Product Management is not one of those job titles that requires a specific degree in a specific field.   Yes, an MBA can help in certain situations, but in general good Product Managers tend to accumulate a set of skills and experience over a variety of positions and roles that create the formula for being an outstanding Product Manager.

Yet….

There are times when you need an external view of your own “brand” and help in highlighting all you can offer.   This can be invaluable when you are switching jobs, or even moving between one job and another at your company.  It is absolutely critical if there are circumstances than need objection handling.  In addition, you may have the opportunity to think about moving up the management chain.  This is a time when career coaching (actually the time is about a year) is needed for you to optimize your chances for success.  Finally there are those who want to move into Product Management from another field like marketing or engineering.

With this in mind, I am formalizing what I have been doing for about 10 years, which is to help Product Managers identify their goals, help in their self assessment and action plan and to guide them in the articulation and presentation of their brand via their resume, LinkedIn and social media presence.

If you would like to discuss this, please reach out to me via LinkedIn.

Comments from some of my clients:

I wanted to move from my engineering position as a backend developer to one where I had more impact on the product.   Wayne helped me understand the Product Manager role and the difference in that from the Product Owner.   We worked on my resume and identified a few areas I had to focus on in my current job and in addition Wayne recommended a course to take.   With these  changes I was able to be taken more serious as a PM candidate when I interviewed for a PM role.

Wayne’s guidance has been instrumental in evaluating my capabilities and focusing them on the interview at hand. The functional update to my resume framed my overall product capabilities along brief chronological timeline resulting in better flow for recruitment evaluation. I recommend Wayne to any senior product manager who is looking to make a change. His depth and breadth of knowledge in DevOps, SaaS and ITops space are extremely valuable to those who are building domain expertise and looking to advance their career.