I joined Ryan Fetterly's Modern Job Hunt podcast to talk about product management career paths, specifically moving from (individual contributor) product manager to Director/Group Product Manager/Leader.
We had a wide-ranging conversation including
- My own move from PM to Director (back in the 1990's)
- Speaking the language of executives (hint: money!) as well the language of development/design (process, analysis, technology)
- How director roles are different from individual contributors, and which might be the best fit for different folks
- How B2B/enterprise companies (and therefore product management) is different from B2C companies. And how tech companies (mostly software) are different from tech-enabled companies (banks, airlines, government...)
- Getting promoted within your current company vs. looking for a promotion as part of a move between companies
- Cycles of tech downturns, and what current job seekers might be seeing