Career so far is: Military (technical role) > finish college (non-traditional student) > Lockheed (software engineering then engineering leadership then product team lead) > right now at a startup (program manager / principal) and in business school (T15 MBA). 32 years old. 10+ years experience depending on when you start counting. A lot of my class intends to go into MC or IB but I’m leaning tech PM for better WLB. The pay is tempting but I’m not about that 75% travel and 80 hour week life. I think PM also aligns best with my background since it’s sort of what I’ve been doing the last few years—albeit not in “big tech.” Looking for advice on how to get in. Certain things HMs look for, books I can read, whatever. Would also be interested in estimated comp. From browsing job posting I think I would be qualified for a principal PM role at Microsoft—but unsure of Meta or Google. Not interested in Amazon. TC 250k LCOL. #pm #product #productmanager
You have 0 years of PM experience so you would qualify for PM and maybe Sr PM roles. Principal at Microsoft is 8+ years of PM experience.
It’ll be tough to break into a principal PM role with 0 PM experience. The MBA and your prior experience might help you land a senior PM role (which would still be excellent). That said, get referrals and apply to the roles you want and see if you can get an interview. You’d probably do well at the standard interview formats - you can pay for a subscription to Exponent or Product Alliance for preparation ideas, or sign up for something like Stellar Peers to get some mock interviews set up. Good luck