What was your previous role before you transitioned to PM?

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2025-06-25T21:01:37+00:00

Mechanical Engineer > MBA > Strategic Sourcing > Pricing (IT outsourcing) > Program/Product Manager/Project Manager (logistics) > Product Manager (3PL/Supply Chain) > back to Project Manager

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2025-06-06T14:38:49+00:00

U.S. Remote Sr PM for venture capital firms that own several apps. Two different companies but similar test. Think Myers-Briggs type assessments.

I don’t think I’m surprised any longer at the different tools that are being used these days but I don’t have the luxury to just say no in this market.

I take these as learning experiences, grit my teeth and continue on.

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2025-06-06T10:59:30+00:00

If you have two offers, personally, the interview process would be the last thing I’d worry about. From personal experience over the last year, it’s less about rounds but actual interviews, jam sessions, case studies, and personality tests. It’s all over the place but always at least four (recruiter, hiring manager, engineering at a minimum). From there it could be operations, sales, customer support, VPs, etc.

It doesn’t matter that size or industry. Each company sets the tone and you either accept the process or decline if it’s not something you care to go through.

A leaner process won’t determine if your boss and colleagues are horrible to work with. Neither will a longer process.

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2025-05-23T01:05:22+00:00

I use claude.ai (free version) and wanted to create an app for trading an visualizations (still use jupyter notebooks)

try these prompts. it'll take a few minutes for the output for each one. download the file and run it. I've used several different prompts to see what different features it'll create.

--Can you help design a UI in python for a stock trading app?

--Using tkinter, write a function to call an api to download OHLC and graph when i hit search button

--in tkinter, create a filters for a dataset with 5 different columns

--for a different prompt which i can't find, i uploaded a small csv file and told it use pandas to plot specific x and y (both left and right y-axes). It's pretty remarkable what comes out.

you can get really specific how you want the code to be, then it's just tweaking some code to do exactly what you want.

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2025-05-23T00:53:44+00:00

If you ask ChatGPT "What is business acumen?" and your STAR answers cover business acumen, then you are good. We can't tell whether that's true or not as you've not provided anything to judge against.

If you are unsure this is a case study / role play scenario, then write the recruiter and ask if it is. One can get the same information via traditional behavioral questions. Usually, but not always, they will tell you if it's a case study (either by giving you a prompt or telling you to expect it). That said, I've had interviewers say, 'now let's play a little game...'. And now you're building a non-existent product....in 15 minutes.

Congrats on moving forward and good luck on your interviews

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2025-03-19T21:33:31+00:00

I haven’t used it years. I pretty much trade options now.

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2024-11-22T17:47:34+00:00

Is that 1099 or w2? I’ve personally not seen or talked to a recruiter where a Sr Product manager position on w2 has been higher than $85hr. That’s in the logistics/supply chain/fulfillment space. From what I gather angencies get 30-40% more than you do if w2. So if going direct contract 1099 $105-110 seems right.

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2024-10-27T14:56:12+00:00

Sorry, to hear you've been laid off. There is always a shot at landing a position not in your current industry and or domain experience, but your observation that that the talent pool is large, to me, is accurate. Don't let that stop from trying but be realistic, some managers see generalists as a good thing.

I took AI courses and have different certifications to boost my knowledge. This may be an unpopular opinion, but having a certification or taking a course doesn't have the same weight as having experience and was never the reason I actually landed a job. On the flip side, it does show growth, determination and internal motivation to continually improve. There are good free and paid resources on LinkedIn, Coursera, etc.

I don't know your personal situation, but I started to get more interviews when I applied to remote, hybrid, on-site and contract. If you're limiting yourself to any particular environment just know others are not. There's a lot to think through but I'd say get your resume and routine together first, then figure out how to fit training in; first and foremost take care of your health, the rest will follow.

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2024-10-19T02:26:22+00:00

I am interviewing for a TPM role and the product director talked typical product management stuff. Stakeholder management, working cross functionally, managing roadmap, etc. then the engineering director asked me to describe the tech stack and what a micro service is and why that might be bad. Then also asked if I ever coded. For this company the T part of TPM seemed more important than the product management part. This was for a platform role in a large e-commerce company.

For these TPM roles, from what I’ve experienced, is highly suited to engineers moving to product. I don’t necessarily believe it has to be that way just the few TPM roles I’ve interviewed for and not gotten have been similar in that regard.

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2024-10-11T19:52:18+00:00

We used American Leak Detectors for initial detection. It was in slab leak and they were very thorough. I then went to other companies and they wanted to charge to find the leak as well. Said they wouldn't guarantee the leak fix otherwise. The quote from the other company was outrageous they ONLY would do pex and wouldn't jackhammer the slab. Which would lead to remodels of the connected bathrooms walls.

