The Things They Don’t Tell You About Transitioning Into Product Management

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Introduction

I recently started a job in Product Management (PM) at SSENSE, having previously worked in Strategy, and in Analytics before that. For those interested in making a similar career change, or just wanting to hear about my experience, I am sharing a few considerations that I discovered along the way. They focus more on research and reflection, and less on the actual recruiting part, as I find the latter is already extensively covered, and frankly a much smaller part of the whole process. My hope is that these personal perspectives can offer a more holistic picture of what a transition into Product can entail.

Understand your Market

The first thing to point out is that it’s easy but false to assume a homogeneity in PM recruitment and responsibilities. We may get that impression because resources skew heavily towards the tech giants, but the truth is that, much like the tech industry, Product Management as a metier is developing at different rates in different geographies and industries. While some firms have been refining the craft for years, others might only be taking their first steps.

For candidates, this presents an important nuance and choice. Developed markets like San Francisco and New York have more job openings, standardized processes, and seasoned professionals to learn from, but are extremely competitive. Developing markets are less cut-throat but tricky in their own way. There are less job openings and it’s not always a given that companies truly have the resources, know-how, and vision to support a Product function that drives value.

I was constantly checking for these three criteria because I knew they were directly tied to my career objectives of learning Product Management from proper pros, and having a meaningful impact where I worked. Being in Montreal, I was lucky to find a position on the SSENSE Product team, which checked all the boxes while being locally headquartered.

Prepare For Change

Any change, let alone a career change where you might need to re-skill, re-brand, and re-prove yourself, is an enterprising undertaking. While this seems obvious or superfluous, the implications are very much real to live through. In parallel to practical tasks like sending resumes, I devoted a non-negligible amount of attention on self-management tasks too, things like:

• Making Space
  Realistically getting a PM job will be tough to do on top of everything else, so it is important to carve out time and energy required. Choices need to be made and it’s much easier to do so upfront than to be confronted with a social engagement you can’t attend or a training plan you can’t follow. I took a break from my sport to focus on applications, and then I took a break from applications to move houses; there was no rush, no right or wrong, just limited resources! In fact, it’s generally advisable to only pursue one new thing at a time, since they require so much activation energy.
• Getting Clarity
  It’s important to stay mentally healthy when things drag on, seem ambiguous, or feel futile — all likely when trying to convince someone to pay you to do something you’ve never done before. What we need in these trying moments isn’t necessarily more commitment, but more clarity. That is to say, a solid answer to “Why am I putting myself through this?”, something to bring coherence between what you experience and what you believe. For me, that meant grounding myself in my motivations (“this is worth investing in now”), my expectations (“feeling tired of having to prove myself constantly is normal”), and my self-esteem (“how this works out won’t define me”).
• Including emotions
  Job hunting can elicit strong emotions — especially if your sense of identity or purpose is affected, which takes time to process. At first, I found this frustrating and counterproductive, but eventually I recognized that my feelings provided valuable insight in furthering me in my transition. An energizing chat can provide a better understanding of what you enjoy. A perplexing comment can reveal blindspots about how you’re perceived. Looping in how I felt enabled me to learn and refine things more effectively.

It really helps to have previous life experiences where you’ve done these kinds of internal rearranging exercises already, so you can use them as reference points.

Identify Intermediary Goals

Ideally, you achieve what you want in one go: there’s a PM job in your city that is open and suited to you, you apply, you get it, merci bonsoir. Realistically however, it can take several moves. Personally, this was the case for me on several occasions:

When I first graduated, I had a mentor ask me: “Are you more afraid of not having a job or having the wrong job?” At the time, I was trying to start my career as an analyst in London, where I had just moved. His question helped me realize I could achieve that in 2 steps, so I first got a job (it’s expensive to be unemployed there), then switched into one that suited me better.

More recently, I had a couple companies say they weren’t ready to hire me as a PM due to my lack of PM experience, but suggested a Strategy or Analytics job as a way in. I decided against it as I knew how my profile could translate, and that I would pick things up quickly. Luckily SSENSE thought the same, and I was able to move into a Product role directly. (Thanks for believing in me!)

Though it wasn’t taking another job, I did however have an extra step to go through this time too: detaching from my previous role. I was working at Cirque du Soleil at the time, and like many others there, loved the company so much it was hard to conceive of leaving. It became obvious I couldn’t fully invest in my transition without first overcoming this. (My colleague went through the same process, which we likened to getting closure from an attractive, acrobatic ex.) Clearly, intermediary goals, be they practical or emotional, are very specific to each individual and situation.

