Starter Kit (Resources) for Landing Your First Product Role
Top product resources all aspiring and junior PMs should get across
A common challenge people face when trying to land their first product role is a lack of time. The overwhelming amount of information can become a distraction and does not help clarify the pathway of a career change. There is a lot to learn, even if you come from a similar background in tech.
Most of us aren’t fresh out of uni; we have jobs that pay the bills, families, summer plans, lack of time and money, etc, so… Where do you start? What do you prioritise?
This article presents a consolidation of resources I’ve used on my journey. While I can’t promise X% of your time saved, I can promise that this guide shares resources valuable for your time. Please apply your judgement; you have the final say and responsibility on your journey.
Note: this list is not a substitute for your learning journey. Obviously, you need to learn about the role of a PM, do a lot of Googling (or prompt engineering), try to gain some experience, redo your resume, and all that jazz. See this list as ‘extras’ or stones on your learning pathway.
Essentials: for the busiest aspiring PM in the world
Do these 3 things if you are the busiest aspiring PM in the world:
Read “Inspired” by Marty Cagan
This is an all-time classic for product managers. An old, inspiring and iconic book that passionately shares the spirit of being a product manager in San Francisco.
While Inspired is a highly respected book in the product community, it also receives some criticism for being ‘utopic.’ However, it’s a great reference book that shares the history of product management and stories from the most successful technology-powered and product-led companies during their booming periods. It represents an ideal, and I believe every aspiring PM needs to get a strong understanding of what that ideal is.
Listen to Lenny’s Podcast
Basically, listen to successful product leaders talk to other successful product leaders about current affairs in the world of product, or about how to be a great product manager (values, practices, priorities, etc).
The goal is for you to learn the language of product, feel empathy for product struggles, and understand the ways of thinking through problems. Eventually, these three things will come naturally, and you’ll start speaking like a Product Manager. But to kick-start the process, you will need to immerse yourself in the world of product.
Podcasts are a great way for product immersion because the speakers are credible product leaders, they touch on a wide range of topics which can improve your contextual knowledge, and you can’t follow around a PM in your team all day like a baby duck.
I won’t recommend specific episodes to listen to, as the goal is not to master specific content but to learn the art of blending into the product culture.
I tend to get distracted while listening to conversational (but not technical/detailed) podcasts. Lenny’s podcast is the best I’ve found (but there are no rules to prevent you from 1.5x the speed of podcasts).
Either (your choice) read the 2 essays by Ken Norton: “How to Hire a Product Manager” and “A How to Hire a Product Manager Retrospective” OR watch some YouTube videos by Shreyas Doshi
I couldn’t pick between them. Ideally, do both.
As an aspiring PM looking for your role in product, reading an essay written by a product leader who acquired his experience during Yahoo’s and Google’s booming periods in the early 2000s about how to hire a product manager is one of the best reads you can do. I don’t agree with everything Ken states. But it gives perspective.
Shreyas is a great product leader to follow on LinkedIn. His short videos model ways of thinking for other PMs, provoke self-reflection and challenge maladaptive processes. He may be slightly advanced, hence he’s not in the top 2 of this list.
Tip: use AI to assist your career transition journey by diving into specific topics/terms/concepts/ideas/processes/frameworks that these resources reveal. Ask for elaboration, criticism, real-life examples, alternative views, etc.
The fully equipped learner
This section is for people who have the time to gain a strong understanding of product management from a wide variety of resources.
Do everything under the “essentials” list above (including the bonus tip), plus these 3 things:
Find a library of product resources from the Product School.
They have product templates, the full product manifesto (read this), glossary of product terminologies, guides, blog posts, etc. Also, check out Lenny’s favourite product templates. He has a great list!
This is not under the ‘essentials’ list because I believe you can learn about specific product tools and frameworks/templates in your first job (not a big deal), and every company tends to use slightly different tools anyway.
Follow Shreyas Doshi on LinkedIn. I think every PM should. He is very observant and challenges others to become more observant. He’ll be even more useful once you land your first product role. Here are some other product leaders to follow: Nikhyl Singhal, Melissa Perri, Hilary Gridley, and Shobhit Chugh.
Read Lenny’s Newsletter. His recent writings are AI-focused, but he’s got plenty of generic PM articles from prior years too. Again, whether starting out your product career or growing into more advanced positions, I think every PM should read Lenny’s content.
The passionate (not obsessed) nerd
This is for people with an abundance of time and curiosity, who want to dive into rabbit holes with more structure.
Do everything under the “essentials” (including the bonus tip) and “the fully equipped learner” lists, plus these 3 things:
Read Silicon Valley Articles.
Extremely valuable resource to have! Only making it to this section of the article because aspiring PMs tend to find the content and language too technical/advanced.
Follow another podcast: “Product Thinking Podcast” by Melissa Perri OR “The Product Manager Podcast” by Hannah Clark. Both are fine podcasts, so pick one that suits your style/interest.
Read more books! Some great ones are… “Escaping the Build Trap” by Melissa Perri, “Product Leadership” by Richard Banfield, Martin Eriksson and Nate Walkingshaw, “Lean Product Playbook” by Dan Olsen, and “Lean Startup” by Eric Ries.
Don’t rush these books. Don’t read them back-to-back. Take your time digesting the ideas, writing notes and reflecting. While I encourage junior PMs to read these books, I also encourage them to re-read these books as a Senior PM.
There is something beautiful about rediscovering something you were taught as a child, like a deep realisation that sinks in due to real-life experience (and pain). Two different experiences that complement each other during the process of growth:
learning the theory from a naive context when everything jumps out fresh to you and clutters the mind with excitement, and
learning the theory that is relatable to your experiences, where the ‘why’ behind certain ‘whats’ and the finer details that make the biggest differences jump out (when you missed them during the first read).
Tip: as you read, note some action points or goals to aim for. You may realise things you want to change or improve about yourself. Or maybe you realise how valuable some of your qualities or skills are and want to double down on those. What you read should inspire you to become a better version of yourself (in my opinion). So, do something about it(!) — let it plant the seeds and craft a better version of you.
All the images I use have been generated using deepai.org (the pop art generator). 🦸♀️
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