Interested in Product Management? Read This First

I have worked in tech for the last decade: first as a two-time start-up founder; then as a mainframe programmer, mainframe architect, and product strategist. I enjoy the challenge of understanding a market and a user through research, and honestly, trial and error. As I get more experienced in product, I am learning to enjoy the process in making something interesting to a user or customer.

My first start-up, The Gamer Studio, was a media magazine that I ran for four years. At The Gamer Studio we mostly created editorial, video, and podcast content. As a solo founder, the responsibility of product management fell on me. I didn’t have any exposure to the tech world then, so I didn’t even know “product” existed as a job.

After The Gamer Studio, I worked in the mainframe world as an architect — who is responsible for the construction and maintenance of a particular system. A mainframe architect, for example, handles the deployment of software as well as any major problems. I had to manage the lifecycle of my suite of products, from installation to, in some cases, sunset.

Overtime, I learned that this role had many of the same responsibilities as a product manager, or PM. As a product manager, it is your job to communicate the needs of all parties involved in a product, prioritize them, and translate it into the end result. After my last start-up didn’t work out in 2016, I joined a consultancy as a product strategist. Now, I’m a Product Marketing Manager at Datalogue.io, an artificial-intelligence start-up focused on cleaning data in the enterprise. As a product manager, I shape the project from a customer perspective, which includes customer development, content creation (for example, recording videos and creating social media content), and marketing positioning. Here are my tips for anyone who wants to break into the industry.

1. Find your people.

If you are in a major city, I would bet there is a group of PMs that meet up in your area. Go to those places and engage. (Product people love to hear themselves talk.) Be inquisitive. Ask questions, and, if you meet someone you connect with, ask the person to keep the conversation going over coffee. It's going to take some time, and you’re going to fall on your face, but If you go for it, you’ll meet people who will help you on your journey. Tech is a small world; the right few people can open a ton of doors for you.

If you aren’t in a major city, Slack is amazing. A quick Google search led me to more than a few Slack groups for product managers that anyone can join. Take advantage and get in there – soak up information and ask questions. And ask for critiques of your work. Steel sharpens steel.

2. Read!

Schedule 30 minutes daily to read a blog (or even a Medium article) and try to apply it to your current project. I subscribe to newsletters from Stratechery, Farnam Street Blog, Lifehacker, and TechCrunch. These books are great places to start for inspiration: Cracking the PM Interview](https://www.amazon.com/Cracking-PM-Interview-Product-Technology/dp/0984782818) by Gayle Laakmann McDowell, Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt, Product Management from Product School, Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, and Decisive by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. Lastly, I like to read blogs Wait But Why and Seth Godin’s blog.

3. Get to work.

Start a project. It can be anything – a Meetup group, an app, a website, a forum, or a full-fledged company. Start anything that will force you to keep growing and that requires you to work with other people. Side projects are the thing that will keep you sharp and relevant, and learning how to work with people is a key part of learning the foundation of product management. Shoot for something with low overhead (like a YouTube channel or blog) if you don't have any tech help. If you do know someone who is an engineer or programmer, build something open source. These side projects are not only a good way to showcase your skills, but they’re also a point of connection if you’re looking for mentors. Whenever someone comes to me with a project, I’m far more likely to get coffee with them to talk about it and offer help.

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