The MBA Transition to Product Management

The Product Manager position is one of the most sought after, but elusive positions in the tech industry. What makes it so elusive? It’s nebulous. Every product management position varies. Different companies want different attributes in their PMs.

 

They’re not just going to hand the keys to just anyone. Many companies won’t even look at you if you don’t have a computer science background.

 

Now I am certainly biased, but in my opinion, the PM position is the best post MBA position a graduate can get. In a product based company, the PMs may be the most critical positions after the executive team. This level of importance necessitates the proper level of experience though. This is the livelihood of a product based company at stake. They’re not just going to hand the keys to just anyone. Many companies won’t even look at you if you don’t have a computer science background.

So how do you get into product management without product management experience? You have to go get it! Most MBA programs give you the time and freedom to break into tech. Here are some steps to follow:

 

  1. Join your school’s technology and entrepreneurship clubs. The tech club will provide you resources to learn more about technical positions. The entrepreneurship club can connect you with tech startups that you may want to learn from.
  2. Read some product management books. Here are my recommendations: The Lean Startup by Eric Ries, Inspired by Marty Cagan, and Cracking the PM Interview by Gayle Laakmann McDowell.
  3. Follow some tech blogs like Stratechery and TechCrunch.
  4. Listen to some tech podcasts. My favorites right now are Exponent, TechStuff, and a16z.
  5. Prove that you can make something. Take a coding class and build something. Codecademy and Code School are easy to pick up. A personal website is a good start.

  6. Work with a tech startup in your free time. Universities tend to have a few new businesses budding around them. Go ahead and ask a few whether they need any help.

  7. Take a design or user experience class at your school. You’ll probably have to look outside of the business school.
  8. Take a big data class. If your school doesn’t have one, check out a service like Udemy for a good one.
  9. Intern with a large tech company in a PM position. Why a large tech company, you ask? Well, remember when I said that the PM position is one of the most important in the company? A small company is not going to let someone with little formal PM experience have the position. Companies of this size don’t have the resources and safety nets to make sure that one person can’t bring the whole operation down. That’s why you need to work your way into an internship at a larger counterpart and leverage that experience for your fulltime recruiting.

 

This was a lot of info, I know. If you really want it though, you’ll take heed. Most MBA programs aren’t specifically built to produce product managers; you’re going to have to make it on your own. If it were easy, everyone would do it.

 

If you would like to participate/be interviewed for the blog, contact me at nkem.nwankwo@lifeafterschool.co.

standardOctober 25Nkem NwankwoProduct Management

“I would just like some logic in our decision making.”

The following is an excerpt from After School. In one of my earliest interviews, I talked to a successful product manager about how work was treating him a year into his first job post-MBA.

 

When people ask you “What do you do?” what do you say?

I’m a Product Manager for a tech company.

 

What are your hours like?

Since I’m working at a big company I have a lot of spare time.

I’m happy with it because I wanted to do the product manager role.

Do you like it?

In general, I’m happy with it because I wanted to do the product manager role. But the problems…not problems…the issue I’m facing is that I work as a product manager at a big company. There’s a lot of politics in it, and as a product manager I want to see the market trends outside of my company.. But there’s a lot of politics, internal stuff. I would just like some logic in our decision making. Some people say, “Oh we used to do it this way for like ten years. Let’s stick to it.”

 

What’s the best part of the job?

As a project manager, I actually make stuff. I mean, I don’t code, but I do design how this project should be. I get to work on an actual tangible product.

With big companies I think there’s a lot of politics.

What’s the worst part of the job?

With big companies I think there’s a lot of politics. Some people left the company, not the team. I valued their work. Their performance was excellent, but they were not getting recognized as much, so they ended up finding a job some other place. I know a guy who had a positive impact; he worked hard. He wanted to get promoted to director, but he didn’t get it so he ended up getting a director role from another company. He came back to my boss saying, “If you match this salary I’ll stay,” but that didn’t happen because he had some conflict with another director. Those kinds of politics.

 

If you would like to participate/be interviewed for the blog, contact me at nkem.nwankwo@lifeafterschool.co.

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