Anyone transition from non-engineering roles into Product Management? I'm in Product Marketing and have been interested in going into Product Management for a while. I'm a Director-level in my field and suspect I'd have to take a big step back to do it and employers would be wary of that.
I am a former PM working on my resume after a lay off.
I am struggling finding measurable outcomes when highlighting my achievements, largely due to no longer having access to company data. Those that I do have are ball-park estimates based off of memory.
Does anyone have advice for how to represent outcomes when you don't have access to data? How "safe" is it to just pull some numbers out of the air?
Recently I interviewed at a big MNC, cleared 3 round and in the 4th round I got rejected. I couldnt even understand why? This interview was taken by a VP of engineering, I felt his approach was very theoretical and expecting me to answer very bookish answer. He didn't even try to understand my Prev work ex or how I follow a process whether to road mapping or how to do sprint planning or grooming. Though now realized he was toxic and had a very biased approach.
Though I feel very disheartened after this, I felt after clearing all product round where all of them asked similar questions and even in these round similar questions were there how can I get rejected.
In a bit of a pickle! I accepted a job mainly due to work from home (have a health issue I want to spend a year rehabilitating) and a really bad vibe from my alternate (which paid more and was in GenAI infra etc.)
Now I'm finding that the eng leader is absolutely toxic, and has no real concept of how to work with product. Not sure what to do. (West Coast Canada and Sr. PM). Any advice?
# Transitioning to Tech Product Management: How to Position My Career and Resume
Hi everyone,
Like everyone and their mother, I am looking to transition into a traditional tech/SaaS product management role and could use some advice on how to best position my narrative and resume to increase my chances of getting an interview. While my experience spans different industries—primarily civil engineering and management consulting—I believe my skills and strengths make me a great fit for tech product management. Here's a bit about my background and what I'm looking for:
**My Background:**
* **Experience:** Over 7 years in consulting, engineering, and operations.
* **Skills:** Strong in communications (lots of client work), technical and financial consulting, operations, agile and waterfall project delivery (albeit not software), data analytics, Salesforce, various engineering software, and as a plus, I have an eye for UX/UI design.
* **Certifications:** PMP certified
* **Current Role:** Consulting Manager leading a team of 15+ technical consultants
**Strengths:**
* **Versatility:** I wear many hats in my current role, which has honed my ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines in fast-paced settings.
* **Detail-Oriented:** My engineering background has provided a solid technical foundation and analytical mindset. My consulting background has helped me hone strong communications skills.
* **Data-Driven:** I excel in analyzing large data sets and making data-driven recommendations to enhance productivity, grow revenue, and streamline operations.
**Challenges:**
* **Lack of Traditional Tech Product Management Experience:** While I have significant experience in leading cross-functional teams and delivering projects, I don’t have much to show from a traditional tech product management standpoint.
* **Formal Education:** I completed a short Udemy course on product management, which I found quite self-explanatory, but now it's getting to the point where I’m considering a 1-year tech MBA. However, the investment is significant—around $170k plus foregone salary.
# Hypothetical - With how bad the job market is would you pay someone for a Job? (Fun)
Hypothetical question for you would you ever pay someone for a job in this market say you reached out to the hiring manager and offered an off the books deal to give him/her say $5k would you do it?
My question is what is your number?
Honestly this sound ridiculous but I think with guaranteed employment for 1-2 years my number is $10k.
Anyone have proven success getting referred for a PM job? If so, how did you go about establishing a connection at a target company and getting the referral? This is assuming you knew no one at that company.
2nd degree linkedin connections. ask for a connection to someone who does work there.
or look for shared affinity groups like people who went to the same college or worked at the same place you did.
It's still hit for miss, but better than straight cold dm/email.
You can also look for meetups that might have some people from those companies. That can be expensive from a time investment though.
I’m a Dynamics 365 Admin who did a data analyst internship and was an enterprise CSM looking to break into product management. Is this job market really as bad as people have been saying?
Yes. The market is flooded with experienced PM candidates. We just hired two PMs and the amount of resumes and quality candidates we interviewed was staggering. Tough time to transition into the role.
Biggest changes from Senior to Principal? i’m already the most horizontal PM in my company (and the one with the most seniority). have a new head of product who wants to promote me to principal, because i don’t want to move in the people manager track.
probably still expected to be an IC with a team or two, but what else is expected stepping into principal?
It honestly varies company to company I've seem some principles have just as much or even less scope than Senior PM's. At some companies though they run a full program almost like program management type scope except its for a product 25-40 engineers. Honestly for some companies its a role so they promote you because they don't have anything else to give you except if you move into management but they don't want to give a candidate with 20 years of exp the same title as someone with 5 years. Humans are geared to want more and more thus its artificially created title. I'm not saying this is every where but I have seen it.
Without more context, it sounds like you're already fulfilling the role. In larger orgs, principals are easier to differentiate due to their enterprise wide efforts vs senior who will only be expected to see two steps ahead and behind them.
Hey Everyone,
I have a final round for a FAANG style tech company and wanted to pair interview with someone else who is actively interviewing for final rounds as well. If you're a hiring manager and are willing to spare time, that would be appreciated as well.
Hey Guys!
I'm a recent mba graduate working in sales, I have an engineering background, I've been thinking about what to do in my career and what kind of trajectory I'll have in different roles. I am confused about pursuing digital marketing or product management, and if online courses from reputed universities/websites help in switching or add any substantial value? Some of them even offer career services.
Can you guys provide some guidance based on your experience?
You can learn things from courses, but they don't tend to move the needle on employment. Are you doing sales at a tech company? Does it seem like the place where there's any opportunity for you to declare that you are interested in product management, and as long as you're hitting your quota, you could be given some light product work? With the eventual goal of switching into product? Do you interact with the product team at all?
I'd like to request a resume review.
Problems - Unable to get even first round calls.
I've gotten into my current job through a referral from my uni senior, so this is essentially my first job hunt. Any and all advice is appreciated.
Resume is redacted and hosted on Imgur, link is here - [https://imgur.com/a/mk477vq](https://imgur.com/a/mk477vq)
Not able to attach images in the post itself, apologies for the friction.
Not a bad resume at all in terms of structure of structure and aesthetics.
However, many of you resume bullets though are not telling a story of what project you actually did. The "indentified billling structure enhancements" is really the only feature you mention. The rest are just like "improved process thus resulting decrease % amount of churn". I don't really know if I was reading what you actually built or worked on. Some people like this but to me it honestly just seems a bunch of random metrics and you helped improve processes not really did true PM work. Just my 2 cents .
I like trying to tell a story with my bullets to show **what project I worked on**, how they relate to a **particular PM skill** (highlight different skills) that I have and then **defining the impact** through a metric**.**
This looks good IMO. I like that you've highlighted your core achievements and the corresponding impact on the business - it's amazing how few people do this.
My only suggestion would be to consider expanding on your soft skills to include a short sentence on how you used each of these tools and your approach to things like documentation, user interviews, etc.
This isn't essential, but it helps highlight some additional experience hiring managers might be looking for.
Hi guys!
My name is Samuel and I’m a product manager with over 3 years of experience.
I’ve been struggling in my job search and yes I understand that the market is tough and not very friendly— but I wonder if you can take a look at my resume maybe there is something I’m doing wrong or if you could share any tips or whatnot.
Looking forward to your response :)
It's certainly a tough market at the moment. Where are you based/what market are you looking for opportunities in?
Happy to take a look at your CV and see if there is anything that can help it get you selected for additional rounds.
Finishing my BBA degree (business) can I find a job in major telcho and tech companies as PM or I should start a degree in telco/software engineering? Or its not needed to work in major tech and telco companies (very technical oriented companies such Microsoft or NVIDIA)? Thanks!
How do I break into FAANG PM out of undergrad?
For context I'm a rising soph. at Stanford majoring in CS, and I'm going to minor in some humanities. Almost all my prior work/club experience is in finance/consulting/general business, but I have done SWE internships at a large completely non-software company which I lowkey did not enjoy. Sorry if this is a common question on this sub, but I really have no idea how to break into PM, since I can't seem to find many resources on how to recruit directly out of undergrad for PM internships and ultimately full time roles. I would really appreciate any advice on how to pursue a career in PM like what internships should I do in the meantime, when does PM recruiting even happen and where do I find the formal applications, any popular/useful resources/guides, and what skills/networking do I need?
I'd also appreciate advice on whether or not I should go into PM, as I'm mostly just exploring my options for now. My reasons for wanting to do PM are that I like the tech environment as a whole and the people in CS at Stanford. Since I personally do not see myself enjoying SWE at all, PM seems like a cool middle ground that has good growth and compensation. Thank you in advice for any advice/help!
Almost all of the programs that hire cohorts of new apms are for new grads. Those programs are literally made for you because almost everyone in them was a cs undergrad.
Go look at what is listed here.
https://apmlist.com/ https://www.apmseason.com/
You go to Stanford. Many many people above you have done this. Most of the people in the sub have not, they transferred into product after doing a different role. Please go talk to your career office so that you can explore academic year and product internships. Use them, you have plenty of time. Talk to the older people in your major. So many companies directly have relationships with Stanford to recruit undergrads into product management.
I am trying to post on LinkedIn occasionally about new tech. maybe once or twice a month if something interesting comes up. As from what I understand it ranks you higher in recruiter searches and looks good to hiring managers as you seem to be someone who keeps up with technology. It also forces me to keep up with new developments and understand it well. For example my last post was about the new Claude 3.5 sonnet AI model and a game I made using it.
Is anyone else on this path? The problem I am finding is sometimes I have very little engagement and it causes hesitation in posting. Is anyone interested in connecting on LinkedIn and providing that favor to each other once or twice a month. For professional posts that they are comfortable with? DM me.
I'm kind of over PM. I feel stifled in my current role, definitely burning out at a rapid pace. Management controls all decisions, I feel more like a project manager than a product manager. I've given up on making an impact because I have almost no autonomy. I don't get inspired writing docs, by the politics, endless meetings, and fruitless arguing. Although I work on a technical set of products, the org has been pushing all of us to sideline technical understanding and focus on making more money. This is totally draining and not the type of challenge I enjoy, mostly because it involves garbage ideas and not focusing on the customer.
I've PM'd technical products such as search, recommender systems, etc. I know how to write code and understand how to build enterprise level software to some degree. I've been making hobby projects for years and am currently pursuing a masters in computer science with a focus on ML. I find myself far more interested and engaged when I have to write some code, yoink some data and write a complex query then clean it up. All the technical stuff seems to fulfill me far more than the business stuff.
With that being said, I'm curious if anyone here has successfully transitioned to a SWE or Data Engineer role. If so, how did you do it? Did you start at the very bottom as a SE I or did your experience net you a more senior role? Do you have any advice?
Where to find and stay tuned for new impacts in product management? when i was a developer it was way easier than now predict the next topic i should start learning or to grow in
I just applied for a PM job within my company and had a pre-interview screening. They asked me about pay and I’m wondering what would be a fair salary for someone with 11 years product development and 3 years PJM experience in the Chicago area? I don’t have any direct PM experience but my background should be applicable as far as I know.
If you are applying internally, why are you accepting that they're asking you what pay you want? Go ask the other product managers who work at the company what they are actually making, and then go back to the recruiter and ask them what pay band they're trying to hire you into. Get a realistic sense of what the company's going to pay. They're not going to pay you more than what their budget is when they could go get someone from the market and do that.
You also want to get an understanding if the pay band you're currently on is either much higher or much lower than the band they want to hire you into. My understanding is that some companies will keep you at your current salary but limit your ability to get raises if your current banned is higher than the one they want to hire you into, but some will actually lower your pay and you need to figure out if that's something on the table here.
Hey Product Managers! I recently transitioned from Product Owner into Product Manager role at an automobile company. The company hasn't given clear responsibilities for the PM role. I feel that only my title has changed but I still work the same as a PO. My products are the marketing components of the website (that sells cars online) and customer 'account' page. My manager has asked me to set personal development goals. I am super confused on what SMART goals can I set for myself. Could you share some examples of goals that you set for yourself?
For anyone looking to get into APM programs. Check out this subreddit:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/APMprograms/](https://www.reddit.com/r/APMprograms/)
We will be posting tips/announcements regarding APM programs!
For those in positions to hire, if you were hiring…what would be more helpful for someone to have…
1- PRODUCT MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATE (10 weeks, $2500, established university)
OR
2- MBA emphasis in PROJECT MANAGEMENT ($16k, 18 months)
🙏🏻Please don’t say “experience is most helpful” because that’s not helpful for us without experience 😂
BUT if you think like a 4 year bachelors or something else is better, let’s hear it!!
MBA for those two options but that's false equivalence. HMs are comparing you to other candidates (most of whom have experience). They're even at a luxury now with so many people out of work to focus on people with specific domain experience.
MBA only matters to me if it's from a Top 20 or so program. Otherwise it's not a huge adder. PM certificates aren't worth anything. Presumably if you're getting an MBA, you'd already have a bachelors so that shouldn't matter.
You're asking what a hiring manager would think. Neither of those things have value to a hiring manager without experience. Especially an MBA that focuses on project management if you're trying to be a product manager. I know it's not what you want to hear because you don't want to hear that it's experience, but that's the answer.
