Considering a career in product management?

Here are some things to think about + hand-picked resources to help you get started without overwhelm

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Product management was ranked as the 4th best job in the U.S. by Glassdoor in August 2020. There are currently over 250,000 product openings on LinkedIn, and more than 18,000 job openings on Glassdoor alone.

What is driving all this hiring?

Following are some of the things we learned from talking to people in our community, which included people transitioning into the role and hiring managers:

PS: Generally, there is one Product Manager for every eight or ten engineers.

People want to work in product for these reasons:

• It's a way to get into tech without having to be a developer

• The beauty of being in an interdisciplinary field

• Not being pigeon holed into doing just one thing

• A route to a C-level executive (many high profile CEOs were PMs) e.g. Ivan Zhao (Notion)

• Change the world for the better by making an impact

• It pays well

Among the top reasons for hiring product people are:

• Technology is changing everything around us

• Businesses are becoming more digital day by day

• The use of digital products is on the rise

• Help companies focus on building products customers need

• Avoid over-engineered or utilized products

• Speed up time to market for innovation

When seeking a career in product management, ask yourself the following questions:

Before getting lost in the noise of all the books, events, courses and everything else, we have shortlisted the most important questions that people in a product role have today:

Would I enjoy being in a product role?

These are some of the attributes that make one enjoy being in a product role:

- You have high agency i.e. you can find a way to problem solve, without waiting for perfect conditions or otherwise blaming the circumstances

- You thrive in chaos and bring clarity naturally

- While you might not like ambiguity, you are comfortable with it

- You don't have to be "right" all the time

- You have a low ego but an insane amount of pride in your work

- You love to learn and believe in lifelong learning, unlearning and growing

- You are resilient and will bounce back from failures and rejections

- You are good with lateral thinking and are able to think outside the box

- You crave autonomy and are a self starter

- You enjoy collaborating with others

- You have fun solving complex problems (also called wicked problems)

- You are insanely creative and scrappy (but not lazy)

- You are self-aware and empathic

- You have a high emotional quotient (EQ)

- You are passionate as well as objective at the same time

- You use words to bring clarity to your own thinking process

- You are not afraid to ask questions

SPOILER - You don't need to be an extrovert to be in a product role. Neither is a coding or technical background a MUST

What are the steps to becoming one?

What certifications do I need to make companies consider me?

What are some creative ways to build experience to get into the role?

What is a daily exercise I can do to start building a product mindset?

What are some resources to get started?

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