Ask HN: Product Managers, how did you get there and what's your background?

My path was a little different, as I am neither a developer nor someone with an MBA - I worked on some personal projects early on (startups, tech focused non-profits) where I demonstrated basic PM/getting the right things done skills, and I combined that with some early experience I had as a program manager at Microsoft and as an undergrad intern within PM groups at other companies.

In terms of how to start, the 3 ways I can think of are:

1) Work as an engineer for some time, try to pick up roles such as being the scrum master, managing sprints etc. (or whatever equivalent your team is doing), then get an MBA - many companies will hire you for PM right out of MBA school with no prior experience

2) The program manager role at Microsoft is one of the few places where you can start in a role that is essentially junior product (they hire undergrads right out of school). If you can find other companies that have roles like this, that's one way to get into the PM role. Another one is Expedia I think, an MS spin-off.

3) Another way would be to go work at a startup where you can add PM input and grow into the role. This is what I would pick if I were to start over again.

Generally speaking I think companies are open-minded when hiring for the PM role - you don't have to fit an exact formula. In my experience people look for evidence of the following in your background:

1) Being able to think big and be truly creative

2) Being able to ship products (preferably you've actually shipped something already)

3) Being comfortable working with data (though my 2c is that we're over-doing this)

4) Having good decision-making frameworks for why, what and when the org should be building things

5) Being able to dive into the weeds of any domain without hesitation.

My team at Amazon is hiring PMs by the way. If you're interested in talking, feel free to send me a note.

Skills:

- Be a problem solver and work-around thinker

- Know when to say no and to whom

- Be a UX minded person

- Do not over-rely on numbers/data

- Be humble

My product management position grew out of a freelance job, where I was contracted to build a proof-of-concept for the products that we now install on sites all over the US. At first I was managing EVERYTHING, but gradually we spread things out effectively and I now do R&D for new products, high-level UX design of the software and as much of the hardware as I can, and coordinate engineering, sales, CMs, execs, etc. and whatever else needs doing to make sure the products get made and launched with the best possible UX.

> What skills must be demonstrable?

1. Talk to users/customers/salespeople. Understand the product, understand the customers, understand the market.

2. Understand your engineering team(s). Get them excited about the product and make sure they understand WHY the product is being designed/executed in the way that it is.

3. Be an innovative designer. Think laterally. Experience art. Invent new ways of addressing the customer's needs. Don't take 1 step back, don't take 10 steps back, take 100 steps back. Think about what the product is really doing and what the customer really needs. Strip it to the core and imagine the perfect solutions to the problems. Throw out how things are "normally" done (then reconsider them later). If you can't, then I guess at least hire an experienced, professional, creative UX designer.

4. Communicate exceedingly well. Reply to people immediately. Make sure they realize that you care about their needs and opinions. Be extremely accessible.

1. Former project manager gets product manager title as a symbolic promotion

2. A marketing guy simply begins calling himself as one. Well, marketing guys like to change their titles to whatever position is now trendy.

On the 1st type: no problem with those. A good project manager always knows what the project is about, so he knows the product by default even if managing product features is outside his ordination.