Episode 39: Dear Melissa - Answering Questions About Early PM Career Strategy
In this Dear Melissa segment, Melissa answers questions about approaching your product management career thoughtfully and strategically. She covers what PMs are particularly good at and how to reframe the idea of PMs being “generalists,” what she thinks about product management certification courses and FAANG companies, and what taking an alternate route via product operations would look like.
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Q: What tips would you give to someone who is concerned about being a generalist? [2:06]
A: I think a concern that a lot of product folks have is what they are a specialist at… I think [all] product managers are actually specialists. We definitely have some generalist knowledge and background stuff that we have to talk about, but… I didn't realize that we were specialists until I started working with companies that didn't have product managers there. They had a lot of subject matter experts that were brought in as project managers, and I started to realize how we think differently, and I think what we're experts at is a little bit of systems thinking… and product sizing. [2:33]
And a great product person should be able to look at what every business does and take certain aspects of it and say ‘you know what, we could apply that here.’ I would say to really hone in on what makes you special, which is being able to solve problems in unique and scalable ways with software, that's your expertise as a product manager. I'd really concentrate on growing that. [7:30]
Q: Should a product manager aim for a start-up or one of the FAANG companies in the beginning of their career? [8:13]
A: FAANG stands for Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google; the really big ones that we all look at and say ‘hey, they're really cool software companies that do everything well.’ They recruit tons of product managers so definitely a good place to go… My biggest advice for anybody when you're thinking of what company to join in the beginning of your career is to go where you're going to learn the most. Your first job as a product manager should be [at a place] where you have a strong product management lead to learn from. If you’re the first product manager in a start-up, it's going to be really hard for you because you don't know what to do yet. [8:32]
Q: What is the career track for product operations, and how do you support a person to grow in this role? [16:06]
A: I think product operations is just going to get bigger and bigger… when you think about a product operations team there's actually multiple components to it. When you scale it, but have to start from ground floor [with] one person, it's gonna be a little bit different, but let's say you are at scale; you have a big product operations team, you're probably gonna have people who are specialized in user research understanding the methods of recruiting people and helping to streamline processes for doing that…
But where do you start first? The biggest thing that you need when you start is getting that person who can help with the data, because that helps you, as a product leader, be able to set your product strategy and understand if you're tracking towards that product strategy as well. [16:33]
Q: Are product management certificate courses worth the effort, and which do you recommend? [20:34]
A: I think this question really comes down to where you want to work. I find that the companies who ask for certificates are probably the ones who understand product management the least. I guarantee you the FAANG companies do not ask for product management certificates; they have training programs and things like that there for them or they’re hiring people with experience… I think it's good to have a course in product management, but it’s… probably going to get you the job at companies you might not want to work at… If you're looking to just get your foot in the door and go somewhere, then a certificate might be useful for you, but know that you might end up at a company that doesn't really quite get product management. [20:53]
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