Thread by @mentorshipzim

Hello everyone, we are down to our final thread of the day. How to break into product management with no experience! First lets define product management according to @ProductPlan - a trusted authority in the product management field.

According to @productplan, Product management is the practice of strategically driving the development, market launch, and continual support and improvement of a company’s products. What does this mean in a tech startup thats starting out or building for scale in simple english?

A product manager is the glue between the software development team and diff stakeholders such as your potential users. She allocates tasks, checks up on them weekly or everyday while making sure everyone remembers the main goal that they agreed on, in the beginning.

It's a developing industry in Africa compared to lets say software engineers, or data scientists. We all need product managers because you cant only build when you feel like it, things must be systematic and on schedule. Its also one of the roles where you can land a remote role

How do you know you could be one ?
1. you are empathetic. You care when things do not seem as they should.
2. You are a good listener - when your team is saying they need more time or a resource, you are focused on trying to solve their problem.

3. You like putting out fires - you dont shy away from challenges, you attack the problem by the roots.
4. You operate from a first principles perspective - you can establish hierachical needs systematically.
5. You can communicate - deliver good and bad feedback

6. You are curious -what is the competition doing,whats the latest news, what new technologies can help you do more quickly. So how do you get in?

You can join the following communities
ProductBuds - notion.so/Product-Buds-W…
SidePrjct - build projects with other people, gain real experience - sideprjct.com
Take advantage of free ebooks on @productschool - productschool.com

Subscribe to products that count so you can slowly understand the lingo - productsthatcount.com/members/
Join Creative Product Managers on LinkedIn - linkedin.com/groups/123115/
Read SVPG religiiously -svpg.com/inspired-how-t…

For the ladies, sorry guys - join Women in Product on Facebook via this link -womenpm.org
More for ladies - hiretechladies.com
Sign up here for notifications on product jobs - womenhack.com

So the cheat code for getting in is basically
- Join groups on Facebook and LinkedIn
- Read as many free e books as you can.
- Enter every hackathon as a Product Manager so that you practice - it can go on your CV.
- Join projects on SidePrjct and volunteer with startups

- Request recommendations from a Senior member of the executive team when you have finished your internship or from your colleagues on LinkedIn.
- Build a portfolio of products on the web that a recruiter can easily check so they can verify your work.

Certifications are expensive - some cost even US4k so try go for the Udemy, Pluralsight or Coursera ones.
Lastly network in tech groups such as Developer Circles, or Google Developer Groups cause that's where the techies are, and techies are always building something.

You can craft a strong international quality CV in a year if you apply what I have written above, and land a role remotely. All you have to do is build your own experience then present it well in an industry type CV.

Please note that we need product managers and marketers as much as we need software engineers. When they have a good thing going on, both feed off each other's practicality and execution. Its also a relevant skill to learn for the next ten years.

If you move to Canada or the UK, Ireland or US with those skills, a Jnr Product Manager can earn US45k a year depending on location. Software is eating the world guys, lets jump in! Im ready for your questions