Using them to build towards objectives that aren’t immediately accessible also has the added benefit of developing overall continuity: at some point your end goal converts into a means for a new end, which is, I’m told, how careers are built long term.

Take Stock of Your Profile

Diving into the bulk of the preparation work involves understanding what a PM does, and assessing your abilities accordingly. There’s a lot of material on this already so I’m going to skip the competencies list and just share some general suggestions.

• Chat with PMs from different backgrounds and ask them where they add most value. I talked to people who transitioned from being entrepreneurs, programmers, consultants, researchers, and students (undergrad and post grad). Then I figured out my relative value because I knew I’d be interviewing alongside these profiles.
• Catalog concrete experiences in PM terms. Having done both strategy and analytics roles, I luckily found a lot of overlap in what I’ve done: writing business cases, managing cross-functional stakeholders, drawing insights from data, etc. I also discovered comparable points for agile artifacts and ceremonies, such as roadmaps resembling strategy implementation plans, or grooming resembling certain offsite workshops.
• Alongside your skills, develop your opinions and vocabulary. I think developing an independent point of view is imperative for any knowledge worker, and even more so for PMs. This takes time and genuine interest, but no PM title! Use different products and articulate what you like or don’t like about them. Participate in conversations, be they at a conference or on reddit. Read up on new tech and market trends. Looking back, I was submitting feature requests to my favorite apps (you couldn’t always highlight in Pocket or crop-fit your Airtable Gallery) years before even applying to PM roles.

Going through this actually helped me convince myself that I could do the job, which makes convincing others a little easier!

Define and Assess What You Want

Despite the cliché, interviewing really is two-way. Getting an offer is just a small part of getting the right job. The bigger, tougher piece is actually (1) knowing what you want and (2) knowing how to assess for this. I don’t have absolute answers here but I have developed some heuristics to gauge what I care about:

• Leadership background as an indicator of team influence. I’ve found it essential that top management values and understands the function I’m in. Usually, the best bet for this is if they’ve worked in it before. The SSENSE co-founders are technical and believe in the strategic value of technology. The company is thus oriented around this vision and a PM role here is set up to be impactful.
• Team structure as an indicator of scope. The roles you’re surrounded by define your responsibilities to a large extent. The presence or absence of teams like Analytics, DevOps, or Strategy will affect how much of your job will be crunching numbers, putting out fires, or writing business cases respectively. The strong technical talent at SSENSE for example, puts me at ease about my background not being in Computer Science.
• Social proof as an indicator of culture. Complementing my own research, I check for people who work there with similar values and profiles. The people I knew at SSENSE were bright and friendly, not to mention well recommended by a previous boss whose opinion I value.

I also try to glean as much as possible from the job description (JD), namely how specific it is, because sadly not all companies know what they actually want when it comes to hiring. A sprawling JD can be an indicator. For example, one company had everything from training the sales team to triaging bugs, which made me feel like everything could end up being my responsibility and fault.

The “VC” test is also good. Basically you want to understand how the company generates value (financial or otherwise), believe in it, and see how you’d contribute and benefit. Why invest your time and career if you wouldn’t invest your money? At SSENSE, I have some colleagues who are drawn to the brand aesthetic, but personally, I see the ways in which it’s innovating in luxury e-commerce, and am compelled by the commercial promise.

Finally, alongside all this, I always try to have a frank conversation with the hiring manager or recruiter about what I’m looking for. With SSENSE, my now boss actually booked a lunch after my final interview to openly and informally align on expectations. If I wasn’t sold then, I was definitely sold after.

Iterate As You Go

While I’ve grouped these considerations under clear headings here, the lines were actually quite blurred in practice. I dipped in and out of each topic, especially as interviews were in motion. I had a running list of questions and answers to keep track of what I knew or believed, which I updated based on the feedback I was getting ‘in market’.

In hindsight, my approach to making the transition strongly resembles the product development cycle that a PM manages. You start with a mid to long-term objective (product vision), make a plan (roadmap), break it down into working units (epics and stories), and deliver in small increments with constant adjustments to feedback (sprints). So if you manage all this, you’re well on your way to being an effective PM!

Conclusion

Having said all this, I believe everyone’s process and experience will be different, and I recommend determining what works best for you over adopting generic suggestions online. In fact, I went through more “how to get a PM job” articles in preparation for writing this piece than I did in preparation for my interviews! Ultimately, no amount of advice and stories from others can replace what honest introspection and direct feedback from your applications can offer.

Whether you’re just curious or already deep in applications, I hope you have found this insightful. If you’re open to sharing, feel free to reach out in the comments below, I would love to hear about your experiences too.

Editorial reviews Deanna Chow, Liela Touré, & Prateek Sanyal.

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