The Product Two-Step: Your Path to a Career in Product Management

REGISTER FOR THIS SESSION AT https://ga.co/3CVvqz9

What should you do if you aspire to become a Product Manager but don’t yet have all the skills to land that first product role? One option is to take a job in an adjacent space and use that as a springboard into Product Management, a.k.a. “the Product Two-Step.” In this session, we have a panel of Product Managers who used this strategy and they will answer questions such as:

• What are the Product adjacent roles that will help me land a PM job?
• How can I tell which of these roles are a good fit for me?
• How will I know if I should take a non-product role or wait until I get a PM offer?
• How long does it take to complete the Product Two-Step?
• Once I have the adjacent role, what can I do to ensure my next role is as a Product Manager?

SCHEDULE:
6:00 - 6:15 pm: Networking!
6:15 - 7 pm: Panel Discussion and Q&A

Panelists:

Leslie Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslieannhall) is an experienced people manager and product leader with a demonstrated history of collaborating with team members and stakeholders. She has a passion for improving the customer experience and her career reflects this goal. Before her move into Product Management (Sparefoot, Modernize, and H-E-B), she was a Director of Customer Experience as well as a Director of Marketing. She is currently a Sr. Product Manager at Hologram.

Darren Smith (https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenmsmith/) is currently an Associate Product Manager at The Zebra working on organic marketing and customer acquisition. Prior to joining The Zebra, Darren worked at IBM as a business development consultant on the global education platform, SkillsBuild for Students. And before working in tech, Darren worked in a variety of careers including at a summer camp, for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Major League Baseball, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and was a licensed NFL contract advisor. Darren is a graduate of UT's McCombs School of Business MSTC program and attended the General Assembly Product Management course.

Riley Zoellner (https://www.linkedin.com/in/riley-zoellner-69b68b119/) graduated in 2019 from the University of Texas at Austin with her degree in Corporate Communications. Knowing she eventually wanted to move into Product Management, Riley landed a job in Customer Success at OJO Labs. She worked in that capacity for a year before being promoted to Associate Product Manager.

Ashleigh Zustra (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleighzustra/) is a product-focused professional passionate about working on projects at the intersection of impact and innovation. After graduating with her Masters in Library Science, Ashleigh worked in Research, Program Management, and Product Operations before becoming a Product Manager.