Possible to succeed at PM by being competent?

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Mar 9, 2020 12 Comments

I've interviewed as MSFT, Oath, Google, etc for Product Management. Didn't get an offer for any. Currently a SWE instead.

I would say I'm fairly personable and have strong product vision - I've won numerous hackathons largely through my pitching capabilities and am very effective as a project & program manager. However, I clearly suck at interviews based on my lack of offers and generally don't make strong first impressions in an elevator-pitch environment with behavioral questions (do much better at system design, product design questions).

My question: is it possible to succeed if I'm not taken as a "PM type"? I favor knowing tech details over delegation/removal from the process, and favor data over politics. I've heard from many engineers (and believe myself) that tech people with data driven product sense make better PMs, but wondering how much of an uphill battle it would be to switch careers into a field which feels like it favors MBA types.

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TOP 12 Comments
  • Google / Product
    callofwild

    Go to company page Google Product

    callofwild
    I don't think PM favors MBA types, but I do think, for better or worse, the interview process favors those who can assume the PM role and its many hats in a highly constrained setting.

    To your larger question, technical and Data focused PMs are fantastic. Sweating the details counts, but so does seeing the world beyond the details.
    Mar 9, 2020 0
  • The answer is yes. Obviously you can succeed by being competent. Tech interviews are notoriously bad indicators of competency and future success. That being said, no interview process is optimizing for political skill or removal from the process.

    Tech skills and data fluency are incredibly valuable in a PM, but they don’t automatically make you better, and can in fact make you worse. A certain level of removal is essential for PMs to let engineering execute effectively, and a common mistake SWE-turned-PMs make is to get too into the weeds and become perceived as micromanagey.
    Mar 9, 2020 0
  • PayPal
    coronaflu

    Go to company page PayPal

    coronaflu
    Real talk, focus on your attitude, product sense and other product skills. TPMs are great but you need to be highly collaborative and MBA PMs will be everywhere so you need to learn how to deal with them/build trust.

    Interviewers know from your SWE history that you are technical, now you need to fill in the other aspects of PM to derisk yourself enough for them to take a chance on you. If you have any PM friends in PayPal, ask what it would take for them to hire you.
    Mar 10, 2020 1
  • New / Product
    lmr

    New Product

    lmr
    There are plenty of technical product management roles which require strong technical skills and business/ customer empathy. Product roles are very competitive and it is likely that there are stronger candidates who have done the role before. The best way to demonstrate this is to take on product owner role within the team or in your company. It will be easier in interviews as you would have already done the role before.
    Mar 10, 2020 0
  • TI / Product
    ucc

    Go to company page TI Product

    ucc
    Keep going at it. Consider talking to PMs inside your current company, or even your manager, and try to get a PM job internally. Once you have the job title and some experience as a PM, it will ease the process of looking externally. Good luck!!
    Mar 10, 2020 0