Yuval, an APM1 (class of ‘20) shares what he’s most excited about as he starts his APM journey.
At the risk of sounding cliche, I am most excited to learn. Being an APM at Yahoo (Verizon Media) is unique in that as you drive products to launch, you work alongside subject matter experts in disciplines ranging from engineering and design to finance and investigative journalism. The role not only gives you regular access to senior leadership and mentorship opportunities but also empowers you to develop a deep understanding of problem spaces that exist well beyond consumer tech.
Before joining the Yahoo Finance team, I had very little experience in finance, and so my first few weeks were spent not only getting up to speed with the processes and priorities of the team, but also learning about the problems that exist in this space and how our products help people solve them. Whether it’s conducting user research or speaking to the managing editor of Yahoo Finance, I am able to gain a unique insight into the world of finance that would not be afforded to most roles in that very industry. The problems that we work on span numerous fields and so, as a product manager, you are compelled to discover and pursue the questions that exist in these fields in order to create meaningful solutions for our users.
To a large extent, an effective product leader is someone who can navigate a variety of ever-changing problem spaces at once. It’s a role that always pushes you to learn more and think differently about the problems at hand, and that is what I am most excited about.