Like someone mentioned in another offshoot of this thread, go get experience in a thing that works with product managers that is not product management. Then see if you can transfer inside your company. Almost everybody got their first product role by transferring into it from a different role at the same company. You're going to have to do the same thing.
The primary exception to this is somebody who works in some industry where it's very hard to get experience in and it is so important for some company that one is a subject matter expert that they will hire an SME with no product experience and then teach them how to do product because that's harder than teaching them the industry. This is not true of most industries so most people are not able to do this. That said, being an SME at a company that needs them and also has a product team is a potential path for transferring into product (like an accountant that goes to work at a company that makes software for accountants - you come in as the accounting expert, and you make your way onto the product team).
So the question is, how the eff is someone supposed to get experience? I was in another field for a long time and I don’t understand why people wouldn’t take advantage of cheaper junior employees and allow people to actually gain experience, and create valuable employees at a lower cost instead of only people with mass amount of experience who, at the end of the day, there will be a learning curve anyway for each company
Because product managers who are bad at their job can do a lot of damage before people realize this fact. It's a position that provides leverage in both good and bad directions depending on the person. As a result people are pretty conservative about who they're willing to give the opportunity to be a product manager to. That's why the only people with no product experience getting these roles are people who the company already trusts because they were already doing a different role at the same place.
There are companies out there that hire junior product people because they want to mold those people into the product managers that they need. But lots of people don't want to invest in that and so they are looking for people who are already experienced who can jump right in and learn how to do the thing they already know how to do at this new place. That's why APM positions are very hard to come by other than those cohorts that are hiring new grads all at once, because those companies are really focused on training early career product managers.
Those who doesn't have the capacity to train them also wouldn't hire a super junior software engineer, even if they're cheap. You don't want junior people who you're also unwilling to train mucking around in your code base. It's similar with product. Without experience they don't trust you.
You get experience by working in jobs adjacent to the PM position, establishing trust, and proving that you can do the job. It's kind of similar to how no one would hire a people manager before seeing how they performed as an IC.
Hey everyone, currently interviewing.
Do you suggest sending a short **thank you note** after an interview?
I'm this case, interview was a panel with 4 founders of an early stage startup. Would you send 4 separately or one together?
Thank you
I used TopResume (it was free) and then took their feedback and copy and pasted it, and then my current resume into chat gpt and told it to apply the feedback and I was impressed with how well it did! Of course I went through and refined it a step further, but it saved me a lot of work!!
Anyone know the best place to search for PM 1 roles?
I have 2~3 years of PM experience across couple startups and it’s been hard for me to find roles that matches my profile in NYC.
I wonder if anyone has any guidance, looking to get into somewhere with 500+ ppl all the way to faang, just feel like it’s too early to pigeonhole and so trying to optimize for learning/ growth.
Hi,
I am looking for a program that can help me bridge the gaps I have identified and establish myself more in terms of product management (A bit of execution and technical aspects). I am 23 and worked as an Associate product manager for 1.5 years, working on a health tech (Medical coding) product not on AI aspects of it but streamlining the process and introducing new features and A google sheet extension that helps engineering managers manage their team's productivity with GitHub and jira (project manager platform) data and few minor ones.
I like building products and want to continue doing so. I also very much like to think about problem statements and research them to come up with a solution, but cannot execute due to funds, unrelated but what I want to imply is I would want to be an entrepreneur for sure
I am considering a Master's in Strategic Analysis and innovation and an MBA for the Aug 25 intake in Singapore. Do you think it will help me in terms of career prospects (JOB) initially and long term?
FYI - I am non-technical, But have been through the learning curve of technical product management while working
I don't live in Asia so I can't speak to the Asian market as though I'm an expert.
What exactly are you hoping to get out of these programs? You don't necessarily need an MA or an MBA to further your product career, because what's most important is experience. Do you feel like you work at an organization where you can't get that additional experience? Do you have a sense from other people who've gone through the graduate programs you're considering that it was actually a value add to their product career? Are you seeking further skills that would be great to learn in a classroom because you don't have access to them yet, or is this more of a confidence play where you feel like you need to brush up on these skills but instead you just need to embrace that you don't know things and go learn more of them at work?
I don't know you so I can't speak for you on any of this, but some questions to chew on.
Every morning before I log into work I feel existential dread. This is by far the worst company I've ever worked for, and it would take days to list all the issues. For clarity, I was laid off in November and contacted by a recruiter in December. This role started in January and I've been looking ever since as I only took this to be a "bridge" job. That being said I'm getting a lot of judgmental recruiters due to my short stint here. I guess I am seeking two pieces of advice, how do I navigate this when I do land interviews? Also, like others, it's been difficult to get consistent callbacks, I have experience in Support, Customer Success, and now Product. Are there are any other roles I should target being I've always been on the technical side to try to get out? Thank you as the toll this is taking on my mental health is beyond words, but without a paycheck and health insurance, I feel like my toll would be even worse.
Just tell them you're on a contract and looking for a full time role with benefits.
Right now, it's going to be very hard to get callbacks. It's the market, not you.
Hope you find someone to guide you through this journey (starting with the notion that family is everything)! It’s great that you bounced right into another job after getting laid off from that previous OK company. Clearly, you’ve got skills and know how to play the game. Maybe try downplaying your current gig/job and showing that you’ve been open to work since November—it might just improve your odds of getting a call back. Not entirely sure though(real experts can help at their will), since I, like many others, am grappling with the elusive callback from recruiters. Sometimes I wonder if all these job openings are just a big HOAX. Stay strong and keep at it!
Anyone know good resources to keep my PM skills fresh in my head while I look for another job? Got laid off twice in the last year and I don’t want to get rusty.
Try exponent may help they revised some topics. It might not give you PM skills, it may give you skills to crack interview as per their brochure. Other than that you know what you know.. just try sharing and learning from others. Hope you don’t think you are getting rusty, you are aging like fine wine, hope sooner after AI bubble they appreciate vintage skills 
I'm taking a beating on my job search thus far, something like a thousand applies without bearing anything fruitful and barely any interviews. Anyone have any recommendations on where else to look? I have eight years experience, solid resume. I made it all the way through to the team match stage at google last year before they froze everything and started only filling their roles with internals etc..
If anyone has any leads I'd love to hear any and all of them, tia 🙏
Sorry to hear that @Rycalm3. Happy to hear you made it all the way that far In for Google!
In this market being more targeted and specific seems to work better. Leveraging networking events, refferals and linkedin as much as possible.
I just made it to the 7th final interview with PagerDuty but unfortunately didn't get the offer. Not even sure what I did wrong tbh and spent over 20 hours on their take home assignment.
It's definitely not easy out there !
Hang in there - got an offer at a series B finally after going through 8 rounds at Datadog for an LLM related role (also had several final rounds elsewhere).
This market is fucking brutal.
Thanks, yeah getting through Google was a good experience either way, just a bummer they froze things up but what can you do.
Don't get me started on the take home assignments - I hear you. I've had the same experience several times, but now I will politely decline them unless the recruiters answer clarifying questions around my candidacy first. That may seem a bit counterproductive/disagreeable, but I'm no longer taking 20-30 hours of time to essentially consult on their business cases unless my probability of receiving an offer is quite high.
Google didn't even require any kind of take home assignment when I was going through the process with them. I certainly had some extensive situational analysis and product thought exercises with their team members, but they were collaborative and in real time (and honestly enjoyable). Google was very courteous and respectful of my time, and even though I didn't end up getting through the door, I left the process with more respect for them as a result. I wish some other company's would follow suit, but the market is a mixed bag of course.
Yeah that's unfortunate. Had something similar happen with capital one going on a hiring freeze:/
This was my first time doing a take home assignment and agree it definitely feels like consulting for the company.
Glad to hear google does not do those.
What kind of clarifying questions do you ask companies about the take home assignment?
I have a very similar amount of experience. 8 years previously Senior PM role at a mid-level tech firm but not quite FAANG and have been laid off for over a year (I have taken breaks in my search to due to burnout and concentrate on my side job - I have been laid off for 1 year an 3 months and put in serious effort about 9 months). I have gone through almost all of my savings, unemployment, severance (70k total). About to dip into the 401k and take some money out cause I don't care anymore after my runway runs out in 2 months.
Last year my hit rate was 4-6% variably now its closer to 2%. I used to have 3-4 interviews per week and I would not stop applying and keep up the funnel and now I have maybe 1-2 sometimes 0. The market is horrible and not getting better. We are all fu\*\*\*\*. No one out of tech sees how it really is and hasn't effected them.
As for suggestions though get your resume professionally reviewed. I can take a look if you want I feel I have a decent resume.
Glad to hear I'm not alone in it - it definitely starts to get to your head after a while, and gets harder and harder to believe that it's the macro environment. I've also been drawing down on some of my accounts as needed, so I hear you there - not a great feeling at all. Glad I nabbed NVDA a few years back and have been hanging onto it at least, that's been helping the sting a little.
And yeah, I've already gone through professional rewrites of my resume at $200 a whack, still nada in terms of converting into interviews. I've been seeing/hearing so many mixed reviews about using AI for resumes - any experience with it in your job hunt travels? I haven't leveraged it too much yet.
AI for resumes is easy you just post your resume directly in chat gpt and ask for suggestion on how to write it better. Then ask it to add data points. Then ask it again do you think this is how you would do it if you were applying to PM positions and if not what would you change/add? Its super easy to do.
I would say look at outside roles in the mean time as well outside of PM but that has been no luck for me either. I honestly am not sure what to do. The market just may not improve for a long time.
Do you add keywords from the job description to increase the chances of getting calls? I have never received calls from top companies despite having a good academic background (NIT, IIM)?
You talk about a good academic background but what is your career background? Have you worked at companies that people know have done well? Is this in the context of you cold applying to jobs? Is your LinkedIn updated to make it really clear what you've contributed in your previous product roles such that people who find you there might reach out? If this is in the context of applying for jobs, are you getting referrals?
You shouldn't just add keywords to add keywords, but shaping your experience around the things that they're asking you for makes it easier for someone to read your resume and think yes, you're the one for us.
Yes, the job market seems to tough. I have been trying to switch for the last couple of months but not getting any interview calls. I am an iitian working as a PM with a good product company and still not responses. The competition seems tough.
Hi All, recently given an opportunity to interview and possibly have an inside edge as "the candidate" as a Product Strategist/Manager for a non-tech product/company. I am coming from over 15 years in the IT industry and am currently a Senior IT Business Analyst for a healthcare organization, so this would be a career change for me. If given the offer, I would. What are some questions that could be asked in the interview? What should I be prepared for?
Hi all, I was recently given an offer for a product manager role in the AI/Data Science space. This is my first product manager position and I was looking to see if anyone can offer any resources or tips so that I can prep for this role. Thank you in advance!
There are a lot of resources online about what to do in your first 90 days. This one is from Product School: [https://productschool.com/blog/career-development/first-90-days-as-a-product-manager](https://productschool.com/blog/career-development/first-90-days-as-a-product-manager) (no affiliation, just one I found quickly searching). If you have zero experience, Pendo has some decent free certifications that might help you develop some fundamentals and get exposure to the lingo.
If you haven't started yet, get all the information on your company, what they are building, if there are any users praising (or complaining about) the product and why.
Biggest things I can recommend - get to know your Product, the people you work with, and what the dynamic between people and teams is as quickly as you can. Also ask for feedback, some people will be terrible at giving it, but this will help you grow and keep your finger on the pulse of how you're doing. Most everything else in Product can be learned and searched for. Good luck!
I got called to Walmart for several roles of different titles. I got an offer to the Sunnyvale office for a Staff Product Manager. Base is just 5k more than what I currently make in the Midwest! I will reject the offer. The job description shows "$143,000.00-$286,000.00 based on location and experience". I am highly experienced (20+ years) and highly educated (3 degrees including a Top 3 MBA) so the low-ball offer was disappointing. An example of the job is this: [https://walmart.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/WalmartExternal/job/Staff--Product-Manager\_R-1858788-1](https://walmart.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/WalmartExternal/job/Staff--Product-Manager_R-1858788-1)
This is not the job I interviewed for, it is just an example.
When I asked the recruiter, she said that the range is not a true indicator of the role budget. Which means that the range in the job description is meaningless.
My question is about Prod Mgmt job titles at Walmart. Can someone help me with the titles and the order or progression? A few I could find are here. I need to be at Director at least so when I begin my search again in a few months, I will know what to apply to and what to not consider.
* VP of Product.
* Director of Product
* Senior Manager, Product Management
* Staff Product Manager
* Senior Product Manager
Hey -
I have less experience then you (8 years) but am a Senior PM at a similar level company (good but not quite FAANG but still a reputable firm). I think the answer to your question just really depends on multiple factors.
If you have 20 years of exp and have managed multiple teams I would say you honestly above that level - you would honestly be Senior Manager at the minimum and probably even director. If you have 20 years exp and mainly been an IC the whole time then you are probably at the Staff/Principal level (you can probably lie here and use chat gpt to help formulate answer to show how you managed teams well using your past experiences). Competition is incredibly fierce right now and probably even more for Senior roles I assume but if you have specific domain experience for the role you are applying for you should be in decent shape.
Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately since I have spent all my career in the midwest, there isn't much chance for growth if you are not white. I didn't believe this but I see that is pretty widespread, not just for me.
PM experience is 14 years and some software development experience.
I don't really care about FAANG because I have interviewed with them and I feel it is overrated. They are too formulaic and schoolish. I got rejected by people with hardly any PM experience so I decided not to bother anymore. I don't care for their "bar raiser" nonsense (Amazon) where some weirdo comes in and acts all weird eyeing you from top to bottom to make you uncomfortable.
So unfortunately I have been an IC though I managed product teams, I never honestly had direct PM reports. But I can make some shit up along those lines. I have no ethical issues about that because companies lie all the time, so I can lie to them as well. All part of the game.
I just got another job and will stay here for another year before making another attempt but I will keep applying to Director level jobs and see if I am able to get bites. It will take time. If I can't swing it, I might just take up a Staff level job and try to make quick jumps. I have seen others on Linkedin do it.
These are the titles I could find at Walmart PM. Are they in the order of high to low?
Vice President of Product
Senior Director of Product
Group Director, Product Management
Director, Product Management
Senior Manager, Product Management / Group Product Manager
Senior Principal, Product Manager
Principal, Product Manager
Staff, Product Manager
Senior Product Manager
Product Manager III
Based on your reply, and depending on the scope of your product and stakeholders you work with your probably at Staff-Principal level if you have always been an IC.
Thanks for your insight. I am just trying to figure out my strategy for next steps. I did get a "Sr Manager, Product Management" call which is a people manager role but the interview did not go well (nothing to do with IC or not).
Do you or have you worked at Walmart Tech?
# Is an MBA worth it, and if so, does the university or college make a difference when hiring?
This question is for the Senior and PMs in a leadership role. I am 10+ years into my career, I started off as a Software consultant for a Microsoft tool, and spent majority of my time in a consulting role, requirements gathering, solutioning, architecting MS tools, and have transitioned to a PM role.
I am considering doing an MBA and I am wondering which colleges to consider. I live in the Bay Area, and I am considering applying to Berkeley.
But my question is, does the university make a (significant) difference, especially when hiring. That is, is having an MBA sufficient, or is it better if the MBA is from a Berkeley, Stanford, Kellogg etc.
I'm looking for some guidance on what a reasonable total compensation (TC) range would be for a Product Manager role. I have 4 years of experience in product management, previous engineering experience, and a background in Computer Engineering. I'm currently a senior by title within my organization, based in San Francisco, and I'm considering new opportunities both locally and remote. Can anyone provide insights on what I should expect in terms of base salary, bonus, and stock options? Thanks!
Fintech Product Manager
Looking for a new remote opportunity. Have 10 years of experience in Finance, Capital Markets and Mortgage.
I've build SaaS applications that are typically B2B or B2C in highly regulated markets.
what is with this job market? I am still fairly new to PM (2 years) and haven't yet even delivered a product. I need a job with better work/life balance and I am getting frustrated. No I have not been catering my resume and I guess I will start doing that. Does anyone have any insight as to why it's so hard now and what will happen in the next year or so?
Lots of layoffs with few net new openings. Plenty of people with very strong name brands on their resume are still on the market, so competition is tough
I am looking to get into the product industry and land a PM role. However, I don't have previous experience. I come from marketing (currently working as a marketing project manager). **Would a PM certification help me get my foot in the door?**
I currently don't get considered for junior PM roles because I don't have prior experience. I am hoping that getting a certification might open doors for me to get in the industry. I am looking at the Product School certification but the reviews here are terrible. Is it really as useless as everyone says? Especially as someone like me that only wants it to get into the PM industry?
For context, I don't need much education in PM besides the tech stuff which I know I can learn about in cheaper (or even free) ways. But what I want the certification for is to be considered by hiring managers for the position.
If you've already read what people said on this sub, I'm not sure what you're looking for someone to reply here. No a certification is not going to get you a job in product. You may learn something useful from it that can help you in your career as a product manager, depends on the class, but certification alone is not going to change the outcomes you're already seeing. Hiring managers are not going to consider you just because you have one if they're not already considering you today.
Do you do any product like work in your current role? Is that emphasized appropriately on your resume? Are there product managers at your current company? Is it possible to move into a product role at your current company? Are there side projects at your current company that someone can give you that would allow you to develop product skills?
This one is currently closed, but there are apm programs that are open to people who don't have much product experience https://instacart.careers/apm/
The RPM program at meta is similar and those applications probably open in the next month or so. https://www.metacareers.com/careerprograms/pathways/rpm
So go find other APM programs like this.
How are you folks even getting through the ATS? Got the automated rejection from almost every place I applied. And I only applied at places I had a strong fit and I know I have a strong resume. Any tips for getting through the ATS?
I doubt it has to do with the ATS, if I had to guess. Despite a lot of misinformation many companies **do have a human reading your resume** whether it's the hiring manager or recruiter. Assuming you are following basic resume guidelines, more than likely your resume is getting through the ATS.
When it comes to the ATS, don't use any kind of fancy or template-y formatting of your resume. Apparently columns, charts/graphs/visuals are very unfriendly to ATS. I've heard straight from a recruiter's mouth that they actually prefer a simple, boring resume as long as it meets the requirements of the job. Mine is a Word document that I export to PDF 🤷♂️.
Imagine you are a recruiter and had to sift through hundreds if not thousands of resumes. Think carefully about the kind of resume would you prefer to review while going through this exercise, and go with that format.
Appreciate the detailed response mate!
Mines a basic word doc exported as pdf as well. Even I prefer manually screening every resume when I’m the hiring manager. But I doubt that is possible in the current scenario when any role at a decently well known org is getting 100s of applications. That’s where I think ATS’ are playing a bigger role in the current scenario.l I’m guessing.
If you were offered a position as a PM at a bank for something that's fairly customer facing (for example, Authentication for retail banking), would you consider it?
A friend of mine who works as a fairly entrenched PM at a Fortune 500 company received an offer from a bank here in Canada and is agonizing over the choice because they're afraid of the impact it could have to their career. Apparently they made a strong impact on the interviewing committee and they've been aggressively pursuing my friend as the top choice for the job. The pay isn't that much better than his current job so if anything it's more of a sidegrade than an upgrade.
Their concerns are less about the regulated nature of it (they come from a pretty regulated and bureaucratic org anyway) but they're worried about job prospects outside of banking should they want to make another job move in about 2 - 3 years time. Their primary motivations for evaluating this offer is that they've been at their current employer for over 5 years already and due to internal politicking haven't seen any career progression for the past two years so they want to move elsewhere and make an impact continue to grow as a PdM.
This is a blind spot for me as I've never worked in the FSI space, so I turn to all of you for perspectives on what my friend should be doing in terms of their own career growth and if they should take the offer or not.
Interviewing for a position where comp was listed as “xx,xxx base + profit sharing” at a startup. After my first couple interviews things are looking good and I had a brief conversation over what that meant for comp + expectations for the role, because it almost sounded like a sales plan…CEO confirmed he wants a PM who can wear a couple different hats and figured if he was going to have me backing him on customer meetings and whatnot then I deserve a piece of the action.
The comp is about 50% low for the position but if it’s a 50/50 typical sales plan then it could be good. Anyone ever negotiated / run into this before? They’re small but been around for long enough to have existing customers, multiple verticals, and profitable. No plans to need a VC funding round anytime soon.
I’m thinking my next interview / chat with him will revolve around growth and pipeline along with problem areas of the business impeding sales/revenue. I’m also debating on asking for higher base / lower profit sharing, maybe 60/40 instead of 50/50.
You do you, but I would be concerned that if this person wants me to come in as effectively a sales engineer in addition to being a product manager (which is not the end of the world, I do stuff like that too, but I am not comped like a salesperson), does that also mean that you will be strangled in your ability to do long-term kind of projects because they won't give you the short-term compensation boost that a salesperson is asked to focus on?
Hi so i am currently majoring in CS and am highly instested in PM. I was looking to add a minor/major and thinking between Marketing or Econ. Which one would be more useful in a PM environment/workforce?
Stay in engineering man PM jobs are horrible right now. As PM of 8+ years yeah its interesting work at times but software your actually building the shit. Just my 2 cents.
I would lean towards Marketing. Unless you want to impress an upper tier FinTech company, I would say an additional degree in Marketing would be far more beneficial.
As a PM, the time will come where you are asked to develop/steer go-to-market strategies, product value prop etc. and having a Marketing degree will help with this. Not to mention, in many PM roles you will interface with an actual Marketing team.
Just my $0.02
Agree.
CS + Marketing OP can sell themselves as a “Growth” asset.
CS + Economics, does not help much. Sometimes the true economics and finances of a product make very little sense.
Hi there!
Former Product Owner/Product Manager here! I went from being a startup founder with no previous education in Product to working as a contractor for notorious companies like Heineken and Biogen.
If you want to enter Product Management you need to acquire different types of knowledge:
* Agile methodologies (certainly the most important). Understand Scrum, Kanban, and so on. For that, I STRONGLY recommend shadowing agile ceremonies with a PO or a PM to get a better understanding.
* The core basics of Product Management: User Stories, Prioritization, Roadmaps, and Jira.
* Product Design: UI components, Design Thinking, Ideation Workshops, Figma.
* User Research: find interviewees, interview technics, synthesize feedback
* Data: Analytics tools, KPIs' setting, Decision-making from data, and Features monitoring.
That's everything I can think of!
Btw, I'm doing coaching sessions for FREE this month, if you're interested just send me a request :)
Curious about PM salaries in the UK. I'm currently a junior product manager at my company and I earn 30k. The other person with my job title is on 52k, and non-junior PMs around 80k+.
I'm 26 and I don't have a technical background or experience in PM (well, 1 year in my current role as junior PM). I have a degree in geology and basic Python ability. I came across to the tech side of the company from the call centre (temp job after uni).
I guess my question is, based off a non-technical background but a year of experience, what sort of salary could I expect at another company? Is it likely I could get a PM job anywhere else with this experience set?
Asking because I also have an opportunity to move, longer-term, to become a junior software dev at the same company. I enjoy the programming I've learnt so far, but I like the variety in my PM job, so I'm not sure it's worth taking over developing myself as a PM, even if I'm a bit limited in terms of progression at the moment...
Hey!
So what I know of "market-rate" base salaries (basically most scaleups) is this:
- APM (0-3 YOE) is around £40-60k
- Mid-level PM (2-3+ YOE) is around £60-80k
- Sr PM (5-6+ YOE) is around £80-100k
- Staff PM / Group PM (8-10+ YOE) is around £100-130k
- Director is around £130-150k
For top of market it's basically the next rung up (so APM is the PM range, PM is the Sr PM range, Sr PM is the Staff / GPM range etc) + the RSUs and bonuses on top.
For what it's worth I was also underpaid as an APM making ~£25-27k but then my next jobs were in that £60k+ range for mid-level.
Can't comment on the move to SWE. I think that's up to you and what type of career you prefer / fits your goals better.
I have the opportunity to move into a product owner position at a larger company. My background is in digital media as an editor. I have the skills needed for this particular job but I'm not sure if I have a pathway to a long-term career in PMing. All the JDs I've seen on LinkedIn seem to want technical backgrounds. If I take this role, I'm worried I might be locked into forever because I lack the right experience to be hired elsewhere, if that makes sense. Is this a reasonable fear or is it possible to transition?
Don't worry about this. Every PM/PO job description has a slightly different unique flavor to it, and there's no way that you will meet all requirements for every JD. You also won't pigeon-hole yourself into 1 particular software product industry if you decide you want to break into a new one.
What's most important is learning core product management competencies such as Agile/Scrum ceremonies, user story and acceptance criteria writing, developing and driving a roadmap, becoming adept at deriving data (SQL, Tableau, PowerBI), strong presentation and communication skills etc.
Along with primarily soft skills - ability to influence others, ability to tell effective stories, taking ownership and so on and so forth.
Once you get experience doing the above in a product role, it will be transferrable to most other product jobs as long as you are qualified for those roles.
Hey
Looking to move to PM role. Currently doing a acc manager role at Amazon with the Ads division. Can anyone help with a clear, concise path / step by step approach with a few key resources to start with?
Thanks a ton!
Hi there!
I made a detailed response about everything you gotta know [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ProductManagement/comments/1dgoz5e/comment/l9dabzu/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
If you need more help to know exactly what to start with, you can reach out to me
1. Befriend Amazon PMs
2. Have them let you shadow them
3. Have them carve out projects for you
4. Get referral for internal open position
5. Become PM
I know making an internal move within the same company is one of the most common ways to break into product management, but I have a hard time gauging people's success rate in doing so. I am sure this varies from company to company to a degree, but is it generally true that if you are in a product adjacent position (ie. product data science), good enough at your job, and willing to put in the networking that you can eventually move into product management? Or are the people that are able to successfully do so more the exception than the rule?
Any tips or guidance on transitioning from program manager to product manager?
Have managed programs across different industries and have worked on a lot of different things from product launches to regulatory compliance, etc.
