One common perceived disadvantage that many product manager job seekers feel they have is their lack of a technical background or experience. They feel that if they don't have a computer science degree or if they've never worked as a software developer, it is almost impossible to land a PM position. This is a point that has been brought up on countless of calls that we've had over the past few years.
We want to put this misconception to bed: it is 100% possible to land a product manager role without having a computer science degree or technical experience. While there are certainly some product managers who started off their career as software developers, many did not. A lot of the clients we've placed at PM jobs all over the country did not have a engineering background. Therefore having this limiting belief is only going to hurt you during the job search and stop you from taking action, which is the most important thing you need to be doing.
So what are companies looking for from a technical perspective? At its core, hiring managers, product and engineering teams just want to know if you can communicate effectively with the development team and speak their language. You don't need to know how to code (that's the developer's job!) but you do need to know how to talk to engineers and possess enough technical fluency so that you can come to the table with your own viewpoint and push back if needed. For example, if you and your dev team are in a meeting estimating the effort needed for certain pieces of work, you need to be well-versed enough so that if the dev gives an estimate that seems too high or low, you recognize that and dig into why the dev is giving that number. Here are 40 key computer science concepts you should be familiar with: http://carlcheo.com/compsci.
To demonstrate that you have the right technical knowledge, you want to highlight times you have worked with either engineers or other technical stakeholders to complete a deliverable either at work or in school. If you have absolutely zero technical experience then you want to at least showcase your desire and willingness to learn, which can be done through related college or online courses you've taken or individual projects you've undertaken.
If you are interested in breaking into product management or are having trouble landing interviews and/or offers, please schedule a free call via the Contact page. We would love to chat and see how Product Manager Dojo can help.
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