Recruiting for APM Roles from Engineering
Whether you come from a software engineering or hardware engineering background in college, recruiting for product management can be incredibly challenging since it’s a fundamental shift in mindset. Especially for current students, Associate Product Management programs have ~3% acceptance rates on average and you don’t really get an opportunity to understand what product management is in the recruitment process.
If you are interested in product management, below are some ways to get some prior exposure while in school.
Talk to PMs in your Network
Whether you are in school or doing an internship, talk to current product managers in your network to learn more about the role. If you are doing an internship in engineering, talk to your manager and see if you can get some product-oriented technical work or understand how business decisions are made. Ultimately, either as a software engineering intern or hardware engineering intern, the work you are doing is likely part of a larger feature set so it will be hard to see the big picture unless you aggressively network.
I would also say that it could be easier to switch to product management in an area you are previously familiar with. For example, if you did a software engineering internship in cloud networking, it could be easier to get a product management internship or full time role next also in cloud areas. Same is true for hardware engineering if you worked in say robotics previously for instance.
Build Something. Literally Anything.
As an engineer, you have highly sought-after skills and have the ability to build everything from apps to enterprise ML-based software if you have a CS background or anything from medical devices to drones if you have a EE/MechE/bioengineering background. Whatever you do though, whether it be at a hackathon or elsewhere, make sure to follow through and actually build the product out completely. Ideally, you should be working in a team and should have had exposure to conducting user research, analyzing any public datasets about your customer base, and also project managing your team — all key skills for product management.
And if you don’t really like engineering, that’s okay too. You can honestly even build a brand, start a consulting gig, or even build an ecommerce business. Again, make sure that you follow through 100% since you will get exposure to everything like customer success, A/B testing features, and strategic marketing, which are all key skills for product managers.
I personally like the concept of building something the best because in college, this is a no-risk option and who knows, maybe instead of going into product management, you’ll start a company instead and be my boss ;)
Work as an Engineer or Engineering Intern at a Startup or Venture Capital Firm
This is also a no-risk option.
At a startup, you’ll have to wear multiple hats that may include product marketing, data science, and/or sales which are all great roles to try out. If you happen to like one of them more than the other, pursue that field instead. If you find that none of these roles are your cup of tea, product management might be right for you.
At a venture capital firm (through a fellows program like the KPMG engineering fellowship), you will either get placed at a portfolio startup, or in some cases, you may be employed at the firm itself where you can get exposure to doing cool things related to growth, design, and anything to stopfill gaps for startups in the portfolio while they hire the right talent for permanent positions.
Conclusion
I enjoy product management personally as an APM at Roblox, but I recognize that I’m both fortunate to get to do something I love and that APM programs are hard to get into, so I will say that it’s okay to try something else and then switch into product management later.
Ultimately, keep in mind that product management isn’t for everyone, and that’s a good thing. If everyone was a product manager, no work would get done :P Plus, if you have great product sense as an engineer, there are plenty of spots in upper management for you.
For those of you interested in product management, my goal is to not sensationalize it and rather be realistic about expectations. With that in mind, while you do get to provide direction for products in the company, your day-to-day is meetings, writing docs, making spreadsheets and presentations, and maybe making wireframes on occasion, so keep that in mind while you figure out what you want to do if you don’t like corporate work.
Best of luck to you all! Check out my budding youtube channel if you are interested in more free content related to product management, data science, or consulting. If you are looking for an overhaul or your resume/LinkedIn for PM roles among other things, check out my services at https://collegeconsulting.me/.