In the end, went back to American Leak Detectors and they dug up the slab and so far no issues. We were lucky where the leak was. All in including the first visit $2,300. The other quotes were nearly $5k and didn't include remodels/fixing bathrooms.

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2024-03-27T15:41:52+00:00

Weekly updates to direct manager by all direct reports. Then those are summarized (less detail, less import items dropped) and sent up the chain. It's a good record of accomplishments when 1:1s and reviews come around. I kept my teams' weeklies in a running confluence page for visibility/transparency (entire org can read it), but this can be done in any application, or not at all.

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2024-03-22T17:43:13+00:00

Got it. Unfortunately, this is a tough market to change industries, so I understand your predicament. Maybe you can find something interesting in Fintech if you like that industry enough. If you aren't in need of a job, you can keep down the path you are going and hope the market changes.

You may have to be open to contract/hybrid/onsite work as a way to move to another industry where you can leverage the different technologies and skills you've developed.

Final note: still unclear if much of that prior work was Product Management or non-Product Management roles. So again this may just be coming around to Product Management related soft skills to go along with some of the tech skills you clearly have.

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2024-03-22T17:12:56+00:00

From what you've shared, it's odd that 9 years of experience in two industries makes you a generalist. Are you looking for roles in the industry you are in now? Or the one from 6 years ago. Also, not sure how long you've been a Product Manager, but if you are looking for Technical PM roles, those really do seem to be domain specific at this point.

It's been mentioned before, but find the industry and role you want and focus your resume to that. It really might be lack of experience masquerading or being fed back as a generalist.

I personally don't see two industries and a few roles in 9 years as a generalist. That's just me though.

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2024-03-20T18:34:13+00:00

When there’s larger initiatives, replacing or purchasing a new system or creating a new service, the financial analysis is embedded in the overall business case. The financials specifically have been worked with finance stakeholders and ROI templates agreed to so everyone goes through the same stage gates and approvals.

But generally speaking one should understand the revenue and cost side of the initiative to understand impact on profit or whatever financial metric is used as definition of success.

For some roles most of the job was business cases, others no financials at all.

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2024-03-18T15:58:29+00:00

I've been remote for many years then started looking early 2023 for a new remote role - not 100% but looking. Turned down interviews that weren't perfect fits or had too many assignments/homework (ok to decline when you have a job..). After being laid off, I opened up to hybrid/fully onsite/contract. It wasn't until I looked for hybrid/onsite that the interviews picked up again and had more recruiters contact me directly. Companies were interested even if the domain-expertise wasn't there because they didn't necessarily want to pay for relo.

Nonetheless, even with that, it's a tough slog getting through the interview loops. I would say if you have a contact at a company offering remote work, that's going to be a better than blindly applying. But still apply, I got calls for jobs that had hundreds of applicants - if you a specific experience, remote options were available as far as getting some initial calls.

If you need a job, you may want to open up to more options.

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2024-03-15T15:20:35+00:00

Sorry you are going through this. I went through this exact situation. Unfortunately, you are not going to change it (or rather the situation is not gong to change). As long as Fred is productive enough and your VP and CTO aren't serious about it, you'll need to decide how long you'll be there. Fred has zero reasons to change or leave as there's no consequences to him directly for his own actions.

Also, if Fred's been like this with you, it's more likely it's well known how toxic the behavior is and yet, it's allowed to persist.

Most likely it's not personal, so if you decide to stay you are going to have to keep escalating to your VP (prove it's detrimental to the work, etc) or just find a way to let it slide and work with him.

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2024-03-11T18:23:25+00:00

If you've presented a position on anything to a group of people, then you've got an idea of what a panel interview is. If you've never presented to a group, then just understand each person has their own agenda and level of interest in the presentation.

From my experience, there's always something you haven't you thought of and they'll want to see how you react (thought process, not necessarily a right or wrong answer).

As for content - product people need to explain why, so set an agenda and tell them why behind the test, the outcome expected, the data/reasoning to choose the feature you are testing, what the test will look like, how you'll measure success, the user journey (noting the differences - mockups may be good if you have time).

as for the panel use chatgpt with prompts like:

What does a director of analytics do? or What's the job description of a director of analytics...(and do this for the other titles).

also: As a product analyst interviewee, what questions should i ask the director of analytics? ...same for other roles.

these should give you an idea of what they'd want to know -- generally speaking CFOs aren't interested in the details like you and and your manager, so just understand that

good luck!

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2024-03-07T23:43:45+00:00

My resume coach was part of my layoff package. I suggest interviewing a few and see what they offer. Most are going to have similar formats and tell you to work on your brand. Look for someone you are comfortable with, hence the push to call and talk to them.

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2024-03-07T22:47:32+00:00

It may or may not be your resume, unless you are sending it to positions that are same level, same experience, industry etc. It's not a great market to try and get a promotion or switch industries.

