Product management at FAANG+ and startups has been an incredibly sought after role in recent years, including among burnt out junior TMT bankers. Obviously the opportunity to work for a market-leading tech company w/ better hours and solid comp (including RSUs, though that's tempered in the current market) has been a huge draw. A few questions on this type of exit:
1) How feasible is it to become a PM without a CS degree? Assuming you're someone from the traditional banking background (Finance/Econ major)?
2) Once you get in, what's the career path? Assuming you're able to make the pivot (even if that requires an MBA like Amazon's Senior PM program), where do you go from there? Are division heads/VPs/GMs/C-level execs at tech companies promoted from the ranks of product managers?
3) Is advancement in that role possible without a CS degree/technical background?
You don’t really need anything to pivot to PM. The only thing recruiters really care about, if anything, is pedigree. If you went to an Ivy/S/M/UCB/UCLA, you just need to get a referral from a current employee and then pass the interviews which are extremely standard across all of the major tech companies and thereby very easy to prepare for. This advice applies generally across all tech positions as well: get a referral, grind interview questions, apply to 15-20 companies, get a job, done.
As for career progression, I personally know a history major from my school who got Google APM and is now working as chief of staff at a startup. There are a bunch of different paths, but generally most people end up bouncing around startups until one takes off or they stay at a FAANG until they retire. It’s a chill life as far I understand it.
All of this is very accurate. Especially the recruiting path and exit options.
However, one thing about "chill life": this is not true. I know few people in tech (at PM roles pre/post MBA) and it really depends on 1. Stage of company you are at; 2. Stage of career you are at. If you are at a high-profile venture backed startup, you will constantly be "shipping" features/launching products/doing lots of customer reviews/managing expectations internally and externally - and your hours can be fairly long. There's real pressure to ship things fast, and ship them right.
If you are at FAANG or more established company, things are a lot slower, and you can indeed coast - unless you are gunning for Head of Product/VP level position. Also, depending on your track record (and venture investors in the company you work at) - VC exits are a real option.
Most people I know who are very ambitious and at PM roles work similar hours to me - but big portion of their hours is "fun" work - meeting people, networking, etc (launching products/features can be really fun). They do not work weekends, and definitely have more-time off than I do annually and WFH flexibility to go on trips, vacation, etc. Comp can scale tremendously, but most of it is in stock- so you really have to believe in the company and product you are working on for it to work.
Yeah, agree for the most part, but it’s really just your point #2 that matters. At least in my experience, the vast, vast majority of PMs are not going to end up in a proper VP/director position at a big-tech/late-stage, hence the jump to early-stage startups where the work is more relaxed and why I say it’s a pretty chill life. All of my PM buddies minus one are in the latter bucket and I have no goddamn clue what they do with their time because I never see them working. I actually haven’t seen the late-stage guy surface in about a month though, so I should probably check in on him.
how many of them got huge paydays from their startup?
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