Have you heard? My new book Continuous Discovery Habits is now available. Get the product trio's guide to a structured and sustainable approach to continuous discovery. This post is part of the So You Want To Be a Product Manager series.
Last week, I wrote about how you don’t need specific experience to become a product manager. Too many people get caught up in the chicken and the egg problem of how can I get experience when most jobs require prior experience. But there’s a fundamental flaw in this logic that you can exploit.
Work on a side project. Want to be a product manager? Great. Start right now. Look around. There is no shortage of problems seeking solutions, jobs looking to get done, and people willing to pay for both. Take initiative. Start designing a solution.
I can already hear you grumbling. You don’t know how to code. That’s okay. I didn’t say start building a solution. I said start designing a solution. Show me your product design chops.
One of the companies I recently worked with hired an engineer right out of school. He got the job because they liked that he had built an Android app in his free time. He didn’t have any work experience, but he showcased his skills and gained experience along the way.
Product managers and aspiring product managers can do the same. You can write requirements, create wireframes, run paper usability tests, get feedback, and iterate without writing a lick of code. You can even manage a backlog, set priorities, identify distribution channels, explore business models, do a competitive analysis, all without actually having a product.
I guarantee it will make you stand out from just about every other candidate out there.
This post is part of the So You Want To Be a Product Manager series.
This is good stuff!
Teresa,
I dont know whom you are.this website is full of software product related info. very useful.
Thanks for mentioning about android. I have 15 years of full time java hands on development.
I want to become a product manager. I didnt know where to start.
your idea on android app is GREAT. I now have road map to become a product manager.
regards
vinodh
Hi Vinodh,
I’m glad you found this article helpful. Best of luck with your app and with your career transition.
Teresa
great article. I’m a big fan of your site Teresa. I recently started as a product management intern. I am working on the GTM side but would like to gain more experience in the product design side. I am currently learning web app development because I plan to make a web app as part of my portfolio to prove that I have technical skills as well as product design skills.
What is your take on this and what advice would you give ?
Thanks in advance,
Sam
Great info. Thanks for the good read.
How do you market your side project to potential hiring managers and explore job opportunities if there is no working product to be shown? Will you catch someone’s attention by sending them this personal project .doc or .pdf and stand-out from the crowd – that’s a lot of time investment to read a document for someone you are trying to reach out to.
What are your thoughts on this? What’s the best way to not write a “lick of code” yet show the world my PM chops?
Hi Sid,
It’s not about marketing your product to the hiring managers. It’s about having some real-world experience to talk about. Product managers don’t write code, so it doesn’t matter that you can’t do that. You want to do all the product management work for a product as if you had an engineering team. That gives you a story to share with the hiring manager that helps them see how you solve problems and how you think.
Teresa