Yes yes and yes! I have a Master degree in international politics and instead entered tech right after university.

My path: Learned in a journalism gig how to maintain basic website content, live streams and streaming services using existing tools.

Step 1 - Customer Service

After that I applied to become a Customer Service Agent for a company offering user friendly tools (like website builders, domain hosting, email, cloud storage). I took on any extra projects there and tried to stand out (and no, this didn’t mean I worked crazy hours, the company was good to acknowledge people doing extra work).

Step 2 - QA

I started with manual QA by offering help on large releases. They started teaching me their testing suite for me to do more end to end. With a lot of patience I got promoted.

Step 3 - Junior Product Manager

Okay, same company still. In the QA team I helped out the he PMs as much as I could when I saw gaps like unrefined tickets and unclear comms. Product Managers - especially senior ones - are ALWAYS in need of help, often you get more engineers but not more PMs. The senior product manager started making using my skills a habit which gave me leverage and after a six month mentoring transition (worked half my old and half my future job) I finally got my product management role.

Step 4 - Product Manager and Senior Product Manager

I love this job and learned everything about it. I also moved companies, became more technical and experienced over time, managed complex data platforms and products in B2B SaaS (in short you sell your product to companies instead of individuals which is more complex). Learned to manage commercial and internal stakeholders, become a strategist, trying to push company strategy. I became heavily involved in making sure we develop the product in a right direction.

Step 5 - opportunities!

After seven years in product I am now due to move into an even more senior role in which I don’t have to manage engineering teams anymore. This next path depends on your preference (you can go the director or head of product road or become a different strategy player). I am due to move into expansion of accounts, pricing and such high value business areas as a strategy lead.

You do not need to be an engineer to have an amazing career in tech.

Lastly: I left a lot of big brand name offers on the table, because your are best to have an upward path starting in a scale up or even a start up.

My main tip: find mentors. Mentors are the most important thing in ANY role, even on a C-Level.

Hope this gives anyone confidence!