How to transition from Engineer to Product Manager

As an ex-Engineer turned Product Manager, I’m frequently asked: “How did you make the transition?” It’s a loaded question.

Depending on the context, potential PMs are actually asking:

“How did you convince someone to give you a chance as a PM?”

“How did you stop being seen as only a coder?”

“How did you convince the market that you aren’t an engineer disguised as a PM?”

Let’s get to it!

How did you convince someone to give you a chance as a PM?

This is the biggest hurdle, it boils down to 4 things:

1. Internal transfers are way easier than fighting it out in the market. It’s much more likely that team members who know you will give you a chance at PM than someone hiring you over an experienced candidate. There is a HUGE caveat here. You have to have the trust of your peers and managers. Aka, be a top performer.
2. Tell your company what you want! No one can give you what you want if you don’t ask. Be bold about it. Say it loud and often. Say it to anyone who will listen. Build a coalition in your favor so that when there is an opportunity, your name comes to everyone’s mind. If you are well-liked and vocal at your company, it’s very difficult to explain why you weren’t considered for an opening. Same caveat as above, if you suck at your job…this will backfire.
3. Act like a PM. Sit in on user interviews, ask about strategic/roadmap decisions, interface with other departments. When an opportunity arises, management will ask, “Should I let Herschel take a crack at PM or start interviewing a bunch of people I don’t know?” Make the decision a no-brainer.
4. Work your ass off. For over a year before I transitioned, I was doing both the job of an Engineer and a PM. I was bringing insights and solutions to the table based on user interviews, going to meet-ups and trainings, and getting certifications. The effort showed I wasn’t just saying I wanted the PM role, I was going to be a PM.

How did you stop being seen as only a coder?

Notice that I didn’t mention anything about “leveraging my technical chops” above. I believe it’s a red herring. Internally, being a PM is about trust. My technical background buys me trust with technical teams. You still have to build and maintain trust with every team.

I had to prove to customer success that I would prioritize their input to build a product that provides value to their stakeholders. I had to prove to the sales team that I could provide a product vision that resonates with our buyers. I had to prove to the executive team that I would prioritize differentiators, innovate, and execute on strategy.

And every day I still have to prove to the technical team that I understand users, coordinate cross-dependencies, and address scalability and technical debt.

Build trust with every team and you will naturally get the biggest, hairiest, most valuable problems to work on.

How did you convince the market that you aren’t an engineer disguised as a PM?

Show off you’ve got product chops by:

• Giving some talks at meet-ups and/or conferences. Show how you think about problems to build your brand and credibility in the market.
• Get active on LinkedIn. There are SO many awesome product leaders out there. Show the world that you are one of them.
• Land a PM job at a strong product company.
• Gain some hands-on experience by building and launching a product yourself.

I left a lot of open questions in this post:

“How do I build trust with every team at my company?”

“No really, how do I get out of coding?”

“If I’m not technical, how do I build trust with the technical team?”

“What does a ‘strong’ product company look like?”

Let me know which topics or questions you’d like me to address!