I've become really jaded about consulting. I find all so often you need to tell the client what they want to hear to keep their business and I feel like so much of the what I recommend doesn't actually get implemented. I'm looking to make a career switch so I can both create and execute on my strategies. A product management path seems very promising for this.

Does anyone who switched from consulting to product management have any recommendations of h helpful PM books, courses, or programs?

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Look... I get being discouraged. I do; it happens to me more than I’d like to admit. But when you go industry, it is still the same crap, just repackaged in different paper. You will still struggle with getting your ideas implemented but the barriers will be closer to you since you are part of the company, not an outside consultant. Bureaucracy, politics, budgets, egos- all the same stuff but now you will be part of it. The only way around it is to be your own boss/ own your own business. I’ve found- short of owning my own business- that the disillusionment is easier on the consulting side because you can shrug and walk away knowing it isn’t your problem. In industry you can’t easily do that.

likesmarthelpful

I agree with the others in that moving to product management won't entirely remove all the frustrations you are currently dealing with. However, you will be much closer to the product vs consulting and have more say in the product vision and ability to prioritize the road map how you see best fit. I switched to product management from consulting at Bain for very similar reasons.

In terms of resources, definitely start by reading Cracking the PM Interview and Decode and Conquer. They are kinda dated but still provide a good starting point. The resource I found most helpful was the Product Alliance course series. They cover everything from how to position to your resume to get interviews to how to pass product management interviews. On the resume front, they have this template which increased my application to interview rate exponentially. It covers what exactly to say and do to appeal to PM recruiters if you don't have previous official PM experience to show off.

On the interview prep front, unlike other courses in which it's just mock interview videos packaged together, they interject with senior pms helping show step by step how to turn a 7.5/10 answer into a 10/10 answer. I definitely would not have been able to land my Facebook offer without taking the Product Alliance courses.

If your interested in being a PM at Facebook and chatting more, happy to connect. I'd recommend targeting Facebook, LinkedIn, Uber, or Twitter if you don't have a technical background as coding skills aren't part of our interview process at all. Amazon is great if you have an MBA. Hmu if you want to chat more about Facebook and hope you're able to find a role you're more motivated by. Keep your head up :)

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@q1 can I DM you?

You should be excited to collect fat check fees not make an “impact” or whatever popular buzzword attracts talent. This is business not philanthropy.

likesmart

Fact checks. I see what you did there!

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Its the same in all roles, you got to tell powerful people what they love to hear or want to hear over what's right.
I am with a product based firm, exactly same story.

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Yup, I was a PM (program manager at MSFT) now consultant. Being in front of the right people was super important in order to push things through, especially if you aren’t junior

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Look for small-medium sized but growing company with a relatively flat org. Best way to have real impact.

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I am with a small org, let me share my exp. here few people have been org for a decade or more. This category of people rise above any process or organizational guidelines. They want to hear ways their problems can be resolved without any change in their style of work or power dynamics.

We have to recommend to our client what they want to hear, knowing it won’t work, then implement it and deal with all the crap we knew wouldn’t work... get old

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