Unlocking Your Product Management Career: Navigating Choices in the Golden Age
Some would argue that we are in the ‘Golden Age of Product Management’. Even with the recent layoffs from Big Tech, Product Management as a profession seems to be still one of the most thriving as a whole, with many job openings still popping up (albeit paired with more competition due to recent economic conditions).
A BRIEF HISTORY
What is a Product Manager? Product management as a profession started to be ‘a thing’ primarily for consumer goods and manufacturing companies in the late 20th century (think 1950–1960). It emerged from Procter & Gamble in 1931 when they started hiring ‘Brand Men’ to listen to VOC — ‘Voice Of Consumer’ — understanding customers’ pain points and what they are trying to solve.
From the 1970’s, with the rise of software, there arose a need for individuals to bridge the gap between technical development and market requirements. This trend continued to grow, exploding further in the 1990s with the dot-com boom.
In the last quarter-century product management as a function became more formalised with the establishment of best practices, frameworks, and methodologies, growing in popularity. Recently, there’s been a big increase in demand. Product management roles in the US grew by a staggering 32% from August 2017 to June 2019 (Source), and in 2022 product management was counted as LinkedIn’s top in-demand US jobs. (Source)
However, with popularity came specialization. Whereas before one could be more of a ‘general product manager’ these days the job descriptions ask for more and more specifics, like x number of years experience in a certain industry, a focus on fronted / backend, experience in a certain size of company, and so on. It’s not as easy anymore to say ‘I want to be a product manager’ but rather one needs to think about what kind of product manager they want to be. Next will discuss a variety of criteria and what they may mean for a future career step.
CRITERIA NUMBER 1 — Ability
Based on your background, you could be extremely technical (Computer or Engineering degree) or have experience in growth or marketing, data or hardware. Or perhaps you want to make a switch from being a UX designer to a Product Manager. This could make you a lot more suitable for certain Product Manager roles versus others.
Technical Product Manager > UX/UI Product Manager > UI/Experience Product Manager > API Product Manager > AI/ML Product Manager > Mobile Product Manager > Platform Product Manager > Data Product Manager > Hardware Product Manager > Growth Product Manager
There’s also an AI product management craze lately. We might all be AI product managers in the future. But is it what you want, or is it just shiny for now? Does it align with your current skills and positioning as a PM?
CRITERIA NUMBER 2 — Industry focus
You can be a product manager in any industry. If you have experience in one or a few specific industries this can be highly beneficial for your product management search, if you are looking for roles related to those industries. And it makes sense. Although the principles of product management make it a very versatile profession, if you have industry knowledge you are likely to grasps concepts from your stakeholders more quickly and align on their pain points / their why without much friction.
Here are some examples:
Consumer Product Manager > E-commerce Product Manager > SaaS Product Manager > Gaming Product Manager > Fintech Product Manager > HealthTech Product Manager > InsureTech Product Manager > EdTech > LegalTech > TravelTech > AgriTech > PropTech Product Manager > Automotive Product Manager > Telecom Product Manager > Sustainability Product Manager > Blockchain Product Manager > Robotics Product Manager
And there’s more!
CRITERIA NUMBER 3 — Maturity stage
Next, what kind of stage of company would you want to be in? It can be a very different thing to be in a start-up, building something from zero to one and going to market with a completely new product, versus enhancing an already existing product, with an existing customer base and customer data you can access for insights.
At the same time, the support you might have in a start-up might be a lot more limited compared to an established corporation. Think business analysts, customer experience teams, user research departments, delivery departments and so on. In a start-up you are much more likely to wear multiple hats. This could be a plus or a minus, depending on your personality.
Also, a startup environment is typically more dynamic (some would call it chaotic) compared to an established corporation (where you might encounter a lot of red tape and cumbersome approval processes), but there is really no hard or fast rule here. In fact, in startups you may think you can make decisions quickly but it is not always the case, if there is a lack of mission and alignment. In corporations you may think things are moving very slowly, but it is possible that you are empowered to do your job and be given the trust to execute without much red tape.
In scale-ups, it is possible you might have a huge amount of push from investors. In any case, they can all be quite wildly different experiences.
And did you know? There are also Product Managers that take care of products that are in a decommissioning process (Sunset phase), which can also be a very different experience from all others.
Startup Product Manager > Scale-up Product Manager > Enterprise Product Manager > Sunset Product Manager
HOW TO APPROACH YOUR NEXT ROLE SEARCH
So how does one choose your next role? In today’s market one could argue that there is not much choice and you get what you get. Even so, figuring out what most aligns with your goals and values before you make the move is really important.
Especially in a market like today’s, it is best to play to your strengths, and possibly avoid industry shifts or moving to a type of product management where you don’t have much experience. This is what I advise most of the people that I am mentoring. Bigger jumps are more advisable when it is more of a candidate’s market.
In another article I will be talking about the Japanese concept of IKIGAI when designing your ideal career, or choosing the ideal product management role, industry, and stage. Like this article in order to make sure you see more from me.
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