Mechanical EngineeringProduct Manager
Unverified. Submitted, nothing checked.Starting conditions
- Institution
- Regional Public University
- Major
- Mechanical Engineering
- GPA band
- 3.8-4.0
- Graduated
- 2022
- Location
- Chicago, United States
- No relevant experience
- No professional network
The sequence6 steps
- Job1 yr 6 mo
Worked as a design engineer
Worked as a design engineer. This took 18 months and was slower than expected.
- Project10 moPivotal
Led a cross-functional product launch as the engineering lead
Led a cross-functional product launch as the engineering lead. This took 10 months and was harder than expected.
Start this earlier than feels necessary.
- Networking7 mo
Built relationships with the product organization internally
Start this earlier than feels necessary.
Evidence for this step - Application5 mo
Applied to APM programs externally
Applied to APM programs externally. This took 5 months and was slower than expected.
- Setback1 moPivotal
Rejected from every external APM program
Rejected from every external APM program. This took 1 months and was harder than expected.
Obstacle
The plan stalled here, and it was not obvious it would recover.
How it was resolved
Asked the people who rejected me what the specific disqualifier was, then fixed exactly that instead of everything at once.
- Pivot2 moPivotal
Moved internally into an associate product role
Moved internally into an associate product role. This took 2 months and was slower than expected.
Start this earlier than feels necessary.
Outcome
Product manager offer
Reflection
Would repeat
- Starting the outreach earlier than felt comfortable.
Would skip
- The first application cycle, which I entered underprepared.
Biggest obstacle
Having no contacts in the field, which made every early step slower than it needed to be.
What was luck
- One person answered a cold email who did not have to.
Estimated cost: Roughly $9,000 across the whole transition.