Hello experienced product managers,
What advice would you have for a graduate student wanting to be a product manager? Is there a typical 'path'?
I"m a soon-to-be graduate student in Management, Technology and Economics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). I've earned a bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University and certified EiT. I have previous internship experiences as a junior consultant, new business development analyst, and project engineer. I have an entrepreneurial mindset, and I want to work with all areas of the business - sales, marketing, development, operations, etc to bring new products to market. However, with my job applications thus far, it seems most companies hire from the inside to fill this position. What did you do before you became a product manager and what advice would you have for me?
A little background:
I have a little online startup publishing company that I built around a book I wrote, over the past two years. Originally this book was an assignment for a class and it developed into a product with a market. It's been fun! If you are interested: www.claypotco.com. During this entire process I've found that creating products to make people's lives better or easier is the type of work I want to do. Now I know what I want, but I'm unsure of how to get there...
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