Main takeaways: - Really identify what you want - Identify your weak spots and fill them - Effectively use and make connections into hidden opportunities

1. www.productschool.com
Breaking into Technology Product
Management by Nutanix Dir of PM

2. Join 40,000+
Product Managers on
Free Resources
Discover great job
opportunities
Job Portal
prdct.school/PSJobPortalprdct.school/events-slack

3. CERTIFICATES
Your Product Management Certificate Path
Product Leadership
Certificate™
Full Stack Product
Management Certificate™
Product Management
Certificate™
20 HOURS40 HOURS40 HOURS

4. Corporate
Training
Level up your team’s Product
Management skills

5. Luke Congdon
T O N I G H T ’ S S P E A K E R

6. ABOUT ME
You Build Who You Are
Formation
Custom Draperies
Art Restoration
1996
UCONN
Marketing
1997
NYC
Banking
2000
Silicon Valley
Tech Support
2003
SCU
MBA
2004
Enterprise Product
Management

7. PM MENTORING
Motivation for Topic
How do I get into PM?
“ ”
Number One Most Popular Question

8. CAREER POPULARITY
‘Tech Lures MBAs Away From Wall Street’
So much for buyout titans. The current
crop of M.B.A. students has a new
dream job: Product manager.
Yet M.B.A.s without technology
backgrounds may struggle to parlay
coursework into job offers.
“
”
Lindsay Gellman
March 2, 2016

9. WHY BREAKING IN IS HARD
Hiring Risk is High, Therefore Companies are Very Selective
Needed skills are
not taught together
PM is a craft learned
and honed over years
Formal education and
mentors are hard to find
Seasoned experts
are highly preferred
High leverage means
high risk for downside
SKILLS CRAFT EDUCATION EXPERTISE RISK

10. BUT, IT CAN BE DONE
It might take effort and time, and YMMV
1998 HTML, CSS,
FTP classes
Wedding
web sites
1999 - 2003
MBA
1996
Undergrad degree
Major in marketing
No technical skills
2001
Yahoo! SaaS 1.0
2003
SW project management
2004
NetApp, forged opportunity,
PRD, design, build SW
2007
VMware PM, bigger role,
better team
2012
Start-up 1, fast
learning experience
2016
Startup 2 implosion
2017 +
Lead technical prod.
line and team of
PMs for a $1B co.

11. EDUCATION
Formal PM Education Has Only Recently Appeared
User Interaction Design
Graphic Design
Information Architecture
UI Design
Bachelor of Arts
Human-Technology Interaction
Computer Science
Engineering
Computer Programming
Information Systems
Software Development
Database Administration
Business Administration
MBA
Finance
Marketing
Entrepreneurship
Public Administration
The multi-disciplinary
employee profile doesn’t often
result from vertical degrees.
Martin Eriksson

12. MEETING THE BAR
Technology PM starts with Technology
Computer Science
Engineering
Computer Programming
Information Systems
Software Development
Database Administration
Business Administration
MBA
Finance
Marketing
Entrepreneurship
Public Administration
User Interaction Design
Graphic Design
Information Architecture
UI Design
Bachelor of Arts
Human-Technology Interaction
Easier: Start with a technology degree
Less easy: Design a path into tech PM

13. INDUSTRY BIASES
Dogmatic Hiring Manager Desires
Pedigree
Worked at right companies
Domain, industry expert
You contribute instantly
Location
You’re in Silicon
Valley
Education
Attended right schools
You have an MBA
You’re an engineer
Expertise
You’ve done this before
No training required
You’re superhuman

14. WORKING PMs
Candidate Mythology Versus Real Life
+ SW Engineer
+ MBA
+ Good hire risk
Technology
Business
UX/UI
Work
Experience
Motivation
Domain
Technology
Business
Domain
Business
UX/UI
Domain
UX/UI
+ Business person
+ Tech company
+ Needs cross training
+ User/UX Designer
+ Some tech, business
+ Needs cross training
+ Domain mismatch
+ Low experience
+ Needs many skills
+ Perfect mix of tech,
business, UI/UX, and
experience
However …
This is a mythological
creature rarely seen
Work
Experience

