Investment Banking to Product Management
Will be returning to a FT IB role in May after a successful summer that I really enjoyed. Recently, have been leading two teams of ~10 on campus that I have loved even more. I find the creativity that is needed to solve an ambiguous problem and coordinating and iterating towards a team goal a really great challenge that I enjoy working on.
Does anyone know how to get roles like this?
Also, i've only been able to read up on these roles on Blind, which is just a SWE echochamber. What is the finance consensus on these roles and how do your peers in PM feel about their day to day?
Also, is this a difficult career change to pull off?
It is incredibly hard to switch from banking to PM (even harder if you don't have at least a semi-technical background). Bit easier from consulting, but still very difficult.
Most common path is usually switching to a role in a tech company that interacts with the product team (e.g., product ops is the most ideal), then switching over after developing relationships (at the end of the day, a huge part of being a PM is managing relationships and influencing without authority)
Really helpful, thanks!
Do you think PM is preferable? I think it certainly seems more interesting, and while comp is relatively equal at the junior level but lower at the mid levels, it’s still great based on the hours difference
I just think that it’s more the skill set I am looking to build if it’s a product I’m interested in
Bump
bump - would be great to get WSO's perspective on this
If you grind PM interview prep and can get someone to give you a referral, it should not be too hard of a switch. There are tons of free youtube videos online to study from. I'd also reach out to PMs and try to get a referral/ do mock PM interviews.
background: did a few finance internships now going ft in tech.
Thanks for the insight. If you're comfortable sharing, can I ask what led you to switch from finance to tech? Would be great to get a sense of how "finance people" perceive these roles, to see if it meshes with what I've gathered from tech people
To be fair I never worked FT... but I did an internship in tech before I graduated and I enjoyed the culture and WLB, people also really enjoyed their jobs and were proud of the company they worked for. The upside is pretty close to finance roles (aside from IB) and obviously the tech sector is growing rapidly. Another reason I chose tech was because of the optionality it gives you in your career, you can start at a social media company, move to fintech/payments and end up in autonomous driving as there are roles across all areas requiring a similar skillset. Hope this helps, happy to answer any more questions you may have.
If you want any specific Qs answered, shoot. Currently a PM in adtech.
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