How to get a job as a Product Manager and how to keep it

How to get a Job as a Product
Manager and how to keep it
Amit Baliga
Harvard Business Review - Ascend
https://www.linkedin.com/in/amitbaliga/ 1

Disclaimer about PM and your next 60 minutes
• There is no magic wand to get a PM job – it is your skills, efforts and a bit of luck. No secret sauce being revealed
today. Sorry to burst your bubble!
• There are very few PM roles in every company compared to most of the other roles – limited and in demand, so
very competitive
• Product Management is a vast domain. In the few minutes we have today, I have merely tried touching the bare
basics, so it may even appear like a 30k view, superficial or overlapping at times
• This domain also works differently in different companies across industries across geos and is not standardized as
of now – there are many who would still say ‘What does a PM do?’ So don’t get butt-hurt! I was asked this in the
middle of a meeting by one of my earlier company’s MD.
• The audience for this presentation is assumed to be aspiring PMs who need guidance – all others may be aware of
most of the information presented here
• All the information being shared here is publicly available somewhere or the other on the internet, few of which
are brilliant reads. Am not claiming anyone’s IP here. There are tons of things out there for the ones who know
how to Google!
• Reach out to me on Baliga.amit@gmail.com or on +91 8879 427682 for more details on any of these or to join any
WhatsApp groups I create for knowledge sharing or just say Hi
• The views expressed here are my own and not of ProductStar Global or my employer. All copyrights belong to the
rightful owners. https://www.linkedin.com/in/amitbaliga/ 2

About Me -
https://www.linkedin.com/in/amitbaliga/
- Microbiology graduate. Then
MBA.
- Worked in Retail Sales.
- Passion got me into a Quizzing
platform.
- Accidently became the Product
Manager of the Quizzing Mobile
Game.
- Learnt OTJ, fell, rose, delivered.
- And the journey continued from
Gaming to Fintech to Edtech…

There isn’t enough time on this Earth to learn everything you
could about these three circles, so as helpful as this diagram is,
it ends up impractical.

How to prepare for a PM role if you are an aspiring PM
It is tough becoming a PM – tougher being one!
It’s the quintessential chicken-and-egg problem — you can’t join the
club unless you’re already a member of the club.

Evaluate - Why be a Product Manager?
• There are a dozen other equally good or better jobs out there! Ask yourself WHY do you want to
become a PM?
• What product problems? Which type of company? What’s your ‘implementation intention’?
• Treat your job search like you would treat a product problem
• You will not only be the CEO (mindset) but also the Janitor!
• Do you have a 24*7 ownership, learning and an entrepreneurial mind-set?
• Do you have a very high degree of customer empathy?
• Passionate about solving problems?
• Can you listen with empathy, not because a gun is pointed at you?
• Flexible & process-oriented on-demand while embracing ambiguity?
• Can you take charge via influence without authority?
• Be responsible w/o blaming others even when others mess up?
• Can you keep asking WHY?

Congratulations! You managed to convince yourself that you have in
you what it takes to be a PM!
DRUMROLL!!!

Basics what you can do
• Undertake courses & training programs – ProductStar (among others)
• There are SAFe and CSPO courses too which MAY help you stand-out
• Build a strong resume and LinkedIn profile to create your PM brand
• Tweak resumes to fit the JD like a PMF, not a force-fit!
• Don’t miss the cover-letter – personalize it!
• Be part of the community – PS has a good WA, Telegram, FB community
• Don’t apply brute-force – check requirements and apply where it matches!
• Network a lot. Check out meetups. Interact with people whose role you
admire.

Develop the Mindset
• Own the WHY
• Develop a Leadership, Analytical and Decision-making mindset, whether it
is for one CTA on a landing page or a major functionality
• Read. Network. Interact. No better way than this to be updated
• Showcases that you an ever-evolving, eager-to-learn professional
• Can apply the models or thought-process outlined when you discuss
• Sentences lifted from here in your interviews will also help
• Prioritize and delegate as a lifestyle, will be critical when you are a PM
• Work towards making your team succeed – your success is tied to theirs!

Read. Read. Read.
• Threads on Reddit, Medium, WA/Telegram/Slack/FB
• Newsletters like Stratechery, Ken Norton’s, SVPG
• Books like The Lean Startup, Hooked, The Lean Product Playbook,
Cracking the PM Interview
• Blogs like PM Insider, PMHQ, Mind the Product
• Don’t miss Podcasts!
• It goes on and on…

Knowledge Gaps – Identify & Fill

Develop the Essential Skills
• I call them Essential Skills, not soft skills, because you CANNOT survive,
forget grow, as a PM if you don’t have these
• A variety of them are needed - good communication, listening,
presentation, negotiating and stakeholder management skills
• You need to be good in storytelling and learn to convey the bad news ASAP
• Learn how to get the essence of the question being asked by your C-suite
and to answer crisp
• Eg - during meetings, most of the bosses are interested in knowing the
results – not in the efforts you had put in there to get. So keep your comms
strong

Develop the Skills – Communicating Requirements
• Effective product specs are a
critical part of building great
software. They force critical
thinking up front, scale
communication, and raise
accountability — all leading to
higher quality, lower schedule
risk, and less wasted time
• While product specs focus on
the what, tech specs focus on
the how

Develop the Skills - Tech
• If you can learn to code, EXCELLENT!
• Need to be Technically Curious – most of the times, a good product is ONLY as good as
your tech output
• Tons of free courses out there – coding bootcamps, freecodecamp.org, YouTube videos,
even FB groups if you are interested
• At least understand the tech stacks, system architecture, data model & APIs
• The dev team may respect you more if you are able to SPEAK their language when
terminologies fly in the room
• Helps get better estimations too!
• Will also help in understanding QA tasks better as well
• Having an understanding of how each component in the system contributes to the whole
helps you make better decisions and trade offs
• But unless it is a highly technical product, you don’t need to KNOW programming to be an
effective PM

