How important do you think "passion" for the industry you are working in is within product marketing?

“Passion” is a tricky word. It can lead you to believe that you somehow have to be a power user of a product to be a great PM, PMM, etc. for it. Some of the most successful tech products have enterprise customers, so that can’t be true. When deciding on whether or not to take a job, I use a framework that I once read about on a LinkedIn blog post: 

Product: Is it a product that has a strong growth trajectory? Do customers (whether I am one or not) love it? What about the product sets it apart from other options in the industry? 

People: Are the people I’m meeting from the company people I want to work with every day? Can I learn a lot from them?    

Role: Is this a role that I can both totally nail while also providing room for growth and development? Is there a balance to what I will give and what I will gain? For this one, it’s sometimes useful to understand the broader context of how the company’s teams are evolving to assess how much growth is possible in a given role. 

Pro tip: these are three key areas to focus your line of questions while going through the interview process. After all, you’re interviewing the company just as much as they are interviewing you.