Would an MBA help Moving from Product Marketing to Product Management ?
Hey,
I’ve been interested in moving towards product management, primarily at a tech company. I have 6 yoe in product marketing (Microsoft + qualtrics) working closely with PM including being de facto PM on some launches.
In reality, there are many PM roles where you don’t need to be very technical but many companies seem to de facto DQ if you don’t have a comp sci/engineering degree.
Would getting an MBA (non technical) be a significant positive in transitioning to PM?
My thinking is you’re often told to think as a the “ceo of your product/feature”
I’ve interviewed as a PM a few times (Microsoft and Amazon), where I’ve already known the product well or had a good referral but they ultimately passed because I wasn’t “technical”
Any other advice?
Thanks
comments
I’ve seen tech companies hire MBAs into PM roles, and the thinking for me goes perhaps it helps lean into the stronger “mini ceo” mindset that is encouraged for PM. Effectively, making your strengths even stronger to compensate.
Most PMs don’t code and barely interact with code, so a strong business sense and customer understanding I think could go far.
Did you try applying for companies were you can "think like" a customer/user? If these specific companies all told you, you need to be more technical - then that's what you should solve for. What are some examples of technical questions you could not answer?
They’ve asked way more theoretical questions of how to approach things, 1 was around how Spotify could build tech that could work with with internet drain. The other was how to design a washing machine for South America compared to North America (that’s the one I got the + feedback on)
Thanks for asking
For me, a grad degree is about a lot of things including considering which doors it may (or may not) open. It’s a question about one of those doors
if you never used an restful API or cannot write SQL to get some reports etc., stick marketing.
The only thing an MBA will help you do is do a summer internship as a pm and if you perform you'd essentially ensure your transition given that your issue is the lack of a technical background. Btw my answer would be different if you were technical trying to transition in. As an MBA might be a faster way in - albeit more expensive.
I’ve years of prod mgmt experience at good companies in successful products, and G/FB still auto shuts me down for not being technical. Others were much more open minded. It’s their rules and doubt its changing anytime soon.
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