如何在没有任何经验的情况下找到产品管理工作-CSDN博客

Recently, Product Management (PM) jobs have become one of the most popular career options for graduates from top MBA schools, following consulting and finance. At the heart of Silicon Valley, the question I get asked most often has also changed from “How can I get into Stanford GSB?” to “How can I land a PM job like you?”

最近，在获得咨询和金融服务之后，对于来自顶尖MBA学校的毕业生而言，产品管理(PM)职位已成为最受欢迎的职业选择之一。在硅谷的中心，我最常被问到的问题也从“我如何进入斯坦福GSB？” 到“我如何能像您一样找到PM工作？”

Many people chase after a PM career because a PM is often regarded as the Product CEO. Even thought the title seems pretty eye-catchy, the reality is that PMs have no authority over anybody. Your everyday routine will be spent attending an average of 8 meetings, writing documents, and putting out fires.

许多人追求PM的职业是因为PM通常被视为产品CEO。即使以为标题看起来很醒目，现实是PM对任何人都没有权限。您的日常活动将平均花在参加8次会议，编写文件和灭火上。

Another brutal fact is that recruiting for PM jobs with no PM background is a lengthy and challenging process. You will probably not hear back from most of the companies you apply for and are likely to receive more rejections than ever.

另一个残酷的事实是，没有PM背景的PM招聘工作是一个漫长而艰巨的过程。您可能不会收到大多数您申请的公司的回音，并且可能会收到比以往更多的拒绝。

If you keep trying, though, I am confident that you will eventually land on a PM job. However, your first job might not be a product you feel so passionate about.

但是，如果您继续尝试，我相信您最终将从事PM工作。但是，您的第一份工作可能并不是您如此热衷的产品。

If you are still interested in a PM career, hold tight, this fun ride is about to start. The rest of the post will answer the following two questions about PM recruiting:

如果您仍然对PM事业感兴趣，请紧紧抓住，这个有趣的旅程即将开始。该帖子的其余部分将回答有关PM招聘的以下两个问题：

How should you prepare for a product manager interview in a few weeks?
您应该如何 在几周内准备产品经理面试？
What was the secret sauce behind my successful career switch from finance to PM?
我成功从金融业转到PM事业的秘诀是什么？

几周后如何准备产品经理面试 (How to prepare for a product manager interview in a few weeks)

Most PM interviews are composed of 5 types of questions: product design, strategy, analytical, technical and behavioral. I have found that the majority of candidates without a PM background need the most work on product design questions.

大多数PM访谈由5种类型的问题组成： 产品设计，策略，分析，技术和行为 。我发现，大多数没有PM背景的候选人都需要在产品设计问题上进行最多的工作。

On top of that, if you only have a business background like I do, technical questions will probably scare you the most. If you are an engineer, strategy questions will look like a monster. The good news is that regardless of your background, you can prepare for most PM interviews. It takes a lot of effort, but these skills can surely be learned.

最重要的是，如果您像我一样只有业务背景，那么技术问题可能会让您最恐惧。如果您是一名工程师，策略问题将看起来像个怪物。好消息是，无论您的背景如何，都可以为大多数PM采访做好准备。这需要很多努力，但是可以肯定地学习这些技能。

If you only have a few weeks before your first PM interview, here are a few must-dos:

