Any Developer, who loves to burn the midnight oil just whacking away at the
keyboard and staring at what would seem to be THE MATRIX to a layman, would be
scandalized if not apoplectic to think about a move to a Program Manager
role.
This post is for
all those developers out there who | – (managed || managing || planning) – |
to brave the public ridicule at the hands of their developer
buddies.
I had in the summer of 2011, applied to couple of Program Manager Positions
in and outside Microsoft after close to 4 years as a Dev .My experience allowed
me to draw stark contrasts and at the same time appreciate stunning similarities
in how Top Tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft Interview Program
Managers.
Post my interviews , i just wanted to jot down a couple of things i felt any
SDE\SDET looking for a role change to Program Management should definitely look
into and be prepared for before applying for the job within or outside your
organization
Be REALLY clear about why you want to be a Program Manager
Why
PM? – is one sure shot question you can
expect.
If you are making the transition for all the right reasons, you are not going
to have any trouble with this question 🙂
Irrespective of your clarity about the Program Manager Role it would be a
good idea to go through the below resources
Zen of PM
PM at Microsoft
Apply ONLY to teams that work on stuff that you are passionate about
The above statement is simple common sense, but it’s surprising how many
people move for the sake of changing the role , location or the company. My
advice , wait out whatever frustration or need that is driving you and apply to
something that you are passionate and excited about . Something that you are
going to enjoy working day in and day out .
Believe me the passion that you feel is evidently going to come out during
the interview , and that will go a long way in helping the team decide whether
you are good fit or not.
Research EVERYTHING
Things to Research
- Competitive Landscape
- Technological Trends
- TEAM and PRODUCT
- Authoritative Material and Text books on the domain
- Publications
Questions like
“Where do you see this product in 10 years”,
“Look into a crystal ball and tell me what you see”
“Compare our product \ technology against a successful competitive product”
“If you are the Product Owner what would you do”
These are great open ended questions that you can use to have an awesome
discussion with you interviewer, provided you have researched exhaustively .
This helps you describe your vision for the technology\ product as well as helps
the interviewers to gauge your strategic insight.
Get some PM Experience beforehand
Try shadowing a PM in your team and experience first hand the role and
responsibility of a PM before deciding on the Transition . Or ask your manager
to give you a technical lead role for a release , to build up important PM
competencies like collaboration and communication
Showcase your Side Projects
If your passionate about a particular product line or technology , you would
have at some point written some extensions or applications that enhance the
functionality or showcase the capabilities of the product or technology . Make
sure you mention that in your resume as well as create opportunities during the
interview to talk about it.
AppTantra 