<aside> 💡 Most PMs have some real-world business experience before starting out in product. As a PM you closely collaborate with senior stakeholders. That often means that someone who is straight out of university won’t be great at communicating with senior stakeholders and understanding the complexities of a product development process.
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“Don’t see the non-linear way to get into product management as a barrier, see it as an opportunity: you can learn anything to get there. Because that’s what product management is, it’s a collection of different people with different skills.
A lot of problems we have right now in the world have definitely started with bad products, but we’re only going to fix them with good products. In order to ensure we’re building great products, we need a diverse set of product managers representing everyone from all walks of life, with different experiences.”
Cormac West, Lead Product Manager at Greyparrot (ex-Photobox, Babylon Health)
There’s no one right way to become a product manager. But these are some of the most common routes of getting into product:
If you already have one of these experiences, that means you are one step closer to becoming a Product Manager!
Remember that while each of these routes offers unique skills and experiences, combining them with your passion for solving real user problems will ultimately shape you into a well-rounded and capable Product Manager.
<aside> 📽️ Listen to Cinneah El-Amin (ex-Amex, Mastercard, Payapl) ****talk about her journey of pivoting into product management.
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