a mock interview with you

Important: if you are overwhelmed, take a break. Afterwards, find an area you want to focus on the most, then start practicing on it. What I mentioned above are a few ways you can experiment on.

3. On your interview day

Simple tips:

1. Before the interview, you can try researching who your interviewer is. The goal is to give you a better picture of what your interviewer is and if there’s anything they like or look for in interviews.
2. Be on time. This is your chance to make a good first impression.
3. When you are asked a question, feel free to ask some questions to your interviewer to make sure you understand the question.
4. You are usually given time to think if you ask for one. So if you need it, check with your interviewer if you can have a few minutes to work on the answer
5. At the end of the interview, you may be given some time to ask the interviewer. I usually ask these questions:
   - any feedback on how I performed in the interview?
   - can I ask a question about the company? (I use this to show my curiosity and to show that I have been doing my research on the company)

4. After interview

Usually, you’ll be asked to wait for them to process your interview. They will let you know if you need to do a follow-up interview. If you’re not sure what’s next, you can ask the HR that contacted you before.

If you’re given the offering, congrats! You nailed it 🎉

Hopefully, you find a PM career that suits your need, buddy.

But wait, can I trust your advice?

What I wrote here is the exact advice I gave to a friend that was changing career from BizDev role in a hospitality tech company. She tried the steps and got accepted for a product management career in another tech company.

Of course, I’m still stress-testing this advice so it may not work well for some.

Also, I share this in a way to help simplify the steps so you may not get overwhelmed. I might miss a lot of important details, so I’m letting you do the fun part: figuring out what product management really is while preparing to become one.

Happy learning! 👋

Photo by Camylla Battani on Unsplash

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.