Hi all - I'm currently an eCommerce product manager for a Fortune 500 retailer and I'm trying to understand what it takes to get into similar role at a tech company (Amazon, Apple, Uber, etc). I made it to a final round of interviews with Amazon, but it seems like the product management role I was interviewing for was supply chain focused, which I have no experience in, thus is why I was rejected. However, whenever I apply for digital product management jobs, I rarely even get considered. I have a BS in Industrial Engineering and an MS in Engineering Management, which I would think would be useful. Are there more hard skills that I should have to be considered? Do I need to get another degree in Computer Science? Any suggestions or info would help. Thanks!
Try Alibaba, and then Amazon maybe? I don't think you need a CS degree for a PM role. Jump to an easier but sexier company first (a startup or something), spend a year and then jump to one of the top 10.
get into a startup, run the whole thing, show 10X conversion rates, reduce cac by 50%, show 50% NPS improvements. apply at Uber or fb and you will get in. u dont need no deg or certs.
Degrees are not necessary. Experience is. I have worked for a number of these top tech companies. This is my advice... Find people doing the work that you would want to do. Ask them to mentor you, take them out to lunch to learn about their challenges. Listen and ask thoughtful questions. Then, do your research and offer them solutions. Ask if you can shadow with them and invest some of your time. That will give you experience, even if unpaid, that you can leverage later. Keep in mind that only 20% of positions are ever posted publicly. By interfacing with key decision makers, they could even create a position for you if you demonstrate passion, thoughtfulness and problem solving abilities. Lastly...if you get an interview and do not get the job...don’t assume that you know why they didn’t offer it to you. Ask them what you could have done differently and never walk away from an interview without asking if they have any concerns about your candidacy (99% of candidates never ask this, which is crazy!)
Thanks for the advice! I think It's a great idea to connect with individuals in those roles to understand what it's like to work in those roles. Regarding asking about why I didn't get the job: unfortunately Amazon doesn't disclose why they didn't make an offer. For legal reasons, they won't disclose why they don't move forward with a candidate.
Typically, these companies like to conduct interviews with numerous employees back-to-back over the course of a day. Afterwards, each employee submits feedback into a tool and then there is a debrief where they all discuss their feedback and how they can improve the hiring process. If you ask for the reason why you didn’t get the job after this process...it is mostly too late. Candidates should be asking if there are any concerns before the interviewers leave the room...because it will give them an opportunity to address it with the decision maker before feedback is submitted. Also, if you are able to follow up with the individual interviewers before they submit their formal feedback, this can also go a very long way. This needs to be more than just a thank you, but a statement of what excited you about the position or a demonstration of something that you learned and followed up on. You can never seem too eager.
Getting hired as a pm in tech is extremely hard unless you are a pm in tech, a founder of a company that gets bought or a very high performing + lucky college grad. However, it's much easier to become a pm in tech from another role in the same company. Analysts/data scientists and engineers can often convert to PM; in addition engineers may often act as PM if they work on a project which has none and they want to assume that role. If you really want to become a tech PM but you cultivate other skills the long game would be to enter your dream company with a different job.
What retailer do work with? Did you move?
It's unlikely you did not get an offer for PM because of lacking domain knowledge. We would not even be testing a PM for that. You say you have two engineering degrees and would consider getting another in CS - while you are trying to get a job as a product manager. Have you considered that you should spend less time on engineering and more time on skills that emphasize specifically the customer and out-of-the-box thinking?
What type of education or certifications would enable more customer focused thinking? In my day to day role as a PdM, I focus on understanding our customers behavior using site analytics , and UX research. Additionally, I create business cases for new features on our website (I.e Q&A, Chat, etc.) so management knows how to invest the annual budget. Keep in mind I'm not a company that embraces innovation, so getting experience in that realm is difficult.
You don't need a degree, just get out of the building and actually talk to customers. Analytics will only get you so far.