How I Transitioned To A Career In Product Management (From A Non-Tech Background)
Not in a million years would I have imagined I would end up in the tech industry. Especially in my teen years, when I was a straight-A student with a natural talent for languages, history, and arts, but failed all my math, physics, and chemistry classes.
Back then, I was sure I wanted to write stories. I had read every Gabriel García Márquez’ book and enjoyed journaling, drawing, and playing pretend I was a radio host. So when it came to choosing a career, Journalism seemed like the obvious path. Technology was completely out of the equation.
Who would’ve thought I would end up writing User Stories instead?
My First Foray Into Product Management (And Into The Realm Of Technology)
I studied Advertising Communication and then went to Journalism school. A few months before I graduated, I started doing small gigs as a freelance Graphic Designer.
One commission led to another, and that one to the next. By the time I graduated, I was leading the design of the packaging of the entire range of products for a newly created coffee brand.
One day, I heard about an opportunity to design technology accessories for a brand I loved. So I applied, nailed the business case, and got the job. At first, my role was pretty basic and repetitive. But as I gained more confidence, I started doing customer and industry research, asking all the questions I needed to be three steps ahead, and getting more involved in the production process.
After a few months, I was an expert on the next iPhone to be launched and had designed accessories for it that would be at the point of sale almost at the same time. The bosses and the clients were delighted, and I got a promotion as a… Product Manager!
The Only Thing You Should Be Scared About Failing Is Not Doing It Sooner
Fast forward to a couple of years later, my partner (who is a Designer) and I decided to start our own Design Studio.
Right from the start, we started getting calls from entrepreneurs and small businesses who wanted to launch their digital products and who valued our expertise. We were thriving!
But no one had taught us how to be entrepreneurs. Yes, we were decent negotiators and were closing deals. But we had to learn with our experience how to price creative work, write contracts, create expectations, manage a team, build a strong company culture, and find out which projects were profitable to pull the plug on those that weren’t. It was a bumpy ride and really exhausting, but luckily, we survived.
My First Job At A Tech Company
When you start a Design Studio you are more than a Designer. You become an Entrepreneur, and you get far from what put you there in the first place: your love for making art. I was working as a Project Manager now but was ready to reconnect to what -I thought was- I enjoyed the most.
I found a job as a Brand Owner at a startup, and a new world unraveled in front of me. This company was formed of a multi-cultural team, had strong values I resonated with, and followed an Agile Methodology. I realized how much I didn’t know about high-performing teams, but I was ready to learn as much as possible.
This was also the first time I saw a Product Owner of a tech company in action, and I fell in love with the role. This person was in charge of everything I enjoyed doing the most in my past jobs.
Day-To-Day Tasks Of A Product Manager
- Working cross-functionally and doing demos.
- Conducting customer research and running user tests.
- Prioritizing the problems to solve.
- Setting business goals.
- Creating a business and a product strategy.
- Building roadmaps and project plans.
- Ensuring overall product quality and eliminating friction.
- Keeping the whole team focused and motivated.
And that’s when it hit me. I wanted to become a Product Manager but had no idea how.
How I Started My Career In Product Management
I realized it had been a while since I enjoyed designing. I was having a self-doubt flare-up (I was “not a designer” after all), and doing an MBA, which I thought was required to become a Product Manager, wasn’t an option for me.
The startup I was working at had built an online incubation platform and provided early-stage entrepreneurs the opportunity to work with a mentor to build their first business plan. Oh my, if only I had had one when I started my company!
So I became the mentor I would have loved to have. I focused on working with female entrepreneurs and was learning about product-market fit and CAC/LTV as much as they did.
And then the pandemic hit, and I went back to working at my company.
It is unarguable that a lot of bad things came along with the Coronavirus outbreak, but it was a great time for Digital Transformation. Our clients were craving guidance on how to approach this new situation. Most of them were women who wanted to start a business online, but they had no idea how and were afraid of failing.
And as an entrepreneur, I couldn’t help to empathize. They trusted me and would turn to me for advice even when I was with the other company. So I created a consultancy structure to tackle their biggest concerns: how to launch and promote their product, how to invest their resources wisely, and how to learn from failure.
After all, failing is how I learned to be successful. If only I had failed sooner!
I took that full year to focus on my mission to transition into a career in Product Management. I started reading books, doing online workshops and courses and applying what I have learned to my job.
But I felt I still needed the education to call myself a Product Manager.
Why Enroll In A Product Management Boot Camp?
A few days after the startup let me go, I told a colleague how much I wanted to go back to school and become a Product Manager. He told me about an academy that helped women enter the tech industry at all levels: allWomen.
The instructors were all women working as Product Managers at the top technological companies, and you would learn from them while working on a real assignment. It sounded wonderful, so when they launched their Product Management course online, I enrolled as soon as I could.
The experience exceeded my expectations. Learning from these amazing women and joining a community of like-minded women who, like me, were ready to move to the next level in their careers made the whole process much more nurturing. I could finally go through the basics of Product Management, learn the best practices, and reinforce what I already knew.
Now, not only do I call myself a Product Manager with confidence, but I help other women overcome self-doubt, take big leaps in their careers, and embrace failing fast and often.
Failing And Pivoting With A Can-Do Attitude
If when I was a teenager someone had told me that I was going to be a Journalist, a Designer, a Business Mentor, and a Product Manager when I grew up, I would have asked “Am I going to be an actress?”. Yet, I did become all those things in real life.
No one has a crystal ball to predict your future, and no one has been born with a Product Manager vocation (at least no one that I know of). But if you are a natural leader, you like to try out things and are good at questioning everything, you have what it takes to become a Product Manager.
Remember the Product Owner from the startup I was working at? She once said, “there’s never a no-turning point.” And that resonated with me immensely.
Because the only thing you should be scared about failing is not doing it sooner.
First Steps To Becoming A Product Manager
- As yourself why. Often, the reason is more important than just becoming a Product Manager.
- Keep your goal in sight.
- Focus on one step at a time. What is the problem you need to solve first?
- Fail fast and often.
- Learn about the different Product Management roles.
- Map your past experiences and identify what skills you can transfer into your Product Management career.
- Work on your areas of improvement.
- Keep a can-do attitude. It will take you far.
