How to make a career change to PM?

See my answer above on breaking into tech as a PM for one of the options. Another option, if you are a mid-to-senior career professional is to build ties with your product team internally. Product leaders need good folks all the time; I have facilitated multiple secondments of folks from other departments into product, that resulted in a successful full-time career switch for those PMs.  Chat with folks in product leadership in your company, and ask them what would it take to have a secondment o ...Read More

Lots of folks want to break into PM but don’t know where to start. The good news: PM isn’t about a single background; it’s about building a toolkit across customer insight, execution, strategy, and influence. Having a diverse perspective, ex: from customer support, can often be exactly what a product team needs to solve a problem in new ways. Here’s how to make the leap: Here are a few tips & strategies 1) Leverage your “superpowers.” Whatever your current role is, figure out the PM-adjacent ...Read More

My background was in mechanical engineering, and I worked briefly as an engineer before making the switch over to PM. There are a few different types of skills that transfer well across disciplines - leadership, communication, technical acumen, and persuasion. No matter where you're working now, you can take steps toward a career in PM by focusing on sharpening those four key skill areas. As you make the change, be humble. Recognize that as you start out you may be in a role that is slightly les ...Read More

It can be challenging to break into PM space but here are a few tips: 1. Switch roles to PM within your current organization: this is the best path as you already have a good understanding of your company, product, customers, metrics and stakeholders. Find a team that will offer you this career growth (by working with your manager) 2. Apply for roles within your industry and domain. This might help you switch over more easily than a completely new area. 2. Determine the type of PM you want to me ...Read More

Generally, where I’ve seen people best succeed in transitioning is when you change one dimension at a time. So, either change your company, role or industry. Trying to move across several things is hard (not impossible). In that context, the best shot is at trying for a product role within your existing company. Build relationships, try to stick around product work (e.g. exploratory analysis to help product teams prioritize, understand usage, measure impact, etc.), and ask mentors to let you dri ...Read More