如果你只是你的第一个下午面试前有几个星期，这里有几个必到之处 ：

Get a copy of the PM interview bible Cracking the PM Interview ASAP. Focus on Chapter 13 (Estimation Questions), Chapter 14 (Product Questions), and Chapter 15 (Case Questions). I have also read Decode and Conquer and 164 Actual Questions and Answers. They helped me prepare for a diverse set of questions, but I didn’t find them as relevant as the first book. If you don’t have much time, I would recommend just go for the bible.
获取PM采访圣经的副本 破解PM采访 尽快。 专注于第13章(评估问题)，第14章(产品问题)和第15章(案例问题)。我还阅读了解码和征服以及164个实际问题和解答。他们帮助我为各种各样的问题做准备，但我没有发现它们像第一本书一样重要。如果您没有太多时间，我建议您去圣经。
Study 3–5 products that you like and be ready to answer the two most famous PM interview questions “What is your favorite product?” and “How can you improve it”? If you have time, I would strongly recommend going through the exercise of writing down a product goal, users, main use cases, product strategy, personal story, competitors or substitutes, key metrics, and moonshot ideas for each product. This exercise will significantly improve your product sense in a very short amount of time. You will be surprised by how your business or engineering brain can just operate like a PM.
研究您喜欢的3–5种产品，并准备回答两个最著名的PM访谈问题：“您最喜欢的产品是什么？” 和“您如何改进它”？如果您有时间，我强烈建议您进行练习，写下每个产品的产品目标，用户，主要用例，产品策略，个人故事，竞争对手或替代产品，关键指标以及关键思想。此练习将在很短的时间内显着改善您的产品感。您会为您的业务或工程头脑如何像PM一样运作而感到惊讶。
Get yourself on StellarPeers founded by Malena Mesarina. It's an amazing PM interview prep forum that gives you sample answers to all types of PM interview questions. It is also free. Read through sample answers and summarize your own answer frameworks for different question types.
让自己进入 StellarPeers 由Malena Mesarina创建。这是一个了不起的PM面试准备论坛，可为您提供所有类型的PM面试问题的示例答案。它也是免费的。通读样本答案，并总结自己针对不同问题类型的答案框架。
For technical questions, I would recommend doing lots of wikipedia searches, watching Youtube videos about software engineer interviews, reading this open-sourced system design primer, and reading through the two free lessons on Grokking the System Design Interview. It is more and more rare to get coding questions in PM interviews but system design questions are increasingly popular. If you have more time, taking CS classes online is the best way to catch up on technical stuff.
对于技术问题 ，我建议您进行大量维基百科搜索，观看有关软件工程师访谈的Youtube视频，阅读此开源系统设计入门知识，并通读关于Grokking System Design Interview的两个免费课程。在PM面试中越来越少遇到编码问题，但是系统设计问题越来越受欢迎。如果您有更多时间，在线参加CS课程是赶上技术知识的最佳途径。
Find a mock interview partner and do as many mock interviews as you can. StellarPeers is also a good place to find mock interview partners but it’s hard to tell whether your partner’s level is gonna be close to yours. A genuine warning for folks who plan to read through all the materials and only start mock interviews when you feel ready: trust me – you will never be fully ready. It is like learning to swim. Learn from mock interviews and get a sense of how to tackle super ambiguous interviews on the fly. You will save way more time by jumping into mock interviews ASAP.
寻找一个模拟面试伙伴，并尽可能多地进行模拟面试。 StellarPeers还是寻找模拟面试伙伴的好地方，但是很难说出您的伴侣的水平是否会接近您。对于计划阅读所有资料并仅在您准备好时才开始进行模拟采访的人们而言，这是一个真正的警告：相信我-您将永远不会准备就绪。就像学习游泳一样。从模拟面试中学习，并了解如何快速处理超级模糊的面试。尽快参加模拟面试，您将节省更多时间。

我成功从金融业转到PM事业的秘诀是什么？ (What was the secret sauce behind my successful career switch from finance to PM?)

In 2017, I left my banking job in Hong Kong to pursue my MBA at Stanford GSB. At the beginning of my MBA2 year, I received a full-time product manager offer in the Bay Area. Many friends have asked me how I did it, especially without a technical background. Let me share my secret sauces here. You should tell me if they are secretive at all.

2017年，我离开香港的银行工作，前往斯坦福GSB攻读MBA。在读MBA 2年级开始时，我在湾区获得了全职产品经理职位。很多朋友问我如何做到的，尤其是没有技术背景的时候。让我在这里分享我的秘密调味料。您应该告诉我它们是否完全是秘密的。

首先，您需要知道您想要什么。 (First, you need to know what you want.)

After I left banking, I spent 3 months interning as a chief of staff at a Chinese startup. This experience allowed me to get a good sense of different operating roles and I found myself naturally attracted to product management. As a result, instead of putting eggs in different baskets like many of my MBA classmates, my recruiting was laser-focused on PM.

离开银行业后，我在一家中国初创公司担任了3个月的参谋长。这种经验使我对不同的操作角色有了很好的了解，并且我发现自己自然会被产品管理所吸引。结果，我的招募不再像我的许多MBA同学一样被放在不同的篮子里，而是以激光技术着重于PM。

其次，我总是对学习新事物感到兴奋。 (Second, I am always excited about learning something new.)

PM interview questions spread across so many disciplines, engineering, business, design, analytics that they sometimes even seem intimidating. A learning mindset is particularly effective in helping you power through PM recruiting. If you see preparation for PM interviews as an opportunity to learn new knowledge and skills, you are more likely to succeed.

PM面试问题涵盖了许多学科，工程，业务，设计，分析，有时甚至令人生畏。学习心态在帮助您通过PM招聘提供动力方面特别有效。如果您将准备PM面试视为学习新知识和新技能的机会，则您更有可能获得成功。

For example, I didn’t know how to code or what an API was when I left banking. But I got lots of energy from the sheer fact that I could pick up useful technical skills while recruiting for my next job. I signed myself up for entry-level CS classes, e.g. programing abstracts, web applications, machine learning and deep learning, and coded my own coaching website.

