Program to Product Management?
Hello All, I want to try to make the switch from program to product management. As I am actively in the market hoping to switch, I was hoping maybe I could speak to someone whom has made the switch before? Past tech companies include: Amazon Facebook -> Meta TikTok Thanks!
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Yes anything is possible.. but this is not the market, invest time in your current role to shadow and learn from PM’s and when things opens up, you will be ready. Getting into PM is one thing but being successful has become super hard, so think before you switch. It’s a very tiring and thankless job. I’m a PM and spend 10-11 hrs everyday because my day goes in meetings, escalation, customer calls etc. so only time I can get focus time and get things done is later in the day. PS, I’m senior and yes I do block calendars with focus time etc but still it’s just not enough. Trying to work on strategy, understanding the market, influence and deal with Uber TL’s and senior IC’s who also wants to do strategy n not code. It’s toxic. I’m considering to switch to EM and working on leetcode or TPM(pay is decent with less accountability and a 9-5 job) . So yea think of all this before switching to pm and be ready to get laid off and compete with million others for fewer roles.
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That's a valuable input. Do you think that changing teams or companies would change your experience? From my conversations with people who work as PMs, they definitely are very busy but not to the point of feeling that it's a 'thankless job.' Agree that influencers made this role seem very glamorous when in reality it's a lot of work.
How many yrs of exp as program manager? Why do you want to become a product manager?
Program manager for 7 years was wanting to make the change after working with PMs whilst at Meta but then the layoff happened and it was quicker for me to get a role as a program manager at TikTok.
I'll echo what w@tlife said.
Program manager for 7 years
I did the switch via MBA. This switch, along with an industry change, was one of the hardest things to do in my career. Product managers have program management elements in their daily work (some can be pretty bad at it), but a big and critical part of Product managers work cannot be learned easily in the role of a program manager - managing ambiguity and having business judgment (to the extent of finding new opportunities and taking risks to get it prioritized with leadership) , as Program managers operate in a world of defined scope and high level of certainties. It’s probably easier to switch within the same company or find PM mentors to shadow first
I really appreciate your comment. Where did you do your MBA? Does the school ranking matter? Also, I totally agree that PgMs operate in well-defined systems. The reason I'm thinking about switching to PM is that I like the business acumen and feel fed up with structure. I constantly think about becoming an entrepreneur but don't have a good business plan so I'm thinking to find an outlet in Product.
I’ll echo what he said about it being easier to switch within the same company. The experience you get doing that (for better or worse) will be more valuable than any MBA.
I switched from engineering manager to technical program manager to product management. (Prior to my current role at Zillow.) I used the TPM role to go really wide and work with engineers, marketing, product, customer success, etc. This gave me consumer and strategy exposure to start making good prioritization decisions, which led to me owning the product all-up roadmap, which led to me presenting to slt and giving me a platform to showcase I thought like a product leader versus a technical implementation leader. Getting a PM role is challenging today, and frankly I agree that there were too many of us and most were operating as program managers in truth. Take a sideways step that gets you more scope and exposure to making strategic decisions and revenue impact, matching prioritization to the target market, etc, then highlight those stories in your resume.
Switch internally after building up a rep. That’s what I did
I switched from TPM role to PM. If you can thrive in ambiguity, story telling is your skill then you should absolutely try and i feel one must try to understand if they like it or not also i feel product manager job is too much all over the place , they have to have conversations wih too many people … also too much typing and documentation 💬 . I am currently pm planning to switch back to tpm since i love the defined scope i need to manage.
Another true and original story !
Yea the level of uncertainty you have to live in as a pm and politics as you go up the ladder…
Are you nuts ? I wouldn’t wish this life or this occupation on anyone.
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