The Insider Guide to Careers
Insider information, secrets and tips about getting hired and building careers. For employees and job candidates.
What is common between the careers tracks of Sundar Pichai in Google, Stewart Butterfield of Slack and Susan Wojcicki of Youtube?
Answer is that they were all Product managers who rose to become CEOs. One of the most valued careers today is that of a Product Manager (PM). There is a high demand for the skills a Product Manager possesses. The term Product Manager is by itself a often misused term. Project, Product Marketing managers and Program managers are termed as Product Managers in some companies. While a Product Managers has to be comfortable with Project Management, Product Marketing and Program Management, their work goes way beyond this.
The PM role also differs by company. While some PM friends at Amazon have complained of being glorified document writers, some PM friends at Microsoft say that they are basically Program Managers. Hence, even FAMG companies lack role standardization. The quintessential PM role is a person who can go head to head with VPs, CTO’s and Directors across the company. They should have the courage to say “no” to many decisions of senior executives and be in a position to guide senior executives on how to make better products. In short, good PMs are a rare breed and they need a lot of careful nurturing. It takes a lot of courage to go head to head with senior leaders and most employees cant do that. The ability to disagree without offending, show a better path through data and bring everyone along together in the journey are important skills.
I am getting ahead of myself. Let us look at some advantages and disadvantages of being a Product Manager.
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
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