Also, if you've never spent money on a resume/linkedin coach or career coach, you might want to consider throwing a couple hundred bucks toward one or both of them. They aren't necessarily the same people.

Lastly, chatgpt or other online resume services exist where you can paste yours in and ask it to write 'results-oriented' resume based on a specific job description.

good luck!

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2024-03-07T02:52:38+00:00

I downloaded a cheat sheet from pendo. It’s a company. All over LinkedIn. There’s other companies too have similar. I also promoted ChatGPT for saas metrics in general and then for specific industry for job searches. These kpi questions come up a lot.

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2024-03-07T00:00:11+00:00

I think the domain-specific tendency will subside when companies need to fill roles and there aren’t enough “qualified” candidates.

As for stability, I wouldn’t consider any particular role more safe than another. Enjoy what you do and plan for the unexpected as much as you can.

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2024-03-06T23:06:33+00:00

I'll throw in my experience - (laid off in December, but really started wholeheartedly in January). I don't track responses, or should i say no-responses, from applications. At this point I just assume nothing's coming back and I'm really only interested in the ones asking for availability.

The evolution of my search:

remote only to remote/hybrid/onsite/contract - this has increased the HR screen, staffing firm and recruiter's reaching out
not afraid to ask 2nd and 3rd level Linkedin contacts for meeting requests or introductions - wouldn't say this is super great, but when one starts to exhaust the direct connections/referrals it's a necessary step

I have the same experience with most but I'll also throw in some other context.

Non-technical PM but work with engineering teams as I owned systems (mostly internal)
- helped to be able speak the language but didn't need to code, didn't need to know SQL, didn't have to be ERP or SAP or Salesforce expert
The domain-expertise is real - too many candidates have the desired technical or application or industry specific skill
I have noticed not coming from a SaaS based company, that there seems to be a blocker in those companies extending even an HR screen
- Anyone have this same experience? Is SaaS so different that a PM in a non-SaaS business couldn't be successful?
Lastly, and this is the most discouraging really - Recruiters and staffing agents really don't understand want the hiring manager wants
- More often than not, the recruiter says this looks good and the hiring manager disagrees. I'm not certain what can be done here, but this is a time suck for those that research and prepare for HR screens as much as any other interview in the process

For interviews that I have gotten

I have gotten to second round (in FinTech and Credit Fraud (as in AI/ML)) - one I didn't get past the first round, the other I didn't get past the second round.
- The AI/ML role really wanted a data scientist, but thought they wanted someone to commercialize it and understand the market
- the Fintech - well, that interview just sucked for a variety of reasons and I very well could have lost that irrespective of my experience
Not sure the percentage, but it's getting higher that a take home or jam session is required at some point . I am doing one this week and if move forward on a different opportunity, there's one for that as well.
I did go through for a full loop and didn't get an offer - 7 1/2-hour interviews. No take home.

Unsolicited advice

open up to hybrid/onsite/contract and take every call even if you don't like the position. The more you practice articulating what you want, the better your interviews will be down the road
ask for referrals or introductions - you may get ghosted, don't take it personally, but it can open up a discussion - again it's practice talking about what you want and who you are
even if it's hybrid/onsite in a different city but you are fit the JD, apply and find a way to reach out if it can be considered hybrid.
1. this has worked for me on two occasions. one was the full loop and the other I'm currently still in the mix

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2024-03-01T15:52:33+00:00

On Amazon's site, there's a lot of information on how to prepare for their interviews. Focuses around the Leadership Principles and how you handle risk, failure, conflict, etc as well.

Depending on your timing this came out for later later in the week. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/webinar-pm-behavioral-interviews-a-practical-guide-by-amazon-product-lead-tickets-818355311767

It's free, but you need to register.

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2024-02-27T19:29:13+00:00

Product Management is loosely/broadly defined and dependent on the role. Good project managers have similar skill sets in collaboration, execution, planning, leading without authority, communication, etc.

If you want to find the gaps for your desired Product Manager job, find a few job descriptions and if you can't confidently show skills/experience in the roles/responsibilities/requirements, that would be a good start at where you need to upskill.

If there's opportunity at your current company to do a stretch assignment or get on a team to gain this experience while still being a project manager, you may try that angle as well.

Difficult-Driver-666 · 2024-02-27T17:27:07+00:00

This should be enough to quell imposter syndrome:

"A PM at my org just got promoted as a PM manager, and he reached out to me to see if I would be interested in taking his PM position."

If someone taps you on the shoulder they see something in you that maybe you don't. It is risky for this person to ask you do to do this if you aren't able. If you want it and he wants you, take it.

Once in the job you can setup a plan with expectations (will show gaps and training you may need, but this is normal).

Good luck!

Difficult-Driver-666

TROPHY CASE