My journey into the Product management career
I have interacted with many folks in the past six months. The most frequently asked question is how did I get into the product management role. If you are looking for ways to get into product management, this can give you some insights. In this blog post, I explain the thought process of all the decisions I took in the last two years to reach where I am today.
A quick starter about me: I come from an architecture background. I don’t code, and I didn’t have much technical knowledge when I started looking for this role. Now, I am working as an Associate Product Manager in a Silicon Valley-based Ed-tech startup.
Before you start moving forward, some spoiler alerts-
- It is full of failures.
- It involved a lot of self-doubts and blows on self-confidence.
- It involved a lot of rejections.
- It was hard work and hustle, not a game of luck.
- It demanded a modest self-learning attitude.
“Energy and Persistence conquer all things.”
- Benjamin Franklin
August 2019, I started my 7th semester at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. I was in the 4th year of my Bachelors's degree in Architecture. A curious person who viewed the world with a lens of hope and full of opportunities. I had no idea what I wanted in life.
Co-founded my first startup
My friend and I found that tier-2 and tier-3 cities schools lack funds and resources to go digital. So we decided to solve it. The idea was to build digital infrastructure for them. We had no idea how a simple concept can get so complicated. So we created a five people team and pitched in various cities in India to get validation in the product idea. Long story short, by December 2019, we managed to bring on-board four schools to purchase the app if we were successful in building it by March 2020. But due to various reasons, we had to drop the idea.
Nevertheless, the adrenaline rush and the excitement to build something which can impact millions of lives was quite exciting. After that, I knew I had to get into the tech industry. By then, I had some exposure in the construction industry and got a chance to work with a firm in Germany. So naturally, I decided to take the offer; after all, I always wanted to work and travel abroad.
Trainee architect in Germany
It was February 2020. I was in Dresden, a beautiful city in the Saxon region of Germany. I was working as an architectural trainee. At that time, I extensively consumed knowledge about the startup ecosystem and figured out how to enter this industry and significantly impact it. I had designed the prototype of my product, and my architectural degree introduced me to the world of design; I knew this is a skill I can learn quickly. But, I didn’t want to limit myself to just design. Being a co-founder, I knew I would be curious about all portfolios. So, I tried to hone other skills. Now I know I am called a ‘Generalist.’ Then, one fine day, I read an article about the prestigious Google Associate Product Management(APM) program. I knew at the moment that this is what I want to do!
By mid-March 2020, the world was turning upside down. I had to come back to India because of the worldwide chaos of COVID. The quarantine phase helped me reflect on my thoughts deeply. I decided to work on my UI/UX skills and read more about product management. My idea was to get into the product design field and go up the ladder into Product management in the next two years.
Getting into the world of Design
I was wrapping up my pre-final year. In the next 7months, I was going to appear for campus placements. So, if I wanted a full-time job in this field, I had to have an internship. Courses and boot camps were out of option. I built my portfolio in product design in 30 days! (ashamed of it, but there you go, the first iteration, please don’t judge me :p) I applied for multiple internship roles from Internshala and connecting with alumni in unicorns and big startups.
Most of them said that I needed to polish my portfolio. And why not? I did what I could in one month. Additionally, I reached out to a few of my friends and seniors, and one of them hooked me up with a startup that needed a graphic designer. They were kind enough to give me a shot. Meanwhile, I received similar gigs in other visual design aspects like Logo design, paid ads, and UI design.
Product design intern in an early-stage Silicon Valley startup
I knew I didn’t want to limit myself in graphic design because my goal was a PM role. In intern hunting, I came across Angellist. The beauty of this platform is that you get the list of early-stage startups—small teams, who are still working on the first version of their idea. I interacted with many folks on that platform: visionaries, founders who were pitching their ideas. One of them reached out to me from California and happened to be alumni of IIT Kharagpur. We connected, had two rounds of interaction, and after a fortnight, I joined them as a product design intern.
QA and Product role transition
After working on the product for two months as a designer, I expressed my desire to work in the product management field in the long term. As early team members, we have to wear multiple hats to get the job done. So, alongside design, I started in QA. I documented manual testing procedures, which made me aware of technical aspects. To begin with, I attended all the engineering sync-up calls. I took notes about the terms that I found alien (there were many, tbh). I took SQL courses and understood the whole data model. I learned how Git works. Slowly I turned my role into a hybrid of Product and design person in the team. I wrote PRDs, which are essential requirements for a module, e.g., how search works. I interacted with users, gave many product demos to external stakeholders, and planned design and development sprints with the founder.
In November 2020, the campus placement was at a peak, and I was primarily applying for the product roles. It is a separate journey in itself. To summarize, after getting rejected from several companies even reaching to last round of interviews, I finally landed a Product Associate role in one of the rapidly growing Ed-tech startups.
An associate Product manager role
But the product that I was helping build since July was finally going to go live, and I could see a good learning potential for me in this team. By then, the founders offered me a full-time product role in this team. And after spending nine months and countless hours on this product, I was in love with this product, the team, and the vision. So after taking a lot of advice from my mentors, I finally decided to decline the campus placement offer and join this team full-time.
So, here I am, working as the first Associate Product manager in this startup, building a platform to democratize education and connect learners and teachers worldwide. I am starting my journey, and lots to learn ahead.
I am attaching an infographic about this whole journey.
To conclude
In my opinion, if you want to get started in the product management field, you should:
- Start a side project- leverage your strengths (coding, design, business, anything) and look for folks to help you out in other areas.
- Build one superpower, which makes you unique. It can be documentation, communication, technical knowledge, strategy, etc., that will give you an edge.
- Identify your passion and apply it to those companies which are in coherence with your values. It makes the convincing easy.
- As a PM, you cannot ignore your weaknesses. So, learn and improve your skills.
- Be ready to unlearn. Hold strong opinions, but be prepared to accept if you are proven wrong.
- Network. As much as possible. Make Linkedin and Twitter your friend. Join product communities like- The Product folks, Creators of Products, The product school, to name a few.
I hope it gives you some insights into the roller coaster ride. Feel free to ask me anything. Here’s my LinkedIn and Twitter profile, where I share my thoughts and learnings.
