TEI 020: How to Get a Product Management Job – with Gayle McDowell

Global Product Management Talk is pleased to bring you episode 020 of...

The Everyday Innovator with host Chad McAllister, PhD.

The podcast is all about helping people involved in developing and managing products become more successful, grow their careers, and STANDOUT from their peers.

Our Guest: Gayle Laakmann McDowell is an experienced software engineer, having worked at Google, Microsoft, and Apple. In 2008 she founded CareerCup, a company to help people get tech jobs and assist tech companies with their interviewing process. She also authored “Cracking the PM Interview: How to Land a Product Manager Job in Technology.”

Highlights from the discussion include:

• The 4 Framework: Employers what product managers with skills in four areas:
  • Technology: the technology related to the work the company does. For example, a product manager should understand software development if they work for a company that creates software applications.
  • Business: knowledge of marketing, sales, production, etc.,  practices, managing and motivating others, and aligning product management objectives to business objectives.
  • Industry: specific domain knowledge of the industry. For example, if you’re creating software applications for the finance industry, financial skills and knowledge of the industry.
  • Product: the ability to think like the user, develop solutions to their problem, and manage the process and people for creating a product.
• The priorities of the four skill areas do differ based on company. For example, Amazon emphasizes business skills first while Google emphasizes technology skills first. Determine what is important for the companies you wish to interview with before you get into the interview.