15. A PM CAREER FRAMEWORK
Cross-Train Your Skills to Level Up
1. We all start somewhere
2. Be great at what you do
3. Roadmap and expand sideways
4. Find your break-through opportunities
www.lukecongdon.com

16. FINDING OPPORTUNITY
Every PM Team Needs More Qualified Hands
Easier Harder
Current Company
Find PM teams and
volunteer, get
exposure and known
Scratch Your Own Itch
Try out your ideas with
side projects, show
your interest
Add Training
Take skills classes or
consider an additional
degree
Network
Meet people who are
PMs, learn from them,
make connections
Bypass Recruiting
Use your network for
hiring manager intros,
bypass filters
Take a Leap
Change co’s to get into
your target role, pre-
reqs may apply
Luck
It may exist, but don’t
rely on this. Luck is not
a strategy.

17. TYPES OF PM
Internal or External, PM is a Contact Sport
Traditional Product Manager
Work directly with customers
Owns vision and product roadmap
Determine and drive objectives
Often a Product Owner (Agile)
Works (and sits) directly with eng.
Responsible for execution, iteration
Grooms feature backlog
EXTERNAL-FACING PM INTERNAL-FACING PM REMOTE PM *
* Not a 3rd type, just a warning
It’s very hard to be remote
Career progress can be stunted
Visibility relies on you

18. DO YOU NEED A MBA?
I Don’t Know, Do You?
DEPARTURES1. Add business skills
1. Ease transition from eng, UX
1. An expensive investment
1. It’s not strictly necessary, but YMMV

19. LEGACY COs. vs. START-UPS
Training companies vs. Those Building the Airplane While Falling
Large Companies Start-Ups
Learn and grow in
large companies
More common
Yes
Yes
Slower
Depends on role
Depends on role
Accelerate, with
risk, at start-ups
Less common
Yes, but less guidance
Depends on growth series
Unpredictable
Often yes
Often yes
Starter PM Opportunities
Ability to Learn
Existing PM team to learn from
Fast career growth
Expertise required
Experience required

20. IMPOSTER SYNDROME
Fallacies That Get In Your Own Way
1. But I’m not an engineer
Yes it might help, but it’s not a blocker. Keep learning,
keep adding value to your team. Get better as you go.
1. But I don’t have an MBA
Often you don’t need one. Other times it can open doors.
This is not a blocker. Get training if you need it.
1. People will figure out I don’t know enough
Don’t let that happen. Keep learning. Leverage your
teams, unblock your development teams. Read more.

21. Personalities
ALL THAT GLITTERS
It’s Still a Challenging Role
Decision-making
Pressure
Shipping
Communications
Go To Market
Roadmapping
Escalations
Org Structure
Technical Debt
Competition
Requirements
Execution
Bugs
Marketing
Engineering
Reporting
Vision
Release Mgmt
Customers
Sales
Revenue

22. OK, NOW WHAT
What Actual Steps Do I Take?
1. Decide what you vertical you want
2. Roadmap yourself, fill in your skills gaps
1. Find and make your opening opportunities
2. Get started, and give it time
1. Keep learning (life long)
MOTIVATION
ENDURANCE
TIME
YMMV

23. NETWORKING TIPS
Reach Out in Effective Ways
A blind connect-
only invite goes
nowhere
Introduce
yourself, why are
you connecting?
Ask ‘got jobs?’
and hope I’ll do
the work for you
Tell me what you
want in detail
and I might help
Ask for help and
disappear after
you get it
Create a relationship
Connect with
purpose and a
specific, easy to
fulfill ask.
Close the loop.
Add value.

24. Place your screenshot here
24
Ben Horowitz
SGI, Netscape, AOL,
Loudcloud, Opsware, A16Z
Essential Reads
From Ben Horowitz:
Good PM, Bad PM
Good Group PM, Dead Group PM
The Hard Thing About Hard
Things
Additional Resources
Medium.com
Mind The Product (Marty Cagan)
Product Coalition
Product Collective
Product Manager HQ
Product School
Ken Norton
VC Newsletters
LinkedIn
YouTube
HBR

25. THANKS!
25
/LukeCongdon
www.LukeCongdon.com

26. www.productschool.com
Part-time Product Management Training Courses
and
Corporate Training