How I Made My Own Product Management Experience

The biggest challenge with breaking into product management is gaining the initial experience. Hiring managers are typically looking for individuals with tangible product experience for Product Manager roles, leaving those without experience in a “chicken and egg” situation. How can I gain product experience if no one will hire me?

I found myself in this situation several years ago when I wanted to shift my career from sales into product management. I read all the books, networked with Product Managers, went to talks, and listened to product podcasts on my commute to and from my sales job. But no matter how much I could cite theories about agile methodologies and roadmap prioritization, I still continued to get the feedback that I needed real product management experience in order to land a Product Manager role.

So after months of applications and rejections, I decided to make my own product management experience.

I began with brainstorming ideas for a product. What problems did I have in my day-to-day life? What experience could be improved with a digital product?

I eventually settled on a product that enabled users to pool money for big purchases (a personal struggle for me and my friends in our early 20’s). Once I had the product idea, I worked my way down the agile checklist. I researched, answered, and documented the following questions:

- What problem am I solving?

- Who am I solving this problem for?

- What is the minimum viable product I can build to solve this problem?

- Are there competitors in the space and what do they look like?

Okay great — I knew the problem, the market, the competitors, and the MVP functionality. So now, how do I build this thing?

I reached out to some software engineers in my network to see if I could find anyone with an interest in beginning a side project. I used Upwork to hire a frontend engineering and a UX designer. I signed up for Jira, watched some how-to videos, and began writing tickets for the work. I reached out to Product Managers I knew and asked for templates for writing product requirement documents. I signed up for Sketch and tried my hand at wireframing.

Several months (and lots of lessons) later, I had a product that I had shipped to market. I had owned the whole project from end to end, from ideation to release. I felt more pride in that deployment than I ever had during my time in sales.

The lesson I want to share with anyone trying to break into product management (or any new role for that matter) is to have patience and grit and to utilize every tool you have for changing your circumstances. I leveraged my existing network, LinkedIn messages to strangers, Upwork, and tons of free resources to make my own experience. I reached out to everyone I could to help guide me through my journey, and I tenaciously sought out answers to any and all of my questions along the way.

But even after all this time and effort spent working as a Product Manager on the side, I still did not have job offers for PM roles come in right away. It still took me several years to finally land my first full-time role in Product.

Looking for any new job can be disheartening, but it can feel especially daunting when you’re looking to break into a new role where you might not have direct experience. Have patience, and do not stop fighting for where you want to be. There will be moments where your efforts feel futile, but they are not. And remember to look back at how far you’ve come, even if you’re not yet where you want to be.