Coming from nonprofit world, how do I break into product tech roles?

I've spent the past 4 years since graduating college working exclusively in jobs for various left-leaning political orgs - including the one I am at right now. I got introduced to coding around 2018 and decided I loved working in data/tech and very quickly rose through the ranks to a fairly senior position because I happened to be good at my job and willing to take incredibly low compensation for high-impact roles. Plus our networks are very insular- in this space, more often than not we hire *entirely* based on referrals and relationships (read: nepotism) and don't invest the time to make thoughtful hires or properly evaluate technical skills. Not good for the industry, and while I am definitely very good at what I do, I only got to where I am by making use of the nepotism factor.

But now that this election season is coming to an end, I *really* want to make the switch to hard tech by next year and 1) earn a living wage in a big city for once in my life and 2) learn how to ship products at the large-scale and high level of impact that you can only really find in the private sector and 3) work in an industry where the culture and goals are set by technical professionals as opposed to political organizers. The people I've come to look up to the most professionally in this space are currently doing product work at the DNC after spending a lot of time in product earlier in their career, and I think product management is the space I want to end up in.

My skills are SQL, dealing with powerful, cranky, self-entitled, but generally well-intentioned non-technical stakeholders, cobbling together patchwork solutions very quickly to solve problems, and being a leader in very high-pressure and politically sensitive environments.

My questions are:

1) What are the kinds of jobs I should even apply for at this stage to get strong experience that could help me become good enough to land an eventual senior role at FAANG? FWIW I don't care too much about title. I just want to learn, get compensated, expand my networks beyond nonprofit world, and ideally work a remote-friendly role in the West Coast.

2) How do I get hiring managers to even look at my resume and not immediately throw me aside when they see the orgs I've worked at? I don't fit the stereotypical applicant profile, but I know I have what it takes to learn how to be here.

Any answers or general advice would be *deeply* appreciated.

Current TC: 91k

#productmanager #pm #nonprofit