AMA: GitHub Senior Director of Product Management, Julian Dunn on Product Management Career Path

November 7 @ 9:00AM PST

View AMA Answers

GitHub Senior Director of Product Management, Julian Dunn on Product Management Career Path

Top Questions

What has been the most surprising thing about being a Director that you only realized after you were promoted?

Julian Dunn

GitHub Senior Director of Product Management • November 7

I think I intuitively knew this, but the amount of time one ends up spending on trying to improve communication between different individuals and teams in the organization increases dramatically as you become a more senior leader. Much of this work happens behind the scenes and is hidden from ICs......Read More

381 Views

1 request

What are the different types of product managers, and how do you figure out which type you're the best fit for?

Julian Dunn

GitHub Senior Director of Product Management • November 7

Just like there are a million ways to segment the market, there are also a million ways to segment PMs. :-) Here are a couple of ways I like to think about PM segmentation: * B2B versus B2C. This is probably the most obvious. In B2B, there is a smaller pool of customers, so you truly get t......Read More

412 Views

1 request

What's the best way to break into the tech industry as a product manager?

Julian Dunn

GitHub Senior Director of Product Management • November 7

In my opinion, it's best to land a customer-facing role (support, customer success, expert services, pre-sales/sales, etc.) and then try to make a lateral move into PM, at the same company if possible. That's because customer empathy -- or even more important than that, unique customer insights a......Read More

452 Views

1 request

What framework do you use when assessing a new opportunity at a different company?

Julian Dunn

GitHub Senior Director of Product Management • November 7

The answer to this is going to be different for each person, because it depends on so much on the intersection of your own values and what you're trying to achieve in life. Personally, I look at these factors: * The domain of the company and the domain I'd be working in at that company. Co......Read More

393 Views

1 request

What type of skill sets and experiences do I need to build in order to strengthen my career and move from being a Sr. Product Manager to Director level and above? What type of leadership career tracks do you see people continue their careers?

Julian Dunn

GitHub Senior Director of Product Management • November 7

I'm heartened to see that as product management has matured as a discipline, the IC track has begun to carry as much weight as the management track. Engineering figured this out earlier than PM did, by having staff/principal/distinguished IC levels, and PM is finally adopting such levels. What th......Read More

406 Views

1 request