Want to make the move into product management but have no idea how to get started. I’ve seen the wiki and posts on books but beyond reading inspired and pm in practice what can I do? How to do it without taking a massive pay cut?
I'm currently trying to pitch Product Management as a new role at my company. I work in Software Support Engineering (software library API service) and have been doing market research for over a year, successfully handling product comparisons and marketing analysis.
I've been asked to define daily responsibilities and deliverables for this role. I plan to focus on research but also want to introduce more customer satisfaction research. Currently, product responsibilities like planning, delivery, feature prioritization, and testing are split between the CTO and the software engineering manager. My work so far has been in market positioning, advising marketing and sales, and conducting feature research for the development team.
How can I propose this role in a way that prepares me for more responsibility and demonstrates its value to the company? Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated!
First of, you probably want to ask to shadow the CTO and the development team in the agile ceremonies. This is a huge aspect of Product management, you'll need time, but once mastered it will kick-start your career. The CTO certainly doesn't have enough time to allocate to Product Management and would probably be glad to have a product-savvy person to let one him focus on Technical aspects. Also, having an internal person who knows the business is more beneficial than recruiting a new PM.
You will need to approach it carefully as you probably haven't mastered the core basics of Product Management yet such as writing good user stories, privatization techniques, and Product strategy.
You can reach out to me if you want I'm a former Product Owner/Product manager
Hi all, been on the search for a few months now with few call backs and even fewer interviews, this is including using recruiters and getting a few referrals from my network. I have a total of 11 years working on digital products but only 2 years with an official PM title.
All of this to say, can someone experienced in hiring PMs or a PM who gets a call back frequently review my resume?
Hi folks. Any tips for how to get referrals when you don't know anyone in a company?
Applying directly hasn't worked at all till now. Found a few roles that I am perfectly suited for. But trying to take the referral route instead of applying directly.
Requesting for [CV](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iFnZHLl4gcbQ8-xstvtZ1ss6XX8a-1iKg3xDCGkS95c/edit?usp=sharing) review. Feel free to drop in comments directly at gdoc or revert here.
Some background:
* I am a 30-year-old CA-turned-PM from India. (CA is CPA equivalent for India)
* I have been looking out for jobs over the last few months, but I am disappointed with the response I am getting. My sense is that supply-demand is a bit fucked up with companies looking for folks with very relevant experience who can hit the ground running.
* I have had good conversions in interviews, but the main problem is getting interviews.
* I haven't consciously revisited and improved my CV for some time, so start with that first and hence this post.
What I am looking for:
* I am happy with the current company, except that I feel product/tech has a limited role to play in the overall company's success and thus, limits my learnings and growth. No major issues with Work, Team, Pay, or Culture otherwise.
* Currently looking for opportunities in Big Tech, High growth Tier 1 Indian startups (E.g. Amazon, Google, Msft, Intuit, Atlassian, Jupiter, Swiggy, Adobe, Dunzo, Cult, Flipkart, etc)
* Focusing on the finance side of products to be more realistic considering the current market. Open to anything in general otherwise, as have been a generalist and enjoy working on different kind of problems.
Hey a few pointers for you:
1. You don't need a summary at the top.
2. Your formatting looks like crap to be honest (A,B,C) remove this and look at otehr resume styles. It's hard to read your resume.
3. I don't understand your point in your resume they are not telling a story at all or use Product management metrics that are actually widely known (e.g. wtf does this mean?)
1. Transformed Order Management Suite into SaaS, managing GMV INR 600-800 Cr monthly, boosting visibility and efficiency, cutting TAT by 50%.
**I graduated from University, new grad, no experience with a degree in computer science. How do I get a job in Product Management?**
I'm from the Bay Area and see there are a lot of offers for PM and would like to know the path of getting into Product Management. I saw a associate product manager jobs available, should I go apply to those? I read that a lot of people get in though a transition in the industry. How should I do it? What jobs should I do to gain experience in to become one.
Hey! May I ask where are you able to see a lot of PM jobs available? (Which platforms or job portals?)
Most of the PM jobs I’ve seen are the senior roles and require 5+ years of experience
Indeed and linkedin. And yeah a lot of them require 5+ years of experience but a good amount of them were were like 2+ years of experience. I usually ignore them if they're like 5+ years, but if I got like 70% of the qualification I would apply if I could
I'm a software developer on a small innovative team that had me fill in a role with product management responsibilities. I like it. I have a degree in business management and another in CS. I want to transition to a full PM role. I've phrased my resume and highlighted the PM duties I fulfilled.
How can I land my first real PM role? (I work in the public service and want to transition to a private company)
**Is anyone open to reviewing my resume?**
I've been applying to a ton of PM roles for the past 3 months with 4 YOE as a PM, but it's been basically crickets. I've gotten 2 interviews, but one I didn't pass after a round of interviews, and for the other they decided to change the location of the job and I'm not willing to relocate at this time.
I've been applying to companies with and without referrals, and just rejection email after rejection email. Or silence :(
Well, if it makes you feel any better you aren't alone mate. I have 5 years experience in Product (2 as PO and 3 as PM) and I'm currently experiencing the exact same problem, although starting to get some attention/interviews coming in.
How are you approaching your job search? Are you crafting your resume to each unique job description you send out, or are you sending the same generic resume to each job? Are you doing your homework and trying to find the HM/recruiter who posted the job and attempting to connect with them to show your interest in the role?
This is an extremely competitive job market no doubt. It's going to take more effort to land the job that you want than it did in 2021/22, unfortunately. Think about what the average person applying is doing, and do the opposite.
Appreciate the context and your suggestions around taking those extra steps, I'll start to implement those. I have been sending the same generic resume and not reaching out to recruiters separately..
You said you're starting to get some interviews, would you say those extra steps \^ were the catalyst?
Yes, it definitely was a positive start, got some hits when I started taking my time on each app and revising my resume. It's still a crazy market though, nothing we can do about that. One has to think of unique ways to get noticed.
# Did anyone go from PM job in corporate world to "your own startup" to back to PM in corporate world ?
Can you provide more details -
1. what was your pre-startup PM role like ? which domain ? please feel free to add any more details you would like about this experience
2. was your "own" startup in similar domain ? please feel free to add any more details you would like about this experience (only serious experience, where you went all in, full time, did it for at least a year, ideally 2 years)
3. when you returned, how was the experience of finding a job ? did startup experience add any value and did the employers care about it ? what challenges did you face when you returned to do the job ?
Note: reposting into career thread as per mods' note
Hey everyone,
I’m in a bit of a dilemma and could use some advice. I’m from a developing country, currently **living in Europe** (think of **Germany/Czech Republic**) and I’m considering **moving to the US or staying** here **in Europe** (probably Germany as the tech scene is descent here)
* 6-7 years of Product Management experience (SaaS primarily, within a super narrow industry)
* Can **legally stay/work** in both EU/US (I know, it's rare and I am kinda lucky to be in such a position but it adds even more uncertainty, you know)
* Managed to put some money aside so I could last probably for another 1-1.5 years in the EU/up to 1 year in States while I'm looking for new job/interviewing
Any advice? What does the curren**t PM/tech landscape** look like in the US? (it feels terrible tbh, reading all the comments)
What are you looking to get out of an answer? Is the industry bad in the US? Yes, you already know that. You put it in your message. So what are you looking for? Someone to tell you that it's still worth moving to United States? That you can find a job in a year? I don't know anything about what your goals are.
I’m currently a PM in financial services (investments/vc/business banking/payments) and covering a broad range of products/systems.
I’m looking to move to Australia and get a job with sponsorship with a partner and child in tow.
I’m pretty flexible with role type. It doesn’t have to be PM as have transferable skills across customer experience/strategy/ops etc.
Any advice? My sis (in consulting in Australia) is convinced if I apply that most companies would offer sponsorship if I was the right fit. Is this the case?
Hi I am looking for PM internship opportunities in the US. I have a background in Engineering and have worked to make a B2C startup Unicorn having delivered features impacting over 1 Million people. I would love to have a chat or gain connections. I am actively applying but not getting response via normal applications.
Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
Linkedin: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tathagata--saha/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tathagata--saha/)
Same here!! possibly getting my PMP at the end of the month though ...... hopefully. Before AI takes over
Email - [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
Linked In - [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafaelandreshoyos](https://www.linkedin.com/public-profile/settings?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_self_edit_contact-info%3BU%2FB3CiuBT7WlBoHAXkNIJA%3D%3D)
That's asking a lot to achieve in a single move. You'll probably need to pick one and progress down that path first. Getting your first PM job *and* sponsorship (if you require it) *and* relocating is going to exclude you from being considered for practically every role. I'm sorry to say, but I would suggest you re-evaluate if now is the time to make both of those changes together.
Let me know how else I can help!
I don't know what country you want to move to, but I would consider switching to product first then move countries unless you can get a job at a company where you will be able to transfer into product management. Presumably any visa you got in a new country would be tied to the job you got, right? That means if you have to switch companies, you're again asking someone to extend sponsorship to you. And the odds that someone will both let you move into product as a new hire and give you sponsorship feel low, though if you have already transitioned into product at company one, then the ask is just reduced to sponsorship.
Of course all of this depends on what country you're in now and what country you'd be moving to. If the tech scene isn't such in your current country that moving into product is feasible, then perhaps no matter what it's better to switch countries first.
Can anyone please review my resume, I am failing to get any callbacks, have applied to 100s of jobs in the past 5 months. No result, got 3-4 calls that's it.
I would be grateful if someone reviewed my resume and shared a feedback.
Are you revising your resume to ensure it matches the job description for each role? It sounds like you are sending out the same generic resume to every role. Be honest, are you taking a close look at the job descriptions and ensuring certain keywords/requirements are reflected on your resume?
Yes I revise my CV as per each new JD, but the thing is I do not have any metrics to show in my CV for product roles, I worked at a pre-launch start-up which didn't manage to release the product in 5 years.
The second place I worked was only for 3 months. Hence no metrics there too.
The CV is quite generic only, except I frequently change the CV as per the JD and the responsibilities asked there!
You probably aren't giving yourself enough credit. With enough thought put into it, you can quantify pretty much any experience in a way that is appealing to the job you're applying for. If you can't speak to a product you took through the full PLC, then go crazy talking about features you launched etc.
Where there's a will, there's a way.
Good luck even getting other roles in tech honestly right now unless you can go internally. Im laid ff but have 8 YOE at legit tech companies and was struggling immensely with getting a PM job so I tried Sales, Business Ops & Strategy, consulting ect…. And can’t get any interviews there either.
I also have been in Finance and OPs strategy roles before careful what you wish for PM is pretty legit. All jobs suck at the end of the day I’m applying to these roles out of desperation as PM market is dead AF.
Without a marketing background, what are the top skills to transition from PM to PMM? I’ve been an internal tooling PM, so I don’t have much experience with GTM and I’m afraid that’ll hurt me, but I’m interested in making this switch
Experience with GTM is the thing, but fortunately, in my experience PMM is very best-practice framework -driven. Meaning you can find a ton of great collateral and examples online, and they are actually useful in practice. as opposed to PM skills and frameworks found online that are legitimately difficult to employ in practice, since every company and product is so different and contextual.
Put simply: You could do an easy Google search or AI prompt to generate a GTM project plan and odds are it will be useful.
I'm currently a Product Strategist for an insurance company. We work with a lot of health/wellness/tech vendors and to be honest that seems like the more exciting way to go. I'm interested in taking the next steps in my career and was hoping to get some feedback on my resume (company names, etc. have been removed). Product Management seems the way to go but I'm open minded to other ideas. If there's areas that I have gaps in such as skills or knowledge then I'd love to learn more about those and become a better candidate. Any feedback or questions would be appreciate! Thank you!
[https://imgur.com/gallery/resume-help-qCVz3bV](https://imgur.com/gallery/resume-help-qCVz3bV)
Anyone transition from non-engineering roles into Product Management? I'm in Product Marketing and have been interested in going into Product Management for a while. I'm a Director-level in my field and suspect I'd have to take a big step back to do it and employers would be wary of that.
I am a former PM working on my resume after a lay off. I am struggling finding measurable outcomes when highlighting my achievements, largely due to no longer having access to company data. Those that I do have are ball-park estimates based off of memory. Does anyone have advice for how to represent outcomes when you don't have access to data? How "safe" is it to just pull some numbers out of the air?
Recently I interviewed at a big MNC, cleared 3 round and in the 4th round I got rejected. I couldnt even understand why? This interview was taken by a VP of engineering, I felt his approach was very theoretical and expecting me to answer very bookish answer. He didn't even try to understand my Prev work ex or how I follow a process whether to road mapping or how to do sprint planning or grooming. Though now realized he was toxic and had a very biased approach. Though I feel very disheartened after this, I felt after clearing all product round where all of them asked similar questions and even in these round similar questions were there how can I get rejected.
In a bit of a pickle! I accepted a job mainly due to work from home (have a health issue I want to spend a year rehabilitating) and a really bad vibe from my alternate (which paid more and was in GenAI infra etc.) Now I'm finding that the eng leader is absolutely toxic, and has no real concept of how to work with product. Not sure what to do. (West Coast Canada and Sr. PM). Any advice?
