How do I get better at my job and general industry knowledge
PM here, late 20s, female. I’ve been thinking about what I want to do and where I want my career to go in the next few years, and I feel that I need to just be better at basic PM skills, and industry knowledge.
Some feedback that I’ve gotten is that I need to be more confident and own my shit. I also recently interviewed at Google for product manager and was rejected. I feel that I’m generally not a super smart person or one of those top candidates that get hired everywhere - like the stripes and Robinhood folks. My manager says In theory I demonstrate the right thinking but I lack when it comes to actually executing. I’ve thought a lot about it and feel some of it is cuz my scope has expanded and I work with a lot of partner level people - all of whom are male and very experienced. I think this intimidates me a bit and I’m not sure how to move past it.
But I want to improve, pretty much across all areas, most focused on clear communication and clarity of thought, self confidence and PM skills.
Successful senior leaders in the PM ladder, any advice what I could do to improve??? I’m ok at my current job, but honestly not a top performer and often make it worse for myself by overthinking everything and lacking confidence.
I’ve wanted to work at Stripe for over two years but I know I’m not quite that good so I never apply. But I want to be the type of candidate that would get in Stripe and other such companies.
Help please ❤️
comments
Confidence goes a long way especially in a PM role. As a manager and stakeholder that works daily with PMs and PMT, I trust that they will speak up, push back and can make decisions. Some suggestions: you may have to spend extra time on prep and doing your homework ahead of meetings so that you feel armed with the right information to speak up when you need to. Also, there are some great resources you can pick up especially around imposter syndrome (e.g. ‘Presence’ by Amy Cuddy). Good luck!!
I’m gonna get the book it seems like a good read
For general PM skills this had been working for me - More than books honestly, I read docs of seniors - SWEs, PMs - and try to reproduce for practice. Further, the best ideas come to me in the moment, when using a product. I immediately note them down, and proceed to a formal doc, as if I was presenting to a large audience.
If the idea doesn’t fall in team scope, no problem. Finding the right person, and influencing them both gives me self confidence and helps build relationships. I write and draw a lot, both what users want and how the system will support it.
Out of the ~10 docs I wrote this year, 2 have become cross functional projects.
I am a SWE E5 btw (3 YOE).
You may consider Facebook. Clear communication, clarity of thought and ownership are heavily emphasized in career progression, you’ll naturally receive lots of mentorship.