Resources for Non-Tech PMs

Hey everyone, excited to be doing this AMA! A brief about me, I work currently as a Director of Product at an Indian unicorn startup About my career: - Did my undergrad from IIT and then masters from an Ivy league school - Have been in product for almost 10 years now - across 2 Indian unicorn startups and a publicly listed company Would love to take questions on what it means to be a PM, growing within the role, building your career, and other things :) Will be back here at 4 pm and start replying Shoot away!

As a PM I would say it is to delivery high quality product in less time. 🕰️

Sharing some reflections on this: 1. Product is not a function with a large hierarchy / multiple levels in the ladder. Managerial responsibility comes in very late in the product career and the spans are typically small (relative to other functions like engineering, sales, operations). This also means a steeper funnel to the top and only a handful VP Product roles in the industry. 2. Product is centered around technology and digital consumer trends, both of which are fast changing. This requires constant unlearning and relearning. But more critically, this also means that previous knowledge/experience hits a plateau on marginal value beyond a basic threshold (where you have developed some essential product semse and skills). 3. Product managers are also much higher-paid vs other functional peers, at comparable years of experience. This means that a PM gets to a very high salary (say, 1+ crore) by the age of 40 (15-20y into their career). Tech functions in non-tech companies (like FMCG, banking) cannot offer that kind of pay, meaning salary growth beyond a point is limited to tech-first companies / limiting addressable market for lateral moves. All of these considererd, how should PMs think about the longevity of their careers? Unlike traditional roles, this does not seem like a "retire at 60" job. What would be the realistic age one should plan for, at which career growth and salary growth will stagnate? What are ways in which a 80%ile PM can extend their career (eg: also taking up engineering management or P&L responsibility or growth function etc., to increase scope)? PS: this post is not for the top 5-10% PMs. They will always find roles at VP level etc, this is for the 50-90%ile bucket of PM talent.

I've got 3.5YOE as a software engineer. what salary can I expect as an APM?

I want to understand if this is common for folks and is there a way to tackle it. I have recently moved my career from Talent Acquisition to Product Management Internally in my organization. My New Manager has also very recently joined the team. I see him barely investing time in understanding the skillset I hold and whenever there's a time of taking some responsibilities he will give it to others. I have been doing some operational work for the past 1 month now, majorly with excel sheets and coordination. I want to start working as a Product Management Professional and not as an operational Guy ! Open to suggestions on how to take this up !

I am an Software engineer turned PM(1 year). Transitioned internally in the org. I am looking for ways to 1) Figure out how PMs in big org release features, 2) How to they market it, 3) How do they measure adoption and grow when needed. 4) How do they analyse the impact and results 5) How are roadmaps built

All the PMs I see have an MBA or are past engineers. I'm from an arts and design background, Tier 1 institute. Worked in tech for 5+years and learned how to build products. Based on feedback so far, I'm doing fine. But I worry about progressing in my product career without those external signals. Product feels like a boys club full of people from the same universities and backgrounds, with the same extreme quant-driven approach. Is there room for diverse educational backgrounds in product management, realistically? Which companies have you see hiring these types of PMs? Would love to hear from others in the same boat.

Hey. I have close to 6 years of Experience in Sales and Customer centric roles but recently I have developed an interest in Product Development. For reference, I have an Engineering degree in Computer Science and MBA as well. A few questions for clarity: 1. Is it possible to make this transition into a Product role at this stage of my career? 2. If I want to teach myself the skills of a product manager, how should I start and what resources should i refer to, to begin with that can start the learning process?

How much should APM get as fresher?