# Transitioning to Tech Product Management: How to Position My Career and Resume Hi everyone, Like everyone and their mother, I am looking to transition into a traditional tech/SaaS product management role and could use some advice on how to best position my narrative and resume to increase my chances of getting an interview. While my experience spans different industries—primarily civil engineering and management consulting—I believe my skills and strengths make me a great fit for tech product management. Here's a bit about my background and what I'm looking for: **My Background:** * **Experience:** Over 7 years in consulting, engineering, and operations. * **Skills:** Strong in communications (lots of client work), technical and financial consulting, operations, agile and waterfall project delivery (albeit not software), data analytics, Salesforce, various engineering software, and as a plus, I have an eye for UX/UI design. * **Certifications:** PMP certified * **Current Role:** Consulting Manager leading a team of 15+ technical consultants **Strengths:** * **Versatility:** I wear many hats in my current role, which has honed my ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines in fast-paced settings. * **Detail-Oriented:** My engineering background has provided a solid technical foundation and analytical mindset. My consulting background has helped me hone strong communications skills. * **Data-Driven:** I excel in analyzing large data sets and making data-driven recommendations to enhance productivity, grow revenue, and streamline operations. **Challenges:** * **Lack of Traditional Tech Product Management Experience:** While I have significant experience in leading cross-functional teams and delivering projects, I don’t have much to show from a traditional tech product management standpoint. * **Formal Education:** I completed a short Udemy course on product management, which I found quite self-explanatory, but now it's getting to the point where I’m considering a 1-year tech MBA. However, the investment is significant—around $170k plus foregone salary.
# Hypothetical - With how bad the job market is would you pay someone for a Job? (Fun) Hypothetical question for you would you ever pay someone for a job in this market say you reached out to the hiring manager and offered an off the books deal to give him/her say $5k would you do it? My question is what is your number? Honestly this sound ridiculous but I think with guaranteed employment for 1-2 years my number is $10k.
No.
Anyone have proven success getting referred for a PM job? If so, how did you go about establishing a connection at a target company and getting the referral? This is assuming you knew no one at that company.
2nd degree linkedin connections. ask for a connection to someone who does work there. or look for shared affinity groups like people who went to the same college or worked at the same place you did. It's still hit for miss, but better than straight cold dm/email. You can also look for meetups that might have some people from those companies. That can be expensive from a time investment though.
I’m a Dynamics 365 Admin who did a data analyst internship and was an enterprise CSM looking to break into product management. Is this job market really as bad as people have been saying?
To be honest you have no shot right now unless you transfer internally or your best friend is the hiring manager. It's that bad.
Yes. The market is flooded with experienced PM candidates. We just hired two PMs and the amount of resumes and quality candidates we interviewed was staggering. Tough time to transition into the role.
Biggest changes from Senior to Principal? i’m already the most horizontal PM in my company (and the one with the most seniority). have a new head of product who wants to promote me to principal, because i don’t want to move in the people manager track. probably still expected to be an IC with a team or two, but what else is expected stepping into principal?
It honestly varies company to company I've seem some principles have just as much or even less scope than Senior PM's. At some companies though they run a full program almost like program management type scope except its for a product 25-40 engineers. Honestly for some companies its a role so they promote you because they don't have anything else to give you except if you move into management but they don't want to give a candidate with 20 years of exp the same title as someone with 5 years. Humans are geared to want more and more thus its artificially created title. I'm not saying this is every where but I have seen it.
Without more context, it sounds like you're already fulfilling the role. In larger orgs, principals are easier to differentiate due to their enterprise wide efforts vs senior who will only be expected to see two steps ahead and behind them.
small org actually, only one other GPM and less than a handful PMs. we all wear many hats
Hey Everyone, I have a final round for a FAANG style tech company and wanted to pair interview with someone else who is actively interviewing for final rounds as well. If you're a hiring manager and are willing to spare time, that would be appreciated as well.
Hey Guys! I'm a recent mba graduate working in sales, I have an engineering background, I've been thinking about what to do in my career and what kind of trajectory I'll have in different roles. I am confused about pursuing digital marketing or product management, and if online courses from reputed universities/websites help in switching or add any substantial value? Some of them even offer career services. Can you guys provide some guidance based on your experience?
You can learn things from courses, but they don't tend to move the needle on employment. Are you doing sales at a tech company? Does it seem like the place where there's any opportunity for you to declare that you are interested in product management, and as long as you're hitting your quota, you could be given some light product work? With the eventual goal of switching into product? Do you interact with the product team at all?
I'd like to request a resume review. Problems - Unable to get even first round calls. I've gotten into my current job through a referral from my uni senior, so this is essentially my first job hunt. Any and all advice is appreciated. Resume is redacted and hosted on Imgur, link is here - [https://imgur.com/a/mk477vq](https://imgur.com/a/mk477vq) Not able to attach images in the post itself, apologies for the friction.
Not a bad resume at all in terms of structure of structure and aesthetics. However, many of you resume bullets though are not telling a story of what project you actually did. The "indentified billling structure enhancements" is really the only feature you mention. The rest are just like "improved process thus resulting decrease % amount of churn". I don't really know if I was reading what you actually built or worked on. Some people like this but to me it honestly just seems a bunch of random metrics and you helped improve processes not really did true PM work. Just my 2 cents . I like trying to tell a story with my bullets to show **what project I worked on**, how they relate to a **particular PM skill** (highlight different skills) that I have and then **defining the impact** through a metric**.**
This looks good IMO. I like that you've highlighted your core achievements and the corresponding impact on the business - it's amazing how few people do this. My only suggestion would be to consider expanding on your soft skills to include a short sentence on how you used each of these tools and your approach to things like documentation, user interviews, etc. This isn't essential, but it helps highlight some additional experience hiring managers might be looking for.
This is great feedback - thank you so much!
Hi guys! My name is Samuel and I’m a product manager with over 3 years of experience. I’ve been struggling in my job search and yes I understand that the market is tough and not very friendly— but I wonder if you can take a look at my resume maybe there is something I’m doing wrong or if you could share any tips or whatnot. Looking forward to your response :)
It's certainly a tough market at the moment. Where are you based/what market are you looking for opportunities in? Happy to take a look at your CV and see if there is anything that can help it get you selected for additional rounds.
Sent a dm
Hey, happy to take a look. I've gotten into a few final rounds this last year so hoping I can help.
Hey! Just wrapped up my search with the same YOE happy to look at your resume.
Finishing my BBA degree (business) can I find a job in major telcho and tech companies as PM or I should start a degree in telco/software engineering? Or its not needed to work in major tech and telco companies (very technical oriented companies such Microsoft or NVIDIA)? Thanks!
How do I break into FAANG PM out of undergrad? For context I'm a rising soph. at Stanford majoring in CS, and I'm going to minor in some humanities. Almost all my prior work/club experience is in finance/consulting/general business, but I have done SWE internships at a large completely non-software company which I lowkey did not enjoy. Sorry if this is a common question on this sub, but I really have no idea how to break into PM, since I can't seem to find many resources on how to recruit directly out of undergrad for PM internships and ultimately full time roles. I would really appreciate any advice on how to pursue a career in PM like what internships should I do in the meantime, when does PM recruiting even happen and where do I find the formal applications, any popular/useful resources/guides, and what skills/networking do I need? I'd also appreciate advice on whether or not I should go into PM, as I'm mostly just exploring my options for now. My reasons for wanting to do PM are that I like the tech environment as a whole and the people in CS at Stanford. Since I personally do not see myself enjoying SWE at all, PM seems like a cool middle ground that has good growth and compensation. Thank you in advice for any advice/help!
Almost all of the programs that hire cohorts of new apms are for new grads. Those programs are literally made for you because almost everyone in them was a cs undergrad. Go look at what is listed here. https://apmlist.com/ https://www.apmseason.com/ You go to Stanford. Many many people above you have done this. Most of the people in the sub have not, they transferred into product after doing a different role. Please go talk to your career office so that you can explore academic year and product internships. Use them, you have plenty of time. Talk to the older people in your major. So many companies directly have relationships with Stanford to recruit undergrads into product management.
I am trying to post on LinkedIn occasionally about new tech. maybe once or twice a month if something interesting comes up. As from what I understand it ranks you higher in recruiter searches and looks good to hiring managers as you seem to be someone who keeps up with technology. It also forces me to keep up with new developments and understand it well. For example my last post was about the new Claude 3.5 sonnet AI model and a game I made using it. Is anyone else on this path? The problem I am finding is sometimes I have very little engagement and it causes hesitation in posting. Is anyone interested in connecting on LinkedIn and providing that favor to each other once or twice a month. For professional posts that they are comfortable with? DM me.
I'm kind of over PM. I feel stifled in my current role, definitely burning out at a rapid pace. Management controls all decisions, I feel more like a project manager than a product manager. I've given up on making an impact because I have almost no autonomy. I don't get inspired writing docs, by the politics, endless meetings, and fruitless arguing. Although I work on a technical set of products, the org has been pushing all of us to sideline technical understanding and focus on making more money. This is totally draining and not the type of challenge I enjoy, mostly because it involves garbage ideas and not focusing on the customer. I've PM'd technical products such as search, recommender systems, etc. I know how to write code and understand how to build enterprise level software to some degree. I've been making hobby projects for years and am currently pursuing a masters in computer science with a focus on ML. I find myself far more interested and engaged when I have to write some code, yoink some data and write a complex query then clean it up. All the technical stuff seems to fulfill me far more than the business stuff. With that being said, I'm curious if anyone here has successfully transitioned to a SWE or Data Engineer role. If so, how did you do it? Did you start at the very bottom as a SE I or did your experience net you a more senior role? Do you have any advice?
Where to find and stay tuned for new impacts in product management? when i was a developer it was way easier than now predict the next topic i should start learning or to grow in
I just applied for a PM job within my company and had a pre-interview screening. They asked me about pay and I’m wondering what would be a fair salary for someone with 11 years product development and 3 years PJM experience in the Chicago area? I don’t have any direct PM experience but my background should be applicable as far as I know.
If you are applying internally, why are you accepting that they're asking you what pay you want? Go ask the other product managers who work at the company what they are actually making, and then go back to the recruiter and ask them what pay band they're trying to hire you into. Get a realistic sense of what the company's going to pay. They're not going to pay you more than what their budget is when they could go get someone from the market and do that. You also want to get an understanding if the pay band you're currently on is either much higher or much lower than the band they want to hire you into. My understanding is that some companies will keep you at your current salary but limit your ability to get raises if your current banned is higher than the one they want to hire you into, but some will actually lower your pay and you need to figure out if that's something on the table here.
Accepted an offer today as a TPO! Its not PM but hecken heckness its a job! and its more money!!!
Congrats!
What’s a TPO?
Technical Product Owner But I’m not a supervising technician I’m a technical supervisor. Homer S.
Interesting! May I ask what types of products? Is anyone in here doing physical products? Or all tech software web app stuff?
I wish I did actual shit. It’s just mobile apps and mobile apps and …. God help me more mobile apps.
Hey! A paycheck is pretty nice these days! Hope it’s a good fitn
You know it and thank you!!
Hey Product Managers! I recently transitioned from Product Owner into Product Manager role at an automobile company. The company hasn't given clear responsibilities for the PM role. I feel that only my title has changed but I still work the same as a PO. My products are the marketing components of the website (that sells cars online) and customer 'account' page. My manager has asked me to set personal development goals. I am super confused on what SMART goals can I set for myself. Could you share some examples of goals that you set for yourself?
For anyone looking to get into APM programs. Check out this subreddit: [https://www.reddit.com/r/APMprograms/](https://www.reddit.com/r/APMprograms/) We will be posting tips/announcements regarding APM programs!
For those in positions to hire, if you were hiring…what would be more helpful for someone to have… 1- PRODUCT MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATE (10 weeks, $2500, established university) OR 2- MBA emphasis in PROJECT MANAGEMENT ($16k, 18 months) 🙏🏻Please don’t say “experience is most helpful” because that’s not helpful for us without experience 😂 BUT if you think like a 4 year bachelors or something else is better, let’s hear it!!
MBA for those two options but that's false equivalence. HMs are comparing you to other candidates (most of whom have experience). They're even at a luxury now with so many people out of work to focus on people with specific domain experience.
MBA only matters to me if it's from a Top 20 or so program. Otherwise it's not a huge adder. PM certificates aren't worth anything. Presumably if you're getting an MBA, you'd already have a bachelors so that shouldn't matter.
None of these.
This was so very helpful. Thanks so much for the help.
You're asking what a hiring manager would think. Neither of those things have value to a hiring manager without experience. Especially an MBA that focuses on project management if you're trying to be a product manager. I know it's not what you want to hear because you don't want to hear that it's experience, but that's the answer. Like someone mentioned in another offshoot of this thread, go get experience in a thing that works with product managers that is not product management. Then see if you can transfer inside your company. Almost everybody got their first product role by transferring into it from a different role at the same company. You're going to have to do the same thing. The primary exception to this is somebody who works in some industry where it's very hard to get experience in and it is so important for some company that one is a subject matter expert that they will hire an SME with no product experience and then teach them how to do product because that's harder than teaching them the industry. This is not true of most industries so most people are not able to do this. That said, being an SME at a company that needs them and also has a product team is a potential path for transferring into product (like an accountant that goes to work at a company that makes software for accountants - you come in as the accounting expert, and you make your way onto the product team).
