<aside> 🏷 Note: Some content in this handbook is adapted from Cracking the PM interview by McDowell and Bavaro and Angelina Fomina's Medium article So you want to be a Product Manager?
</aside>
What are resources I can use to become a great PM?
This handbook might be useful if you’re looking for answers to one or more of the following questions:
What is product management?
Is product management right for me? If so, when?
How do I become a product manager?
What are resources I can use to become a great PM?
A principle of career development that the authors ascribe significant value to is that you should never be thinking further ahead than somewhere you know the precise steps to. Your values and preferences change so rapidly that planning very long-term is pointless.
Consequently, we urge that you use this handbook to first answer the question of whether PM is right for you, right now. If it’s not, we recommend that you put this document down, go do something that’s more right for you, right now (maybe use the Hitchhiker's Guide to the SWE Interview), and then come back when you’re ready to reevaluate.
"I want to work at the intersection of tech and business."
If you're reading this guide, you've almost definitely said or thought the above phrase. This section will expend some effort in demystifying what PMs do and clarifying where on the aforementioned intersection the role lies. We'll start with a definition.