"I really want to break into Product Management"

make products.

"If only someone would tell me how I can get a startup to notice me."

Make Products.

"I guess it's impossible and I'll never break into the industry."

MAKE PRODUCTS.

Courtesy of @edbrisson's wonderful thread on breaking into comics – https://t.co/TgNblNSCBj – here is why the same applies to Product Management, too.
There is no better way of learning the craft of product, or proving your potential to employers, than just doing it.
You do not need anybody's permission. We don't have diplomas, nor doctorates. We can barely agree on a single standard of what a Product Manager is supposed to do.
But – there is at least one blindingly obvious industry consensus – a Product Manager makes Products.

And they don't need to be kept at the exact right temperature, given endless resource, or carefully protected in order to do this.

They find their own way.
Since the dawn of capitalism, life has given children lemons, and they have sold lemonade for extortionate profits.
You, my dear time traveler, find yourself in 2018, a time not just of plentiful lemons, but lots, lots more. It is easier than ever to...
Learn to code (if you like to get your hands dirty) https://t.co/DwowAOZFJu
Build without code (that's okay too) https://t.co/nyK1hnfZrl
Find people to try your product https://t.co/T5Iu5mq6E1
And here's a wonderful secret: if your product fails, it doesn't really matter.

Most things we try don't work. Failure is a fact of life in Product.

In some cases, failure is the best demonstration of your potential.
We look for candidates that can fail and OWN their failures.

Candidates that cannot tell us about past failure are either unable to take risks (bad PM), liars (worse PM), or are some kind of nature defying superhero (probably not within our hiring budget).
A great Product Manager takes risks as a matter of habit. They chase after uncertainty. They learn at every step of the journey.
So there is no excuse 😉

M A K E P R O D U C T S !

More from Tech

On Wednesday, The New York Times published a blockbuster report on the failures of Facebook’s management team during the past three years. It's.... not flattering, to say the least. Here are six follow-up questions that merit more investigation. 1/

1) During the past year, most of the anger at Facebook has been directed at Mark Zuckerberg. The question now is whether Sheryl Sandberg, the executive charged with solving Facebook’s hardest problems, has caused a few too many of her own. 2/
https://t.co/DTsc3g0hQf


2) One of the juiciest sentences in @nytimes’ piece involves a research group called Definers Public Affairs, which Facebook hired to look into the funding of the company’s opposition. What other tech company was paying Definers to smear Apple? 3/ https://t.co/DTsc3g0hQf


3) The leadership of the Democratic Party has, generally, supported Facebook over the years. But as public opinion turns against the company, prominent Democrats have started to turn, too. What will that relationship look like now? 4/

4) According to the @nytimes, Facebook worked to paint its critics as anti-Semitic, while simultaneously working to spread the idea that George Soros was supporting its critics—a classic tactic of anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists. What exactly were they trying to do there? 5/

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