Develop the Skills – Design
• Not asking for a course in Design Thinking (you can if you want – IDEO & Acumen have a
FREE Human-Centered Design course)
• But appreciation of good UI and UX is critical
• Will help you create wireframes / mocks / prototypes
• Will help you weigh in if your user would understand the graphics, the elements, the
interaction, the flow
• Again, YT / FB have a good collection to initiate your design upskilling
• Figma, Sketch are great tools to play with
• Start with pen & paper – if you can envision for your PRD / User Story, you can do this
too!
• A good way to is to critically appreciate modern designs in apps like CRED
• Understanding Product Patterns / Design & Visual Philosophy is necessary, eg, always
using a green color for positive CTA

Ways of projecting yourself as a potential PM to recruiters

For Internal PM roles
• Have seen many BA / Devs / QA / Product Ops / Design / Marketing / even
field Sales employees becoming PMs
• Interact a lot with your company’s product team with an open mind, offer
with humility to ‘help them’ to solve their current pain point
• Relatively easy to get ideas to improvise the current product of your
company – think like a PM and flesh it out! (Have seen developers do this
best!)
• Showcase this to the product team to exhibit your PM inclination
• Look around for APM roles to get a foot in the door
• Do not worry about designations!!!
• Keep talking to your Product Head, Senior PMs, HR on this

For External Roles - You are an engineer, fresh
out of college
• Not necessary to think about being a PM right away!
• Join a good company where you can learn a lot
• Upskill yourself, create few lethal arrows in your quiver
• Once you get some experience, decide your next steps
• Do not jump into Product Management just because others are doing,
or somebody said so!
• Usually, an experienced developer turns out to be a good PM as well.
So gain that experience well!

You are already in a Digital Product company -
a non-PM role (and want to apply outside)
• Learn about your company’s product management culture & processes
well – this first-hand knowledge is essential
• You have read a lot about PM & have a side-project or WIP (desirable)
• Be active where your recruiters are (HR / Product Leaders) & associate
yourself with product people
• LinkedIn – keep track of job postings by Seniors PMs or co-founders or HR.
When you connect, share a well-defined cover letter, resumed tweaked as
per the JD and the SP link as well instead of bombarding the same stuff you
did for dozens others!
• Create a pipeline of job postings from career links of your target product
companies, use keyword alerts for APMs, Junior PMs, PMs, etc. – but don’t
randomly target anything and everything
• Collect experiences centered around product in whatever job you are now

Walk the extra-mile
• Attend as many product meetups you can – not for marking attendance but to network, interact,
gain a mentor
• Volunteer with tech incubators and help start-ups – takes real time & effort but worth it.
Headstart is one example which I am aware of. There are more communities active on FB too.
• Be an early adopter of digital products & criticize it as a PM would
• Ask shamelessly for a PM opening – write emails why do you think you can add value to the
company, ask for mentorship in social media groups!
• Seek to differentiate yourself with that one skill or superpower – tailor your cover letter
• Change your CV format
• Better still, create a video CV pitching for that job
• Do some pre-application project when you are sure you want that role!
• Keep track of companies which gets funded or is about to – there is a decent chance of a PM
position opening up there
• Cold messaging – email or via LinkedIn

Simulation
• Roleplay - All of us are part of some or the other WhatsApp groups.
So pick up a hypothesis to solve any pain point of WA groups, collect
feedback from users and prioritize it based on business impact and
consumer impact
• Do mock interviews with people you know to demystify the role
• Better still, get friends to set up interviews with PMs they know – you
can comfortably share your vulnerabilities openly and ask for candid
advice. These are things you can’t always do in an actual interview.

Side Project to create a Brand – YOU
• Build something – today, anyone with an internet connection can learn and build. You
possibly cannot justify that you love to build if you haven’t done anything yet!
• There are tons of no-code tools for prototypes. Pick up any problem statement and work
on it. Ideal way of showcasing your interests via a portfolio. It can be ANYTHING.
• Create a blog – set it up on your own, get your hands dirty, you will know the finer details
which theory cannot teach. This will showcase that you are not afraid of wandering into
the unknown
• Write your product thoughts – Medium, own blog, social media like Quora. Unlock the
value of writing!
• Participate in Twitter threads, attend meetups, share articles. Make your presence felt.
• Pick up products you use daily, the top 3 pain points you encounter and as a PM how
would you solve them. Spec it out and publish a whitepaper!
• Understand the vision, find a problem worth solving to achieve it, build a hypothesis to
solve it, and then validate it as quickly as you can with real customers. Rinse and repeat.

How (to try) to keep your hard-earned PM job
intact in tough times
• Basically, you cannot do it always! If your entire division is shut down, then
you just cannot help it even if you were a Rockstar!
• But, as a best practice, it is always good to check periodically if you are
adding value to your company or not
• Set-up quarterly reviews with your boss to see if you are in the top-tier or
need improvements to pull up socks. This is not being overcautious; this is
knowing if expectations and performance matches!
• Pick up additional projects which may make you work more but will also
keep you in spotlight as a go-getter
• In tough times which are internally known, volunteer to take up additional
roles. It may seem like a stretch, but you may survive the layoff.

Credits
• https://medium.com/@hunterwalk/
• https://www.forbes.com/
• https://medium.com/pminsider/
• https://blackboxofpm.com/
• https://goberoi.com/
• https://www.quora.com/
• https://medium.com/entrepreneurship-at-work/
• https://product.hubspot.com/blog/

How to get a job as a Product Manager and how to keep it

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