Building A Career In Product Management — Is There A Logical Path To Success?
I am excited to announce the release of my book — Building A Career In Product Management: Is There A Logical Path To Success?
Introduction
After I graduated from IIT Varanasi (India) in 2009, I took a job as a mining engineer — not data mining, but diamond & iron ore mining. I left this job in 2014 to pursue an MBA at George Washington University (Washington, DC). I gained business knowledge, but I prematurely worked on starting my own travel company, which I had to shut down due to a lack of sufficient funds. Fortunately, my entrepreneurial passion led me to a product management position in an early-stage startup. The startup experience gave me great exposure to product & growth management. Now I’m the Head of Product at Routespring, one of the fastest-growing business travel startups in the USA and rated #1 easiest-to-use software on G2.
While my academic and professional background may seem unrelated to my current product management role, was there any logical path for me to get here? Let’s explore!
My Childhood And Academic Journey
When I was 10 years old, my father bought a computer to introduce me to Lotus123, which was my first introduction to a software program. I was quick to learn and started enjoying performing simple math operations on it. My quick learning ability made my family & relatives think that I will become a computer engineer. Although the power of computer software made an impression on me, I was more interested in solving problems of the physical world.
Noticing my interest in physics, science, and mathematics, my father motivated me to start dreaming about pursuing engineering at IIT (Indian Institute of Technology), the topmost engineering institute in India. That’s how I got into bachelor’s in mining technology at IIT Varanasi.
While at IIT Varanasi, I found my love for participating and organizing extracurricular activities. I started volunteering in student organizations and eventually became General Secretary of cultural activities which was the highest student-body leadership position (equivalent to a CEO in a corporate world). As a General Secretary, I led different student teams for managing event operations, finances, marketing, public relations, and bureaucracy. This provided a fantastic learning opportunity for dealing with cross-functional teams and was certainly a great platform to get groomed for becoming a better manager and a leader before joining a professional life.
As you can see, I was blessed with opportunities that gave me traits essential for a product manager’s success even before I joined the professional workforce.
1. Tech mindset — Introduction to Lotus123 made me appreciate technology
2. Focus on practical problems — Interest in physics led me to acknowledge practical problems and find real solutions
3. Leading cross-functional teams — Love of extracurriculars gave me an opportunity to hone people skills and manage cross-functional teams to organize events
So there could be some logical path!
However, this doesn’t mean that I had a smooth ride in a product management role. There were challenges during the start of my PM career and that’s what motivates me to write this book. This book is intended to help you become more aware of what the product management role means and how can you prepare yourself for success.
I am currently distributing this book for free (for a limited time only). Grab your free copy and help spread the word now :)
- Amazon India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0C9YTMLX4
- Amazon USA: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9YTMLX4
- Amazon Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0C9YTMLX4
- Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C9YTMLX4
- Amazon Mexico: https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0C9YTMLX4
- Amazon Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0C9YTMLX4
