I spent ~3 years breaking into product management. I went through 4 career transitions. If I could do it again, here is how I would approach my transition.
Key skills Product Managers need to excel
PS: If you want an editable PM transition guide, comment "transition guide" and I will share it with you.
5 steps for anyone transitioning into Product management
1. Assess skill gap
2. Upskill
3. Mentorship
4. Build side projects
5. Apply new skills
1. Assess your skill gap:
The first step is to assess your skill gaps. I came from a Customer success background. I had customer skills but lacked technical and data analysis skills.
Here are the necessary skills PMs need to succeed
1. Discovery
2. Communication
3. Design
4. Execution
5. Data analysis
6. Technical skills
7. Strategic skills
A step-by-step Product manager guide for your transition. Comment “PMguide” to get a free copy
2. Upskill to cover your skill gaps :
Select courses that will help close your skill gap. If you have a data background, you will need to gain customer discovery skills.
Free courses
1. General PM course: Gives you insights into the PM role
💡Becoming a Product Manager by LinkedIn: You can complete it with a free 30-day trial:
2. Discovery courses: This group teaches how to find customer pain points.
💡Introduction to user research by Google :
💡UX research methods by Nielsen Norman:
💡Quantitative research
💡UX research cheat sheet
3. Communication: These courses teach how to present research results.
💡 Creating wireframes by Google :
💡Creating Prototypes by Google :
4. Design skills: These teach how to craft great user experiences
💡Introduction to design by Nielsen Norman:
💡Design of everyday things by Nielsen Norman :
💡Product Design course by Google:
5. Execution skills: These teach PM skills needed to ship products.
💡Intro to Agile Development
💡Intro to Prioritization by Product School
💡How to use Jira
6. Data skills: These teach how to use data to make decisions
💡Product analytics micro certification by Product School
💡Telling Stories with data by Google
💡A/B Testing by Google: This teaches the basics of A/B testing,
7. Technical skills: This teaches how software products are built.
💡The Basics of Computer Science by Harvard :
💡Programming for Everybody by the University of Michigan
💡Introduction to AI by the University of Helsinki
8. Strategic skills: This teaches PMs how to think strategically
💡Product led growth by Product School
💡 Product Strategy course by Product School
3. Mentorship:
Find a mentor who can answer questions you may have on product management.
🎊 Bonus: I will be giving 6 free 1:1 mentorship sessions this Thursday.
If you cannot find a private mentor, here are some public PM mentors you can follow in no order
A step-by-step Product manager guide for your transition. Comment “PMguide” to get a free copy
4. Build a side project:
A side project allows you to practice taking a product through the entire product lifecycle (from ideation to growth)
You don't need to learn to code to build a side project.
Here are some of the free no-code tools I have used :
Carrd.com
Softr.com
Bubble.com
5. Apply new skills:
Here are two ways to apply your new PM skills
1. If you work in an organization with PMs, shadow and volunteer to help with tasks. (This worked for me.)
2. If you don't have PM friends, you can volunteer to work with small startups.
These two strategies would give you valuable experience to land a paid role.
PS: You can share the hardest aspect of your PM transition journey in the comments. You might just get the advice /opportunity of a lifetime from a Product leader .
When you are ready, I can help you in three ways:
Give you 4 case studies I submitted to hiring managers that got me offers from different companies. (20+ people have purchased )
Give you free resources (worth at least 3500$) that helped me transition from customer success to Product Management (liked by 900+ people )
Give you a sample resume used by PMs to land a Microsoft offer. (liked by 2000+ people)
Bonus resources
Breaking Into Product and Tech by Microsoft product leader at Product School
How to become a great PM by Product School CEO Carlos
How to get a PM role by Google PM at Product School
transition guide
PMguide