In this presentation, Swapna Potluri, shares her journey from driving off to San Diego beaches, to contemplating her purpose in life, to making a transition into Product Management. Swapna shares the different ways she prepared herself for getting the role and making a smooth transition after.

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How to Transition Into Product by
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7. Swapna Potluri
TONIGHT’S SPEAKER

8. How To Transition
Into Product
Swapna Potluri
Disclaimer: Views expressed are my own. They are in no way related to my employer
Amazon Inc.

9. Who am I?
Software Engineer turned
Product Manager @ Amazon
6 months on the job
Prior: 4.5 years of software
engineering
● Amazon
● Qualcomm
M.S. EECS - University of Michigan
B.S. EE - Osmania University

10. Why am I here?
Share my journey, serve as an example
Pay it forward
Be part of a community

11. Why are you here?
Want to learn how I made the switch
Want to know what skills are needed to make a switch
Want to know how I convinced my manager to hire me
Want to know if an MBA is necessary
Want actionable steps you can take back and apply

12. What this talk isn’t and is about
NOT ABOUT
me telling you the exact steps you HAVE to follow
IS ABOUT
me sharing MY experiences, that YOU can draw from and apply
appropriately

13. Outline of the talk
My Journey -->
1. Do I really want to pivot?
2. What skills do I need?
3. How do I navigate the change?
4. How do I ensure a successful transition?

14. Do I really want to pivot? - Define your goal
What are my long term goals?
How does this career change
align with that?
What I considered
- Cont. w/ engineering
- Engineering Management
- Product Management
San Diego -my thinking place

15. Do I really want to pivot? - Define your criteria
- Stay close to tech
- Stay close to the end
product
- Skills I’m interested in
- Skills I’m good at
- Path to organizational
leadership
San Diego -my thinking place

16. Do I really want to pivot? - Test the waters
1. Talk to people
- PMs in (and outside) of your team
- At conferences
- At meetups/ talks (like this one)
2. Read books, articles
- Lean Startup
- Cracking the PM interview
3. Experience through experiment
- at your job
- Find something that the PM doesn’t have BW for and help
- Attend UX/PM brainstorming sessions
- outside of your job
- Take free online classes
- Take in-person classes

17. Do I really want to pivot? - List constraints
My constraints
- I don’t want to quit my job (I love software engineering)
- I don’t want to suck at my current job by being distracted
- I have about ~1 year of runway

18. Do I really want to pivot?
Tips:
1. Define your goal - think 10 years
2. Set criteria - what are you willing to give-up vs. not
3. Map out possible paths - pick top 3
4. Test the waters - pay attention to opportunities around you
5. List constraints - don’t straddle, commit

19. What skills do I need?

20. What skills do I need?
Skill How to Learn?
Market Research MBA?
Competitive Analysis MBA?
Data Analytics MBA?
User research Stanford Class + at work
User testing Stanford Class + at work
Product Lifecycle Stanford Class
Product Execution Past experience
PRD/BRD doc writing On the job?
….

21. What skills do I need?
Tips:
1. Make a list of you current core competencies
2. Identify the gap with Product Management
3. Have game plan to bridge the gap
- Incorporate into your current work
- Side projects
- Online classes
- Offline classes

22. How do I navigate the change?
Within same team
● Pros: They know my work, and trust me
● Cons: They may not have opening for a PM role
Within same company
Different company

23. How do I navigate the change?
Within the same company:
● At least 1 yr in the same role, same team
● Build credibility, showcase excellence
● Gain visibility with Product team, especially the decision maker

24. How do I navigate the change?
Tips:
1. Create a portfolio of your “PM” experience - rewrite your
resume
2. If possible, reveal your intentions to your manager - make them
your ally
3. Leverage your network (in and outside of work)
4. Look for teams that already have 1 PM, and looking to hire more
- More likely to take a chance on rookie PM

25. How do I ensure a successful transition?
Take the time to ramp-up, have clear goals
- 90 day plan
- Skills to pick-up
- Concrete project
- Peer feedback
- Be mindful of your engineering past

26. How do I ensure a successful transition?
Tips:
● Start from a point of strength - pick a project that leverages
some your core competencies
● Be proactive in setting milestones
● Consistently deliver on one skill before moving onto the other
● Don’t be afraid to make mistakes

27. Thank You!
Questions? -- Let’s talk

28. How you can reach me
Linkedin : /swapnadpotluri
Calendly: https://calendly.com/potluri
● Pro bono 1-on-1 for aspiring PMs
● 30 min slots, Sat/ Sun 7:30- 9am

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