My journey into product management (as an engineering/computer science grad)
Last year, I finished up my undergraduate studies with two very technical degrees: an Honours in Mechatronic Engineering and a Bachelors in Computer Science.
Today, I work as a product manager for Australia’s biggest tech company. Product Management (PM) is largely considered to be a non-technical role, so how the heck did I end up here!??
I’m so glad you asked! But before we get into it, let me give you some context.
Context #1: ✍🏻 Why Am I Writing This?
For two reasons.
Firstly — I love speaking to other young people about their careers! I’ve had heaps of fantastic chats with passionate students that have reached out to learn about my experiences.
The first few questions I’m asked, almost without fail, are the same — to the point where I can copy and paste my answers from one LinkedIn DM to another. I want to answer these FAQs in a centralised place so I’m able to have richer and more personalised conversations with students who want to explore product careers.
Secondly, I found out about the PM role ~3 weeks before I ended up applying to the APM (Associate Product Manager) internship at Atlassian. I was in my fourth year of university…