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

I think the best way to break into the industry as a PM is to get after building tech products yourself. Personally, I left a well-paying job in the energy sector to work on a start-up with no reliable paycheck. Thinking back on that experience, it was crazy beneficial to learn how to work with designers & engineers to build a great product or feature. The act of building a product or feature is the best teacher. I’m not advocating that you should quit your job and not get paid to build stuf ...Read More

I transitioned from journalism to product management earlier in my career, and although it’s not a straightforward path, it’s actually pretty common for PMs to join tech from other sectors. An Asana PM teammate of mine, Ari Janover, actually has the best articulation of how to make the transition that I’ve ever heard. He says there are three common paths: The Ninja: Join a small startup as another role and push to own PM work until you become a PM. The Expert: Apply for roles where the value of ...Read More

Two ways. First sweet spot is to pick a mid-size startup (round B or C) that is growing. They need folks all the time, and they need folks who can roll up their sleeves and do things. The roles you join in does not matter as much - if you prove yourself as a doer, you can later transition into a different role, such as PM.  Second is to look at established product orgs that have an APM program (we do have one at Atlassian!) This path is more suitable for recent grads that are embarking on a care ...Read More

There are different paths that each product manager takes, but the common ones I've seen are: 1. Joining a tech company as an Associate PM or an intern straight from college. For college grads, I suggest starting by connecting with other product managers (e.g. via LinkedIn) to better understand what we do. There are great books available on this topic as well -- "Cracking PM Interview" is among my favorites. I also created a series of videos explaining tech jobs and what do I do in more detail - ...Read More

If you’re already working somewhere with a PM org, try to move into it. Getting a role at a new company as a first time PM is difficult. Most hiring managers want to see some product experience before making a hire. A lateral move within your company may not be as difficult as it seems. See if you can pick up a side project or do a 3-6 month rotation. Getting the experience will not only help you be considered & help you interview for external PM roles, but will also give you data points to ...Read More

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 and a point of view about the customer and the market -- are the most critical skills I look for as a foundation for whether someone new to PM is likely going to succeed. While it's not impossible to star ...Read More

I am going to answer this with reference to few real-world examples that I have seen including my own. These are folks who begun their careers in a non-tech set ups and made it to the tech-world as Product people. I am also tweaking the question a bit to answer - 'What are the key attributes or habits that could help you break into a tech industry as a product manager?' Here, are 3 key attributes that can help - Curiosity or a relentless pursuit to understand the 'why' behind everything is a key ...Read More