Loading...
Answers
MenuI have an opportunity to join a top tier consultancy. Would having worked there help me become a product manager later? My background is in biz dev.
I want to become a product manager. The alternative to joining the top tier consulting firm is to create my own startup or to find a PM role at a growing startup which will want to work with me despite the fact that I come from a biz dev background.
Answers
Joining a top tier consultancy will not help you become a great PM. Full-stop. Yammer has one of the best product management groups and although some of their PM's have left (since the Microsoft acquisition), they still have a great group there. Some of Yammer's best PM's started out in different non-product roles.
There might be some junior roles there that get you on the right track. There are a number of great established product teams that are always eager to add team members who are hard-working, passionate and eager to learn.
Happy to talk to you in a call to point you in some specific directions but joining a great product team that actually *owns* the product is way more instructive and a better career path than a top tier consultancy.
There are a few things to think about before joining the top tier consultancy. First, hopefully the consultancy will put you in front of many customers, so that you can notice their similarities and differences, how they work, what drives them, and so on. This can help you when you are a PM. But if you get pigeon-holed into just one customer for many years (which happens all the time), then you won't benefit in the same way.
Second, the consultancy may pay you very well -- so well that you have "golden handcuffs" tying you to the company. This may be the end of you, though it might be pleasant for a while.
Third, of course having the name-brand company on your resume will open some doors, though it will still be up to you to impress when you walk through those doors.
Could you do just as well in a startup? Nobody can answer that for sure. Both paths have their own risks and rewards.
One way to decide is to follow this saying: Think for today with your head. Think for tomorrow with your heart. What this means is that you should follow your heart into the far future, but it is your head that decides what you should be doing in your near future. Heart being what you love. Head being what makes sense. Very often, what makes sense isn't what you love, which is why so many people become dentists or doctors or lawyers, but then wish they hadn't (of course, many do indeed love those professions, but many started in them because it was the "safe" choice). -- Dan
There is no right career path to becoming a product manager. If you are passionate about it, you will get there. I was a Software Engineer and wanted to become a Product Manager. I joined doodle.com, back then still an early stage startup. I was free to shape my role. I read a book called "Inspired: How to build Products, customers love". http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0981690408This was the best book on PM I ever read. I truly inspired me.
So my advice: join a startup or create your own. Don't join a consulting firm.
I agree with Tom Williams answer. Joining a top-tier consultancy will make you a better analyst and possibly communicator, maybe even think more "strategically". But it won't teach you anything about how to create a product roadmap, how to work with engineers, how to launch a product to market, how to empower marketing and sales, how to prioritize a product backlog, or write requirements, all of which are core elements of any product manager job.
Related Questions
-
How do build a empowered and motivated engineering team?
I am assuming your question is more pertaining to empowering and motivating (rather than hiring). I can outline some of the practices I have seen really result in high motivation and sense of ownership among engineering teams: * Empathize - Your engineering team will work well and be more motivated if they see you as one of them rather than a person who doesn't understand their function. Show your geeky side to them, and show that you understand their thought process and drivers. * Pick their brain on big and small decisions (roadmap, usability, whatever it is) - Product teams value being heard. The more you position yourself as someone who is WANTS to listen, is keen to have their inputs, you will be surprised at how involved they can get, and also how you can actually tap into a lot of smart ideas/thoughts from them that you can develop on. * Take care to explain - show how you arrive at decisions. Share your research, competitive analysis, and even your thought process on arriving at a feature set or list of things for a release. Its stuff you would have worked on anyway - so no harm sharing with more eyes! * Share customer feedback - nothing motivates your engineers than a positive interaction with a customer. Get them to see customer feedback. Have them sit in and observe some of the usability studies. (B2B - have them see you do some demos or do a successful sales pitch) * Send out interesting articles, insights, business and tech articles with your comments/highlights to them on a regular basis (maybe twice a week?) - maybe even some analysis you did on competition or customer feedback * Engineers like working with people they feel are competent and complement the work they are doing to build a great product. So make sure they see how everyone else around them is also doing a good job and adding value and contributing to the success of the product. * Be transparent about the product/business - Make them feel they are responsible and involved in the business, not just technology. I've seen engineering teams happy about their annual goals having components relating to making revenues, keeping customers happy, or reducing costs. If they are enthused about the business as a whole, they will be more motivated with their engineering efforts * Have a mix of little experiments, R&D, attending to engineering debt, in addition to bug fixes and new features that each engineer gets to spend some time on (based on their interest) * Finally get to know each of your engineers personally, and be aware of what their priorities are. Each of us has different motivations in life, so there is no silver bullet to motivate people. When they know you care for them, they are more motivated :).SG
-
What is the best way to break into Product Management?
Hello Aidan. I was recently featured on a panel at General Assembly for an audience looking to make a career shift towards product management. In 2014 I moved from a marketing / user engagement role at a software startup to product management. The transition is still fresh in my mind. Based on the experience on your LinkedIn profile, it seems like you would be well-equipped to make the switch. You have a technical background, experience with generating team outcomes and strategic direction. I think the challenge you face is not whether you have the right skills and resources, but rather how you would like to apply them. Product management is broad and so is your choice of employers. It would be great to jump on a call to get a better context of your situation so I can give you specific tips on how to put your best foot forward.ML
-
Can my experience with building "no code" applications be translated into something that will impress hard core coders?
Your skills would be most useful if you were starting your own startup and needed to make an early prototype to show to investors or potential cofounder developers. Your experience in debugging, testing, and agile, could help you get a job as a product manager, and the fact that you have a background in some sort of 'coding' will help too. It's very unlikely that it would help you get an actual dev job though, since you wouldn't be able to translate your programs into actual code that could be taken over/continued by other devs. Even if the programs you mentioned do allow you to export as code, it's unlikely that it would be exported in a way that's very usable by other devs.LV
-
What's the cause of thoughtlessness among employees? Bad hiring? Or bad management?
I read your story and I feel your pain, but I have bad news. The problem is not your people, the problem is you. You have a responsibility that goes way beyond developing great products that wow customers; you have the responsibility of leading! Leadership is one of those subjects that most people feel they have covered, I thought I had it covered too until I found myself in exactly the same shoes as you are wearing right now, and boy did it pinch. It took a while for me to realize I was the problem but three things clued me in: 1. I found out that I kept firing and hiring new people and it did not make a difference 2. I met a friend who was building a great company with what I would consider average people and he was really getting things done. The difference was that leading people came natural to him while building products came natural to me 3. I finally came to terms with the fact that I enjoyed being the solution point and the center of the product development universe. Clients loved me, me people stood in awe of me and I loved it and hated it at the same time You need to get into a leadership coaching program. I'm sure you will find some very capable people on clarity but trust me, the sooner you start, the better. Your organization will not change until you change, and there is no better way to say it. Like I said, I know your pain and you are not alone in this my friend.PC
-
What is the best online training course registration and management software?
I've used a ton of different plugins and services to create and sell online courses, and here's the best combination I've found: WordPress + Gumroad + ProductPress 1. WordPress: You'll use WordPress to host your course content. I typically put each lesson in a new Page. 2. Gumroad: Use Gumroad to sell your course, handle payments, and to communicate with your customers. 3. ProductPress: the ProductPress plugin will allow you to connect your WordPress site and Gumroad account together. As soon as someone buys your course on Gumroad, they'll automatically be emailed login information for your WordPress site. It's only $39 (one-time fee). More information here: http://productpress.meJJ
the startups.com platform
Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.