例如，离开银行后，我不知道如何编码或API是什么。但是我从纯粹的事实中汲取了很多精力，我可以在招聘下一份工作时学习有用的技术技能。我报名参加了入门级CS课，例如编程摘要，Web应用程序，机器学习和深度学习，并编写了自己的教练网站。

第三，不要寻求许可。使自己成为PM。 (Third, don’t ask for permission. Make yourself a PM.)

An irony about PM recruiting is that most PM openings require candidates that have PM work experience. I empathize with these companies because due to the nature of PM jobs, direct PM work experience is the ideal indicator for a candidate’s likelihood of job success.

具有讽刺意味的是，招聘PM的职位是，大多数PM职位要求具有PM工作经验的候选人。我对这些公司表示同情，因为由于PM工作的性质，直接的PM工作经验是候选人获得工作成功可能性的理想指标。

The reality is that seasoned PMs are under-supplied, so Career Switchers, you do get a chance. The key here is to build up your PM experience without a full-time PM job. There are two good ways, i.e. product study and side projects.

现实情况是，经验丰富的PM供不应求，因此Career Switchers确实有机会。这里的关键是无需全职的PM工作即可建立您的PM经验。有两种好的方法，即产品研究和附带项目 。

PMs live and breath products. Put on your PM hat by simply paying attention to products around you, whether they are software, hardware, or non-technical. It is actually quite fun to ponder about questions like “Why are Facebook’s login pages not designed for logging in but signing up?” and “How can Live Photo take photos before you press the shutter button?” and “What made Typeform such a success despite scary competitors like SurveyMonkey?”.

PM的生活和呼吸产品。只需关注您周围的产品(无论是软件，硬件还是非技术产品)，就可以戴上PM帽子。考虑诸如“为什么Facebook的登录页面不是为登录而设计的，而是要注册的？”之类的问题，实际上是非常有趣的。和“ Live Photo如何在按下快门按钮之前拍照？” 和“尽管像SurveyMonkey这样的可怕竞争对手，是什么使Typeform如此成功？”。

Working on side projects or taking on part-time PM jobs are also great ways to build your PM credibility.

从事副项目或兼职PM工作也是建立PM信誉的好方法。

If you have a product idea, fantastic. Get yourself out there to start interviewing users, identifying pain points, coming up with product requirements and mock-ups. If you can convince an engineer to build a prototype together, that’s perfect. Even if not, it is still a valuable experience that you can talk about in your interviews.
如果您有产品创意，那就太好了。带您去那里开始采访用户，确定痛点，提出产品要求和模型。如果您可以说服工程师一起构建原型，那就太完美了。即使没有，您仍然可以在面试中谈论这种宝贵的经验。
If you are still at school, do you know that you can get part-time PM jobs from early stage startups more easily? Most pre-seed/seed startups can’t afford a full-time PM. If you don’t mind volunteering as a PM for a few months, many startups would say yes.
如果您还在学校，您是否知道您可以更轻松地从早期创业公司那里获得兼职PM工作？大多数预种子/种子初创公司买不起全职PM。如果您不介意几个月自愿担任PM，那么许多创业公司都会说是的。
If you have a full-time job, your best shot is to ask for a project on which you can function as a PM or work closely with a PM.
如果您有一份全职工作，那么最好的办法就是要求一个您可以担任PM或与PM紧密合作的项目。

第四，尊重准备PM面试所需的辛勤工作。 (Fourth, respect the hard work required for PM interview preparation.)

Most people I knew who successfully switched into PM did lots of good interview preparation work. The reality is that it takes time to catch up on what you didn’t know, build your muscle memory, and be really good at answering those interview questions.

我认识的大多数成功转换为PM的人都做了很多出色的面试准备工作。现实情况是，需要花费一些时间来追赶你不知道的东西，建立自己的肌肉记忆，并真正擅长回答这些面试问题。

What I found most helpful in my interview prep were studying 7 products inside out, summarizing 9 frameworks for different interview questions, and doing mock interviews for ~15 days. Those efforts will pay off not only when you get your PM offer but also when you start your new job.

在面试准备中，我发现最有帮助的是从内到外研究7种产品，总结了9个针对不同面试问题的框架，并进行了约15天的模拟面试 。这些努力不仅会在您获得PM职位时得到回报，而且还将在您开始新工作时得到回报。

I know it’s a lot, but I am sure you can do it, too.

我知道很多，但是我相信您也可以做到。