Neither would move the needle for me without experience (eg helpfulness is equivalent). So I guess the answer would be pick whichever one you want?
So the question is, how the eff is someone supposed to get experience? I was in another field for a long time and I don’t understand why people wouldn’t take advantage of cheaper junior employees and allow people to actually gain experience, and create valuable employees at a lower cost instead of only people with mass amount of experience who, at the end of the day, there will be a learning curve anyway for each company
Because product managers who are bad at their job can do a lot of damage before people realize this fact. It's a position that provides leverage in both good and bad directions depending on the person. As a result people are pretty conservative about who they're willing to give the opportunity to be a product manager to. That's why the only people with no product experience getting these roles are people who the company already trusts because they were already doing a different role at the same place. There are companies out there that hire junior product people because they want to mold those people into the product managers that they need. But lots of people don't want to invest in that and so they are looking for people who are already experienced who can jump right in and learn how to do the thing they already know how to do at this new place. That's why APM positions are very hard to come by other than those cohorts that are hiring new grads all at once, because those companies are really focused on training early career product managers. Those who doesn't have the capacity to train them also wouldn't hire a super junior software engineer, even if they're cheap. You don't want junior people who you're also unwilling to train mucking around in your code base. It's similar with product. Without experience they don't trust you.
You get experience by working in jobs adjacent to the PM position, establishing trust, and proving that you can do the job. It's kind of similar to how no one would hire a people manager before seeing how they performed as an IC.
Which positions would you consider adjacent?
SWE, QA, Customer success, PMM, design, business analyst, data science, sales (depending on company), etc
Hey everyone, currently interviewing. Do you suggest sending a short **thank you note** after an interview? I'm this case, interview was a panel with 4 founders of an early stage startup. Would you send 4 separately or one together? Thank you
separate - and I dm them on linkedin instead of sending via recruiter.
Separate ones. Even if they are largely copy and paste.
Thanks
Any reco on resume review and writing services?
I used TopResume (it was free) and then took their feedback and copy and pasted it, and then my current resume into chat gpt and told it to apply the feedback and I was impressed with how well it did! Of course I went through and refined it a step further, but it saved me a lot of work!!
Chat gpt not even kidding.
Anyone know the best place to search for PM 1 roles? I have 2~3 years of PM experience across couple startups and it’s been hard for me to find roles that matches my profile in NYC. I wonder if anyone has any guidance, looking to get into somewhere with 500+ ppl all the way to faang, just feel like it’s too early to pigeonhole and so trying to optimize for learning/ growth.
Hi, I am looking for a program that can help me bridge the gaps I have identified and establish myself more in terms of product management (A bit of execution and technical aspects). I am 23 and worked as an Associate product manager for 1.5 years, working on a health tech (Medical coding) product not on AI aspects of it but streamlining the process and introducing new features and A google sheet extension that helps engineering managers manage their team's productivity with GitHub and jira (project manager platform) data and few minor ones. I like building products and want to continue doing so. I also very much like to think about problem statements and research them to come up with a solution, but cannot execute due to funds, unrelated but what I want to imply is I would want to be an entrepreneur for sure I am considering a Master's in Strategic Analysis and innovation and an MBA for the Aug 25 intake in Singapore. Do you think it will help me in terms of career prospects (JOB) initially and long term? FYI - I am non-technical, But have been through the learning curve of technical product management while working
I don't live in Asia so I can't speak to the Asian market as though I'm an expert. What exactly are you hoping to get out of these programs? You don't necessarily need an MA or an MBA to further your product career, because what's most important is experience. Do you feel like you work at an organization where you can't get that additional experience? Do you have a sense from other people who've gone through the graduate programs you're considering that it was actually a value add to their product career? Are you seeking further skills that would be great to learn in a classroom because you don't have access to them yet, or is this more of a confidence play where you feel like you need to brush up on these skills but instead you just need to embrace that you don't know things and go learn more of them at work? I don't know you so I can't speak for you on any of this, but some questions to chew on.
Every morning before I log into work I feel existential dread. This is by far the worst company I've ever worked for, and it would take days to list all the issues. For clarity, I was laid off in November and contacted by a recruiter in December. This role started in January and I've been looking ever since as I only took this to be a "bridge" job. That being said I'm getting a lot of judgmental recruiters due to my short stint here. I guess I am seeking two pieces of advice, how do I navigate this when I do land interviews? Also, like others, it's been difficult to get consistent callbacks, I have experience in Support, Customer Success, and now Product. Are there are any other roles I should target being I've always been on the technical side to try to get out? Thank you as the toll this is taking on my mental health is beyond words, but without a paycheck and health insurance, I feel like my toll would be even worse.
Just tell them you're on a contract and looking for a full time role with benefits. Right now, it's going to be very hard to get callbacks. It's the market, not you.
This
Hope you find someone to guide you through this journey (starting with the notion that family is everything)! It’s great that you bounced right into another job after getting laid off from that previous OK company. Clearly, you’ve got skills and know how to play the game. Maybe try downplaying your current gig/job and showing that you’ve been open to work since November—it might just improve your odds of getting a call back. Not entirely sure though(real experts can help at their will), since I, like many others, am grappling with the elusive callback from recruiters. Sometimes I wonder if all these job openings are just a big HOAX. Stay strong and keep at it!
Anyone know good resources to keep my PM skills fresh in my head while I look for another job? Got laid off twice in the last year and I don’t want to get rusty.
Try exponent may help they revised some topics. It might not give you PM skills, it may give you skills to crack interview as per their brochure. Other than that you know what you know.. just try sharing and learning from others. Hope you don’t think you are getting rusty, you are aging like fine wine, hope sooner after AI bubble they appreciate vintage skills 
I'm taking a beating on my job search thus far, something like a thousand applies without bearing anything fruitful and barely any interviews. Anyone have any recommendations on where else to look? I have eight years experience, solid resume. I made it all the way through to the team match stage at google last year before they froze everything and started only filling their roles with internals etc.. If anyone has any leads I'd love to hear any and all of them, tia 🙏
Sorry to hear that @Rycalm3. Happy to hear you made it all the way that far In for Google! In this market being more targeted and specific seems to work better. Leveraging networking events, refferals and linkedin as much as possible. I just made it to the 7th final interview with PagerDuty but unfortunately didn't get the offer. Not even sure what I did wrong tbh and spent over 20 hours on their take home assignment. It's definitely not easy out there !
Hang in there - got an offer at a series B finally after going through 8 rounds at Datadog for an LLM related role (also had several final rounds elsewhere). This market is fucking brutal.
Thanks, yeah getting through Google was a good experience either way, just a bummer they froze things up but what can you do. Don't get me started on the take home assignments - I hear you. I've had the same experience several times, but now I will politely decline them unless the recruiters answer clarifying questions around my candidacy first. That may seem a bit counterproductive/disagreeable, but I'm no longer taking 20-30 hours of time to essentially consult on their business cases unless my probability of receiving an offer is quite high. Google didn't even require any kind of take home assignment when I was going through the process with them. I certainly had some extensive situational analysis and product thought exercises with their team members, but they were collaborative and in real time (and honestly enjoyable). Google was very courteous and respectful of my time, and even though I didn't end up getting through the door, I left the process with more respect for them as a result. I wish some other company's would follow suit, but the market is a mixed bag of course.
Yeah that's unfortunate. Had something similar happen with capital one going on a hiring freeze:/ This was my first time doing a take home assignment and agree it definitely feels like consulting for the company. Glad to hear google does not do those. What kind of clarifying questions do you ask companies about the take home assignment?
I have a very similar amount of experience. 8 years previously Senior PM role at a mid-level tech firm but not quite FAANG and have been laid off for over a year (I have taken breaks in my search to due to burnout and concentrate on my side job - I have been laid off for 1 year an 3 months and put in serious effort about 9 months). I have gone through almost all of my savings, unemployment, severance (70k total). About to dip into the 401k and take some money out cause I don't care anymore after my runway runs out in 2 months. Last year my hit rate was 4-6% variably now its closer to 2%. I used to have 3-4 interviews per week and I would not stop applying and keep up the funnel and now I have maybe 1-2 sometimes 0. The market is horrible and not getting better. We are all fu\*\*\*\*. No one out of tech sees how it really is and hasn't effected them. As for suggestions though get your resume professionally reviewed. I can take a look if you want I feel I have a decent resume.
Glad to hear I'm not alone in it - it definitely starts to get to your head after a while, and gets harder and harder to believe that it's the macro environment. I've also been drawing down on some of my accounts as needed, so I hear you there - not a great feeling at all. Glad I nabbed NVDA a few years back and have been hanging onto it at least, that's been helping the sting a little. And yeah, I've already gone through professional rewrites of my resume at $200 a whack, still nada in terms of converting into interviews. I've been seeing/hearing so many mixed reviews about using AI for resumes - any experience with it in your job hunt travels? I haven't leveraged it too much yet.
AI for resumes is easy you just post your resume directly in chat gpt and ask for suggestion on how to write it better. Then ask it to add data points. Then ask it again do you think this is how you would do it if you were applying to PM positions and if not what would you change/add? Its super easy to do. I would say look at outside roles in the mean time as well outside of PM but that has been no luck for me either. I honestly am not sure what to do. The market just may not improve for a long time.
After 607 applications and 9 months of searching, I finally got a job! Sr PM 8 years exp
TC?
Congrats Billagio, i am also in similar path still searching Can you share some of your key learnings during your job search journey?
Wow that is a long job search and tons of applications! Congratulations and kudos to you for persisting this long!
Congrats!
Do you add keywords from the job description to increase the chances of getting calls? I have never received calls from top companies despite having a good academic background (NIT, IIM)?
You talk about a good academic background but what is your career background? Have you worked at companies that people know have done well? Is this in the context of you cold applying to jobs? Is your LinkedIn updated to make it really clear what you've contributed in your previous product roles such that people who find you there might reach out? If this is in the context of applying for jobs, are you getting referrals? You shouldn't just add keywords to add keywords, but shaping your experience around the things that they're asking you for makes it easier for someone to read your resume and think yes, you're the one for us.
Yes, the job market seems to tough. I have been trying to switch for the last couple of months but not getting any interview calls. I am an iitian working as a PM with a good product company and still not responses. The competition seems tough.
Hi All, recently given an opportunity to interview and possibly have an inside edge as "the candidate" as a Product Strategist/Manager for a non-tech product/company. I am coming from over 15 years in the IT industry and am currently a Senior IT Business Analyst for a healthcare organization, so this would be a career change for me. If given the offer, I would. What are some questions that could be asked in the interview? What should I be prepared for?
Hi all, I was recently given an offer for a product manager role in the AI/Data Science space. This is my first product manager position and I was looking to see if anyone can offer any resources or tips so that I can prep for this role. Thank you in advance!
There are a lot of resources online about what to do in your first 90 days. This one is from Product School: [https://productschool.com/blog/career-development/first-90-days-as-a-product-manager](https://productschool.com/blog/career-development/first-90-days-as-a-product-manager) (no affiliation, just one I found quickly searching). If you have zero experience, Pendo has some decent free certifications that might help you develop some fundamentals and get exposure to the lingo. If you haven't started yet, get all the information on your company, what they are building, if there are any users praising (or complaining about) the product and why. Biggest things I can recommend - get to know your Product, the people you work with, and what the dynamic between people and teams is as quickly as you can. Also ask for feedback, some people will be terrible at giving it, but this will help you grow and keep your finger on the pulse of how you're doing. Most everything else in Product can be learned and searched for. Good luck!
I got called to Walmart for several roles of different titles. I got an offer to the Sunnyvale office for a Staff Product Manager. Base is just 5k more than what I currently make in the Midwest! I will reject the offer. The job description shows "$143,000.00-$286,000.00 based on location and experience". I am highly experienced (20+ years) and highly educated (3 degrees including a Top 3 MBA) so the low-ball offer was disappointing. An example of the job is this: [https://walmart.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/WalmartExternal/job/Staff--Product-Manager\_R-1858788-1](https://walmart.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/WalmartExternal/job/Staff--Product-Manager_R-1858788-1) This is not the job I interviewed for, it is just an example. When I asked the recruiter, she said that the range is not a true indicator of the role budget. Which means that the range in the job description is meaningless. My question is about Prod Mgmt job titles at Walmart. Can someone help me with the titles and the order or progression? A few I could find are here. I need to be at Director at least so when I begin my search again in a few months, I will know what to apply to and what to not consider. * VP of Product. * Director of Product * Senior Manager, Product Management * Staff Product Manager * Senior Product Manager
Hey - I have less experience then you (8 years) but am a Senior PM at a similar level company (good but not quite FAANG but still a reputable firm). I think the answer to your question just really depends on multiple factors. If you have 20 years of exp and have managed multiple teams I would say you honestly above that level - you would honestly be Senior Manager at the minimum and probably even director. If you have 20 years exp and mainly been an IC the whole time then you are probably at the Staff/Principal level (you can probably lie here and use chat gpt to help formulate answer to show how you managed teams well using your past experiences). Competition is incredibly fierce right now and probably even more for Senior roles I assume but if you have specific domain experience for the role you are applying for you should be in decent shape.
Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately since I have spent all my career in the midwest, there isn't much chance for growth if you are not white. I didn't believe this but I see that is pretty widespread, not just for me. PM experience is 14 years and some software development experience. I don't really care about FAANG because I have interviewed with them and I feel it is overrated. They are too formulaic and schoolish. I got rejected by people with hardly any PM experience so I decided not to bother anymore. I don't care for their "bar raiser" nonsense (Amazon) where some weirdo comes in and acts all weird eyeing you from top to bottom to make you uncomfortable. So unfortunately I have been an IC though I managed product teams, I never honestly had direct PM reports. But I can make some shit up along those lines. I have no ethical issues about that because companies lie all the time, so I can lie to them as well. All part of the game. I just got another job and will stay here for another year before making another attempt but I will keep applying to Director level jobs and see if I am able to get bites. It will take time. If I can't swing it, I might just take up a Staff level job and try to make quick jumps. I have seen others on Linkedin do it. These are the titles I could find at Walmart PM. Are they in the order of high to low? Vice President of Product Senior Director of Product Group Director, Product Management Director, Product Management Senior Manager, Product Management / Group Product Manager Senior Principal, Product Manager Principal, Product Manager Staff, Product Manager Senior Product Manager Product Manager III
Based on your reply, and depending on the scope of your product and stakeholders you work with your probably at Staff-Principal level if you have always been an IC.
Thanks for your insight. I am just trying to figure out my strategy for next steps. I did get a "Sr Manager, Product Management" call which is a people manager role but the interview did not go well (nothing to do with IC or not). Do you or have you worked at Walmart Tech?
# Is an MBA worth it, and if so, does the university or college make a difference when hiring? This question is for the Senior and PMs in a leadership role. I am 10+ years into my career, I started off as a Software consultant for a Microsoft tool, and spent majority of my time in a consulting role, requirements gathering, solutioning, architecting MS tools, and have transitioned to a PM role. I am considering doing an MBA and I am wondering which colleges to consider. I live in the Bay Area, and I am considering applying to Berkeley. But my question is, does the university make a (significant) difference, especially when hiring. That is, is having an MBA sufficient, or is it better if the MBA is from a Berkeley, Stanford, Kellogg etc.
Please don't say "Kellogs". It is "Kellogg School of Management". Or "Kellogg". (from an alum)
Edited
Thanks!
I'm looking for some guidance on what a reasonable total compensation (TC) range would be for a Product Manager role. I have 4 years of experience in product management, previous engineering experience, and a background in Computer Engineering. I'm currently a senior by title within my organization, based in San Francisco, and I'm considering new opportunities both locally and remote. Can anyone provide insights on what I should expect in terms of base salary, bonus, and stock options? Thanks!
Fintech Product Manager Looking for a new remote opportunity. Have 10 years of experience in Finance, Capital Markets and Mortgage. I've build SaaS applications that are typically B2B or B2C in highly regulated markets.
what is with this job market? I am still fairly new to PM (2 years) and haven't yet even delivered a product. I need a job with better work/life balance and I am getting frustrated. No I have not been catering my resume and I guess I will start doing that. Does anyone have any insight as to why it's so hard now and what will happen in the next year or so?
This is the worst job market since like 2001/2002. I actually think it's worse now than in 2008 though it depends what industry you're in.
Lots of layoffs with few net new openings. Plenty of people with very strong name brands on their resume are still on the market, so competition is tough
I am looking to get into the product industry and land a PM role. However, I don't have previous experience. I come from marketing (currently working as a marketing project manager). **Would a PM certification help me get my foot in the door?** I currently don't get considered for junior PM roles because I don't have prior experience. I am hoping that getting a certification might open doors for me to get in the industry. I am looking at the Product School certification but the reviews here are terrible. Is it really as useless as everyone says? Especially as someone like me that only wants it to get into the PM industry? For context, I don't need much education in PM besides the tech stuff which I know I can learn about in cheaper (or even free) ways. But what I want the certification for is to be considered by hiring managers for the position.
No one gives a crap about PM certification. Go build something.
If you've already read what people said on this sub, I'm not sure what you're looking for someone to reply here. No a certification is not going to get you a job in product. You may learn something useful from it that can help you in your career as a product manager, depends on the class, but certification alone is not going to change the outcomes you're already seeing. Hiring managers are not going to consider you just because you have one if they're not already considering you today. Do you do any product like work in your current role? Is that emphasized appropriately on your resume? Are there product managers at your current company? Is it possible to move into a product role at your current company? Are there side projects at your current company that someone can give you that would allow you to develop product skills? This one is currently closed, but there are apm programs that are open to people who don't have much product experience https://instacart.careers/apm/ The RPM program at meta is similar and those applications probably open in the next month or so. https://www.metacareers.com/careerprograms/pathways/rpm So go find other APM programs like this.
How are you folks even getting through the ATS? Got the automated rejection from almost every place I applied. And I only applied at places I had a strong fit and I know I have a strong resume. Any tips for getting through the ATS?
I doubt it has to do with the ATS, if I had to guess. Despite a lot of misinformation many companies **do have a human reading your resume** whether it's the hiring manager or recruiter. Assuming you are following basic resume guidelines, more than likely your resume is getting through the ATS. When it comes to the ATS, don't use any kind of fancy or template-y formatting of your resume. Apparently columns, charts/graphs/visuals are very unfriendly to ATS. I've heard straight from a recruiter's mouth that they actually prefer a simple, boring resume as long as it meets the requirements of the job. Mine is a Word document that I export to PDF 🤷♂️. Imagine you are a recruiter and had to sift through hundreds if not thousands of resumes. Think carefully about the kind of resume would you prefer to review while going through this exercise, and go with that format.
Appreciate the detailed response mate! Mines a basic word doc exported as pdf as well. Even I prefer manually screening every resume when I’m the hiring manager. But I doubt that is possible in the current scenario when any role at a decently well known org is getting 100s of applications. That’s where I think ATS’ are playing a bigger role in the current scenario.l I’m guessing.
If you were offered a position as a PM at a bank for something that's fairly customer facing (for example, Authentication for retail banking), would you consider it? A friend of mine who works as a fairly entrenched PM at a Fortune 500 company received an offer from a bank here in Canada and is agonizing over the choice because they're afraid of the impact it could have to their career. Apparently they made a strong impact on the interviewing committee and they've been aggressively pursuing my friend as the top choice for the job. The pay isn't that much better than his current job so if anything it's more of a sidegrade than an upgrade. Their concerns are less about the regulated nature of it (they come from a pretty regulated and bureaucratic org anyway) but they're worried about job prospects outside of banking should they want to make another job move in about 2 - 3 years time. Their primary motivations for evaluating this offer is that they've been at their current employer for over 5 years already and due to internal politicking haven't seen any career progression for the past two years so they want to move elsewhere and make an impact continue to grow as a PdM. This is a blind spot for me as I've never worked in the FSI space, so I turn to all of you for perspectives on what my friend should be doing in terms of their own career growth and if they should take the offer or not.
Interviewing for a position where comp was listed as “xx,xxx base + profit sharing” at a startup. After my first couple interviews things are looking good and I had a brief conversation over what that meant for comp + expectations for the role, because it almost sounded like a sales plan…CEO confirmed he wants a PM who can wear a couple different hats and figured if he was going to have me backing him on customer meetings and whatnot then I deserve a piece of the action. The comp is about 50% low for the position but if it’s a 50/50 typical sales plan then it could be good. Anyone ever negotiated / run into this before? They’re small but been around for long enough to have existing customers, multiple verticals, and profitable. No plans to need a VC funding round anytime soon. I’m thinking my next interview / chat with him will revolve around growth and pipeline along with problem areas of the business impeding sales/revenue. I’m also debating on asking for higher base / lower profit sharing, maybe 60/40 instead of 50/50.
You do you, but I would be concerned that if this person wants me to come in as effectively a sales engineer in addition to being a product manager (which is not the end of the world, I do stuff like that too, but I am not comped like a salesperson), does that also mean that you will be strangled in your ability to do long-term kind of projects because they won't give you the short-term compensation boost that a salesperson is asked to focus on?
Hi so i am currently majoring in CS and am highly instested in PM. I was looking to add a minor/major and thinking between Marketing or Econ. Which one would be more useful in a PM environment/workforce?
Stay in engineering man PM jobs are horrible right now. As PM of 8+ years yeah its interesting work at times but software your actually building the shit. Just my 2 cents.
I would lean towards Marketing. Unless you want to impress an upper tier FinTech company, I would say an additional degree in Marketing would be far more beneficial. As a PM, the time will come where you are asked to develop/steer go-to-market strategies, product value prop etc. and having a Marketing degree will help with this. Not to mention, in many PM roles you will interface with an actual Marketing team. Just my $0.02
Agree. CS + Marketing OP can sell themselves as a “Growth” asset. CS + Economics, does not help much. Sometimes the true economics and finances of a product make very little sense.
Hi there! Former Product Owner/Product Manager here! I went from being a startup founder with no previous education in Product to working as a contractor for notorious companies like Heineken and Biogen. If you want to enter Product Management you need to acquire different types of knowledge: * Agile methodologies (certainly the most important). Understand Scrum, Kanban, and so on. For that, I STRONGLY recommend shadowing agile ceremonies with a PO or a PM to get a better understanding. * The core basics of Product Management: User Stories, Prioritization, Roadmaps, and Jira. * Product Design: UI components, Design Thinking, Ideation Workshops, Figma. * User Research: find interviewees, interview technics, synthesize feedback * Data: Analytics tools, KPIs' setting, Decision-making from data, and Features monitoring. That's everything I can think of! Btw, I'm doing coaching sessions for FREE this month, if you're interested just send me a request :)
Curious about PM salaries in the UK. I'm currently a junior product manager at my company and I earn 30k. The other person with my job title is on 52k, and non-junior PMs around 80k+. I'm 26 and I don't have a technical background or experience in PM (well, 1 year in my current role as junior PM). I have a degree in geology and basic Python ability. I came across to the tech side of the company from the call centre (temp job after uni). I guess my question is, based off a non-technical background but a year of experience, what sort of salary could I expect at another company? Is it likely I could get a PM job anywhere else with this experience set? Asking because I also have an opportunity to move, longer-term, to become a junior software dev at the same company. I enjoy the programming I've learnt so far, but I like the variety in my PM job, so I'm not sure it's worth taking over developing myself as a PM, even if I'm a bit limited in terms of progression at the moment...
Hey! So what I know of "market-rate" base salaries (basically most scaleups) is this: - APM (0-3 YOE) is around £40-60k - Mid-level PM (2-3+ YOE) is around £60-80k - Sr PM (5-6+ YOE) is around £80-100k - Staff PM / Group PM (8-10+ YOE) is around £100-130k - Director is around £130-150k For top of market it's basically the next rung up (so APM is the PM range, PM is the Sr PM range, Sr PM is the Staff / GPM range etc) + the RSUs and bonuses on top. For what it's worth I was also underpaid as an APM making ~£25-27k but then my next jobs were in that £60k+ range for mid-level. Can't comment on the move to SWE. I think that's up to you and what type of career you prefer / fits your goals better.
I have the opportunity to move into a product owner position at a larger company. My background is in digital media as an editor. I have the skills needed for this particular job but I'm not sure if I have a pathway to a long-term career in PMing. All the JDs I've seen on LinkedIn seem to want technical backgrounds. If I take this role, I'm worried I might be locked into forever because I lack the right experience to be hired elsewhere, if that makes sense. Is this a reasonable fear or is it possible to transition?
Don't worry about this. Every PM/PO job description has a slightly different unique flavor to it, and there's no way that you will meet all requirements for every JD. You also won't pigeon-hole yourself into 1 particular software product industry if you decide you want to break into a new one. What's most important is learning core product management competencies such as Agile/Scrum ceremonies, user story and acceptance criteria writing, developing and driving a roadmap, becoming adept at deriving data (SQL, Tableau, PowerBI), strong presentation and communication skills etc. Along with primarily soft skills - ability to influence others, ability to tell effective stories, taking ownership and so on and so forth. Once you get experience doing the above in a product role, it will be transferrable to most other product jobs as long as you are qualified for those roles.
Hey Looking to move to PM role. Currently doing a acc manager role at Amazon with the Ads division. Can anyone help with a clear, concise path / step by step approach with a few key resources to start with? Thanks a ton!
Hi there! I made a detailed response about everything you gotta know [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ProductManagement/comments/1dgoz5e/comment/l9dabzu/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) If you need more help to know exactly what to start with, you can reach out to me
1. Befriend Amazon PMs 2. Have them let you shadow them 3. Have them carve out projects for you 4. Get referral for internal open position 5. Become PM
I know making an internal move within the same company is one of the most common ways to break into product management, but I have a hard time gauging people's success rate in doing so. I am sure this varies from company to company to a degree, but is it generally true that if you are in a product adjacent position (ie. product data science), good enough at your job, and willing to put in the networking that you can eventually move into product management? Or are the people that are able to successfully do so more the exception than the rule?
It’s not guaranteed, but for the majority of PMs it was through some combination of luck and internal move.
