My partner is currently a management consultant and considering switching into tech. Her current company is willing to give her a “product associate” role where the job duties seem similar to a associate product manager at traditional tech companies. She is also working on some side projects - building an app she found a personal need for via a freelancer - she is non technical, and is as a non-technical cofounder for a B2B SaaS startup which is currently only 3 people right now (too small to tell where it’ll end up, but most startups fail) Is it possible to break into tech PM as a non-technical person? Not FAANG but she feels she will enjoy working on products at a small tech company like Hopper. How hard is it? She had a MBA from a target school - will that help? Any other tips? Thanks Currently 1.5 YoE TC 80K #pm #product #productmanager
This is absolutely doable!! I am a PM in a technical space (machine learning), but I don’t have a technical background - I’ve learned what I needed to learn on the ground and by watching videos online (YouTube, Coursera, etc). How technical you need to be as a PM varies greatly from role to role, and there are plenty of PM roles in which you really don’t need to be technical at all. Here’s my advice for her: -Look for PM roles on tech teams outside of the “mainstream” tech space. For example, I work in media right now and that was a really great way to break into the machine learning space without a ton of credentials/prior experience. The people I work with are brilliant and I’ve learned so much - I’m now getting approached by FAANG and other tech recruiters all the time. -Make a list of non-technical skills that PMs need and compile examples/bragging points about how you exemplify these skills. This will be useful for interviewing but also just for convincing yourself that you can be a PM. You can find tons of articles online about the most important skills a PM should have, but here are a few: ability to bring a group of people with different perspectives/technical capacities to a consensus about a decision, ability to relay complex/nuanced information between different parties, ability to set realistic expectations with stakeholders esp about timelines and priorities, ability to weigh different competing priorities and sequence them in a transparent and meaningful way, ability to keep a team excited and motivated even when their projects are frustrating, etc. IMO all of these skills are more important than technical knowledge esp if you’re a new PM -Be honest with companies you’re interviewing with about your non-technical or non-traditional path, and find one that wants to invest in your career transition. If you show that you have the right people/process management skills (see above) and that you’re eager to learn and excited about their company, you’ll be surprised how many managers will want to take you on. Good managers and directors LOVE having mentees, so it benefits them to take someone like you under their wing.
How many yoe did you have when you got your first PM role?
3 years before becoming a PM -product marketing at a tiny startup -consulting (non tech) -product associate at a series B
With only 1.5 YoE I think she would only be able to get a PM role in a small startup or join a bigger tech company in their Rotational PM program.
Thanks for insight. She plans to work as a product associate at current employer until she has enough experience for a Pm role - how much experience would be needed for the jump in your opinion?
It really depends on the scope and impact she will be able to drive. 3+ years might be enough to pass the screen, but for the rest she will need to be able to articulate and demonstrate real life examples of products she worked on.