Shifting From Engineer to Product Manager

Oddi Muhammad Ikbar - April 2020 for TechInAsia

First  of  all,  I  would  say  thank  you  for  participating  at  TechinAsia  PDC  2020  Virtual  Talk, 
“Shifting  from  Software  Engineer  to  Product  Manager”.  This  is  a  ​handout  that  hopefully  will 
help  the  ones  that  are  really  interested  in  shifting  your  career  from 
whatever-your-current-job to product manager. 

A step-by-step shifting recommendation

1. Get  to  know  yourself  more  and  do your research whether PM is your Ninja 
Way or not 
You can start by answering these questions: 
● Are you happy with your current job? 
● Do you like and enjoy what you are doing right now? 
● Can  you  imagine  yourself  what  would  you  be  in  5  years  with  your  current  job? 
Do you have a job title dream in 5 years in the same field? 
After  you’ve  done  with  those  questions,  start  answering  the  same  questions  but 
change  all  the  “current  job”  with  “if  you  are  a  product  manager”. Of course, you need to do 
your  research  about  what  is  a  product  manager  day-to-day  activity,  what  skills  are  required, 
what are the challenges, etc. Here’s some recommendations to get you started: 
● Product School San Francisco Youtube Channel - 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6hlQ0x6kPbAGjYkoz53cvA 
● The Product Podcast - Spotify 
● Book: The Lean Startup - Eric Ries 
● Book: Hooked - Nir Eyal and Ryan Hoover 
● Book: Zero to One - Peter Thiel and Blake Masters 
● Search “day-to-day product manager” and look at the videos of a big 
companies (google) to get you inspired 
● Get yourself a good knowledge of PM life by asking your friends or someone you 
know 
 2. Okay, Assume that you’re in and you want to get your hands dirty with PM 
things 
Let’s  go  directly  to  the  main  course.  You  want  to  get  hired.  Then  these  are  the 
straightforward steps for you: 
● The  first  thing  you’re  going  to  do  is  make  sure  you  represent  yourself  as  a 
person  who  has  an  interest  in  product  management  in  your  ​CV,  Cover  Letter, 
and  LinkedIn.  ​Do  your  research  on  how  to  make  an  outstanding  CV  and 
LinkedIn,  please  remember  that  don’t  overdo  it,  keep  being  honest,  do  it  in  a 
more elegant way. 
● Together with make your branding better, learn and know how you can improve 
your  PM  skills  further.  Assuming  you’ve  done  your  research  at  point  1,  you 
must’ve  known  what  you  need  to  do and where to get that. ​This will be handy 
for you so you won’t mess your interview chances.  
● I  know  it’s  not  easy.  I  recommend  you  to  apply  to  any  available  ​PM  intern 
position  to  have  some  exposure.  If  you’re confident enough with yourself, then 
you would probably apply to any available ​Associate Product Manager​ position.  
3. Along  the  way  while  you’re  working,  please  reflect  once  again  if  this  is 
really what you wanted in the first place or not.  
Don’t forget, don’t stop learning. There’s always room for improvement. 
4. Okay,  you  want  to  be  an  Exceptional  Product  Manager,  not  just  a  regular 
one.  
At  this  point,  you’ll  need  to  deliver  results  to  your  users,  meaning  your  ​internal 
company  users  ​and  your  external  customers.  ​To  deliver  some  results,  please  ​ask  your 
superiors/mentors  available  in  your  company!  ​They  both  need  to  see  the  impact  on  your 
presence  in  the  company.  It’s  the  most  challenging  and  exciting  part.  Don’t  forget  to  enjoy 
the process and break a leg! 
 
For more information, don’t hesitate to contact me at:  
LinkedIn (​https://linkedin.com/in/oddiikbar​) 
Email (oddi.ikbar@bukalapak.com)