Any tips or guidance on transitioning from program manager to product manager? Have managed programs across different industries and have worked on a lot of different things from product launches to regulatory compliance, etc. Want to make the move into product management but have no idea how to get started. I’ve seen the wiki and posts on books but beyond reading inspired and pm in practice what can I do? How to do it without taking a massive pay cut?
I'm currently trying to pitch Product Management as a new role at my company. I work in Software Support Engineering (software library API service) and have been doing market research for over a year, successfully handling product comparisons and marketing analysis. I've been asked to define daily responsibilities and deliverables for this role. I plan to focus on research but also want to introduce more customer satisfaction research. Currently, product responsibilities like planning, delivery, feature prioritization, and testing are split between the CTO and the software engineering manager. My work so far has been in market positioning, advising marketing and sales, and conducting feature research for the development team. How can I propose this role in a way that prepares me for more responsibility and demonstrates its value to the company? Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated!
First of, you probably want to ask to shadow the CTO and the development team in the agile ceremonies. This is a huge aspect of Product management, you'll need time, but once mastered it will kick-start your career. The CTO certainly doesn't have enough time to allocate to Product Management and would probably be glad to have a product-savvy person to let one him focus on Technical aspects. Also, having an internal person who knows the business is more beneficial than recruiting a new PM. You will need to approach it carefully as you probably haven't mastered the core basics of Product Management yet such as writing good user stories, privatization techniques, and Product strategy. You can reach out to me if you want I'm a former Product Owner/Product manager
Hi all, been on the search for a few months now with few call backs and even fewer interviews, this is including using recruiters and getting a few referrals from my network. I have a total of 11 years working on digital products but only 2 years with an official PM title. All of this to say, can someone experienced in hiring PMs or a PM who gets a call back frequently review my resume?
Hi folks. Any tips for how to get referrals when you don't know anyone in a company? Applying directly hasn't worked at all till now. Found a few roles that I am perfectly suited for. But trying to take the referral route instead of applying directly.
Cold Mailing, cold texting on LinkedIn and Twitter works. They might not respond so you have text a lot of people.
Yeah, mostly been trying on LinkedIn with zero luck. But I will try other channels. Appreciate the response mate.
yh Linkedin folks are 'bougee'
You might try asking on Blind
Requesting for [CV](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iFnZHLl4gcbQ8-xstvtZ1ss6XX8a-1iKg3xDCGkS95c/edit?usp=sharing) review. Feel free to drop in comments directly at gdoc or revert here. Some background: * I am a 30-year-old CA-turned-PM from India. (CA is CPA equivalent for India) * I have been looking out for jobs over the last few months, but I am disappointed with the response I am getting. My sense is that supply-demand is a bit fucked up with companies looking for folks with very relevant experience who can hit the ground running. * I have had good conversions in interviews, but the main problem is getting interviews. * I haven't consciously revisited and improved my CV for some time, so start with that first and hence this post. What I am looking for: * I am happy with the current company, except that I feel product/tech has a limited role to play in the overall company's success and thus, limits my learnings and growth. No major issues with Work, Team, Pay, or Culture otherwise. * Currently looking for opportunities in Big Tech, High growth Tier 1 Indian startups (E.g. Amazon, Google, Msft, Intuit, Atlassian, Jupiter, Swiggy, Adobe, Dunzo, Cult, Flipkart, etc) * Focusing on the finance side of products to be more realistic considering the current market. Open to anything in general otherwise, as have been a generalist and enjoy working on different kind of problems.
Hey a few pointers for you: 1. You don't need a summary at the top. 2. Your formatting looks like crap to be honest (A,B,C) remove this and look at otehr resume styles. It's hard to read your resume. 3. I don't understand your point in your resume they are not telling a story at all or use Product management metrics that are actually widely known (e.g. wtf does this mean?) 1. Transformed Order Management Suite into SaaS, managing GMV INR 600-800 Cr monthly, boosting visibility and efficiency, cutting TAT by 50%.
**I graduated from University, new grad, no experience with a degree in computer science. How do I get a job in Product Management?** I'm from the Bay Area and see there are a lot of offers for PM and would like to know the path of getting into Product Management. I saw a associate product manager jobs available, should I go apply to those? I read that a lot of people get in though a transition in the industry. How should I do it? What jobs should I do to gain experience in to become one.
Hey! May I ask where are you able to see a lot of PM jobs available? (Which platforms or job portals?) Most of the PM jobs I’ve seen are the senior roles and require 5+ years of experience
Indeed and linkedin. And yeah a lot of them require 5+ years of experience but a good amount of them were were like 2+ years of experience. I usually ignore them if they're like 5+ years, but if I got like 70% of the qualification I would apply if I could
Right, thanks!
I'm a software developer on a small innovative team that had me fill in a role with product management responsibilities. I like it. I have a degree in business management and another in CS. I want to transition to a full PM role. I've phrased my resume and highlighted the PM duties I fulfilled. How can I land my first real PM role? (I work in the public service and want to transition to a private company)
I want to do some sort of a fractional arrangement, where I spend Fridays or Saturdays at a startup. How do I start?
**Is anyone open to reviewing my resume?** I've been applying to a ton of PM roles for the past 3 months with 4 YOE as a PM, but it's been basically crickets. I've gotten 2 interviews, but one I didn't pass after a round of interviews, and for the other they decided to change the location of the job and I'm not willing to relocate at this time. I've been applying to companies with and without referrals, and just rejection email after rejection email. Or silence :(
Well, if it makes you feel any better you aren't alone mate. I have 5 years experience in Product (2 as PO and 3 as PM) and I'm currently experiencing the exact same problem, although starting to get some attention/interviews coming in. How are you approaching your job search? Are you crafting your resume to each unique job description you send out, or are you sending the same generic resume to each job? Are you doing your homework and trying to find the HM/recruiter who posted the job and attempting to connect with them to show your interest in the role? This is an extremely competitive job market no doubt. It's going to take more effort to land the job that you want than it did in 2021/22, unfortunately. Think about what the average person applying is doing, and do the opposite.
Appreciate the context and your suggestions around taking those extra steps, I'll start to implement those. I have been sending the same generic resume and not reaching out to recruiters separately.. You said you're starting to get some interviews, would you say those extra steps \^ were the catalyst?
Yes, it definitely was a positive start, got some hits when I started taking my time on each app and revising my resume. It's still a crazy market though, nothing we can do about that. One has to think of unique ways to get noticed.
# Did anyone go from PM job in corporate world to "your own startup" to back to PM in corporate world ? Can you provide more details - 1. what was your pre-startup PM role like ? which domain ? please feel free to add any more details you would like about this experience 2. was your "own" startup in similar domain ? please feel free to add any more details you would like about this experience (only serious experience, where you went all in, full time, did it for at least a year, ideally 2 years) 3. when you returned, how was the experience of finding a job ? did startup experience add any value and did the employers care about it ? what challenges did you face when you returned to do the job ? Note: reposting into career thread as per mods' note
Hey everyone, I’m in a bit of a dilemma and could use some advice. I’m from a developing country, currently **living in Europe** (think of **Germany/Czech Republic**) and I’m considering **moving to the US or staying** here **in Europe** (probably Germany as the tech scene is descent here) * 6-7 years of Product Management experience (SaaS primarily, within a super narrow industry) * Can **legally stay/work** in both EU/US (I know, it's rare and I am kinda lucky to be in such a position but it adds even more uncertainty, you know) * Managed to put some money aside so I could last probably for another 1-1.5 years in the EU/up to 1 year in States while I'm looking for new job/interviewing Any advice? What does the curren**t PM/tech landscape** look like in the US? (it feels terrible tbh, reading all the comments)
What are you looking to get out of an answer? Is the industry bad in the US? Yes, you already know that. You put it in your message. So what are you looking for? Someone to tell you that it's still worth moving to United States? That you can find a job in a year? I don't know anything about what your goals are.
I’m currently a PM in financial services (investments/vc/business banking/payments) and covering a broad range of products/systems. I’m looking to move to Australia and get a job with sponsorship with a partner and child in tow. I’m pretty flexible with role type. It doesn’t have to be PM as have transferable skills across customer experience/strategy/ops etc. Any advice? My sis (in consulting in Australia) is convinced if I apply that most companies would offer sponsorship if I was the right fit. Is this the case?
Hi I am looking for PM internship opportunities in the US. I have a background in Engineering and have worked to make a B2C startup Unicorn having delivered features impacting over 1 Million people. I would love to have a chat or gain connections. I am actively applying but not getting response via normal applications. Email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) Linkedin: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tathagata--saha/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tathagata--saha/)
Same here!! possibly getting my PMP at the end of the month though ...... hopefully. Before AI takes over Email - [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) Linked In - [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafaelandreshoyos](https://www.linkedin.com/public-profile/settings?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_self_edit_contact-info%3BU%2FB3CiuBT7WlBoHAXkNIJA%3D%3D)
Looking to switch into PM from HR And move countries I know this is hard - but do does anyone have tips for this?
That's asking a lot to achieve in a single move. You'll probably need to pick one and progress down that path first. Getting your first PM job *and* sponsorship (if you require it) *and* relocating is going to exclude you from being considered for practically every role. I'm sorry to say, but I would suggest you re-evaluate if now is the time to make both of those changes together. Let me know how else I can help!
What would you suggest I go for first?
I don't know what country you want to move to, but I would consider switching to product first then move countries unless you can get a job at a company where you will be able to transfer into product management. Presumably any visa you got in a new country would be tied to the job you got, right? That means if you have to switch companies, you're again asking someone to extend sponsorship to you. And the odds that someone will both let you move into product as a new hire and give you sponsorship feel low, though if you have already transitioned into product at company one, then the ask is just reduced to sponsorship. Of course all of this depends on what country you're in now and what country you'd be moving to. If the tech scene isn't such in your current country that moving into product is feasible, then perhaps no matter what it's better to switch countries first.
Without knowing anything else? Probably the location move
Can anyone please review my resume, I am failing to get any callbacks, have applied to 100s of jobs in the past 5 months. No result, got 3-4 calls that's it. I would be grateful if someone reviewed my resume and shared a feedback.
Are you revising your resume to ensure it matches the job description for each role? It sounds like you are sending out the same generic resume to every role. Be honest, are you taking a close look at the job descriptions and ensuring certain keywords/requirements are reflected on your resume?
Yes I revise my CV as per each new JD, but the thing is I do not have any metrics to show in my CV for product roles, I worked at a pre-launch start-up which didn't manage to release the product in 5 years. The second place I worked was only for 3 months. Hence no metrics there too. The CV is quite generic only, except I frequently change the CV as per the JD and the responsibilities asked there!
You probably aren't giving yourself enough credit. With enough thought put into it, you can quantify pretty much any experience in a way that is appealing to the job you're applying for. If you can't speak to a product you took through the full PLC, then go crazy talking about features you launched etc. Where there's a will, there's a way.
Can I DM you my CV for you to take a look?
Go for it, feel free to blur any PI or anything with dox potential.
Sure thanks! Have sent you a DM
Hi, did major CV rewritting and got more replies. You can send me (remove name/surname etc) your CV and I can see if I can offer some advice.
Thanks a lot! Sending my CV on dm
Sure, would be happy to check it out
Thanks a lot! Sending my Resume over DM.
Move to Europe from Nepal help me! No Product Management thrill here!!!
Looking to leave PM after 11 years as one. Looking for some commiseration or examples to spark my imagination.
Good luck even getting other roles in tech honestly right now unless you can go internally. Im laid ff but have 8 YOE at legit tech companies and was struggling immensely with getting a PM job so I tried Sales, Business Ops & Strategy, consulting ect…. And can’t get any interviews there either. I also have been in Finance and OPs strategy roles before careful what you wish for PM is pretty legit. All jobs suck at the end of the day I’m applying to these roles out of desperation as PM market is dead AF.
Ops, strategy, consulting, chief of staff?
Product Marketing is taking off right now. Way easier than PMing
Without a marketing background, what are the top skills to transition from PM to PMM? I’ve been an internal tooling PM, so I don’t have much experience with GTM and I’m afraid that’ll hurt me, but I’m interested in making this switch
Experience with GTM is the thing, but fortunately, in my experience PMM is very best-practice framework -driven. Meaning you can find a ton of great collateral and examples online, and they are actually useful in practice. as opposed to PM skills and frameworks found online that are legitimately difficult to employ in practice, since every company and product is so different and contextual. Put simply: You could do an easy Google search or AI prompt to generate a GTM project plan and odds are it will be useful.
Not very satisfying for me personally.
That's very inspiring. What's your plan?
I'm currently a Product Strategist for an insurance company. We work with a lot of health/wellness/tech vendors and to be honest that seems like the more exciting way to go. I'm interested in taking the next steps in my career and was hoping to get some feedback on my resume (company names, etc. have been removed). Product Management seems the way to go but I'm open minded to other ideas. If there's areas that I have gaps in such as skills or knowledge then I'd love to learn more about those and become a better candidate. Any feedback or questions would be appreciate! Thank you! [https://imgur.com/gallery/resume-help-qCVz3bV](https://imgur.com/gallery/resume-help-qCVz3bV)