Justin Rodriguez (APM class of 2023) shares his transition from engineering to product management.
For transitioning from engineering to product, I think there are two questions that I am often asked: Why? And how?
Why transition from engineering to product?
I studied computer science in school, and started my career as an iOS engineer. While I loved my job as an engineer, I found that the most rewarding and stimulating parts of my job were understanding and impacting the business implications of my work, and focusing on the value for users. Product management is all about understanding users and the business, and discovering solutions for both. Product roles feel entrepreneurial, and impactful. For those reasons, I decided to pursue a career in product.
How to transition from engineering to product management?
There is a ton of great advice and resources on how to land an APM role in a hiring context. I’ll focus this portion more on how I transitioned my thinking to a product minded thought process.
Launch a project
As an engineer, I already had the technical capabilities to build and launch a product. Going through the process of identifying an audience, designing a product for those people, developing the product, and marketing and growing the user base was hugely valuable to my initial learning as an aspiring product manager. Your project does not need to be huge or world changing. My project was a hydration tracking app where friends remind each other to drink water (DripDrip on the App Store). What’s important is taking the time to go through the product journey, and learn as much as you can.
Mock interview daily
Mock interviewing is already strongly recommended for preparing for the APM interviews, but I also found it hugely beneficial in shaping the way I thought about product and problem solving. More specifically, mock interviewing will teach you how to think in a structured manner. I found that I use the methodologies I learned during mock interviews, in my day to day work as a PM now.