Explain the top 10 puzzles of product managers

The Internet is almost the fastest growing industry today.
First, “traditional” Internet services such as social networking, e-commerce, and media continue to expand, user penetration and acceptance continue to increase, and profit models are becoming clearer;
secondly, emerging Internet businesses such as finance, transportation, O2O, education, and healthcare are also expanding. In the rapid conquest of the city, by providing better and more professional services to seize the market share of traditional enterprises, it has effectively expanded the industrial boundary of the Internet, and there is a great development trend of "Internet integration of everything";
again, PC, mobile phone, smart furniture New networking devices such as, smart hardware, and virtual reality helmets continue to appear, greatly expanding the use of the Internet and platforms, and truly making the Internet "ubiquitous";
finally, more and more funds are pouring into the TMT field to find opportunities , Which effectively promotes the faster growth of Internet business.
The popularity of the Internet attracts more and more students eager to join in to realize their value in life. As the hottest post on the Internet, product manager has relatively low technical requirements, relatively few professional restrictions, rethinking logic, rethinking the efficiency of communication, and emphasizing the smoothness of teamwork, making more and more fresh graduates aspirations. Life yearning, a kind of "everyone should be a product manager" is forming a prairie fire. For example, at Tencent’s 2015 summer intern recruitment site, there are almost as many resumes for product manager positions as “dominant” as there are almost all resumes who want “dominant” development positions. It can be seen how intense the job search for product managers is.
Despite this, the knowledge system of the entire product manager is still relatively backward, causing many "Xiaobai" students who want to enter the industry to be confused: What does the product manager do? What is the career development of product managers? Can liberal arts students be good product managers? Are product students often bullied by R&D students? Wait, there's more. In order to answer your questions, we have selected the top 10 PM (Product Manger)-related puzzles that fresh graduates ask the most, and answer them one by one.
Confusion 01: Will only students who know nothing choose the position of product manager?
Answer: The position of product manager has low requirements for "hard skills" and high requirements for "soft power".
Judging from the status quo, there are indeed many students who “will not know anything” (hard skills are not outstanding, that is, those who have learned general engineering expertise, or graduated from non-technical majors such as economic management and media) will choose the position of product manager, but they can Whether to find a good product manager job is another matter. Product manager positions really value soft power (controlling user needs, clear and effective communication, project promotion capabilities, etc.), and have lower requirements for "hard capabilities" such as programming. However, it is precisely this kind of "low requirements" for recruitment and the good prospects of product manager positions that attract more and more students. However, there are not many product manager positions provided each year, so the more difficult it is to successfully apply for product manager positions. Come bigger. For example, BAT (collectively referred to as Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent) receives tens of thousands of product manager resumes each year, but the actual number of recruits is about 100, and the success rate is less than 1%.
At the same time, there are indeed some "students" with very average academic performance. Because of their excellent soft power, they have obtained good product offers in all aspects.
Confusion 02: Does the position of product manager require high programming skills for job applicants?
Answer: Generally speaking, product manager positions have lower requirements for programming skills.
The requirements for technical capabilities of the product manager position are mainly to be able to communicate with developers in depth, and not to write code by themselves. Therefore, it is generally sufficient to learn some basic knowledge related to computer and software development, and to have some understanding of the basic principles of the normal working of software. This is also the reason why many non-technical students can successfully get product offers.
for example. A classmate of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications "Communication Engineering College", had a little undergraduate degree in C++, but basically forgot. During the postgraduate period, I did a little project, but the amount of code was basically zero. When finally looking for a job, with my excellent thinking, expression, and interpersonal skills, I got a product offer from an Internet company.
Confusion 03: Are liberal arts students suitable for product manager positions?
Answer: Liberal arts students are also suitable for product manager positions.
Generally speaking, science and engineering students with a strong technical background are more suitable to be product managers. Because science and engineering students tend to have better technical understanding, stronger logical thinking, and deeper result-oriented awareness, the positions of product managers are often those with higher EQ among science and engineering students. It can be seen that science and engineering students have more advantages in the position of product manager.
However, liberal arts students tend to have better empathy, richer imagination, deeper thinking, and strong communication skills. If they make up for their shortcomings in technical ability through self-study, and then make full use of their own advantages in expression and thinking, and maximize their strengths and avoid weaknesses, they can also do well in the position of product manager.
It should be noted that when some product manager positions clearly state the technical requirements in the "job requirements", liberal arts students are still cautious. At the same time, the product line driven by strong technology is not suitable for liberal arts students.
Confusion 04: Do girls have advantages or disadvantages when they work as product managers?
Answer: There are advantages and disadvantages.
The disadvantage of female students in product manager positions is that the work intensity in the Internet industry is generally greater, and in most cases, product positions are responsible for the overall progress of the project. This means that the position of product manager is not only intense, but also mentally stressful. Many girls find it difficult to balance family life (pregnancy, parenting, family care) and work pressure. Of course, this can be solved.
The advantages of girls in the position of product manager are also very obvious: the development team is often very obvious, and many back-end teams do not even have a girl. If there are two engineers, one is a gentle, lovely, young and beautiful female PM, and the other is a male PM with comparable qualities and capabilities, I believe "technical nerds" will be more inclined to choose the former.
As for the so-called shortcomings mentioned by some girls, such as "girls don't like tossing about technical things", "girls are generally less sensitive to data", "girls are more afraid of hardships and can't work overtime", etc. These are more individuals. Differences, not gender differences. If the job seeker clearly stated that he has the problem of "do not like tossing technology, insensitive to data, and afraid of hard work", then no matter what gender he is, he is not recommended to work as an Internet product manager.
Confusion 05: Is the product inferior to development in the face of development?
Answer: Not at all.
From the perspective of the team, any Internet team is a professional team composed of professionals in development, product, vision, operation, and marketing. Each has their own specialties and makes unremitting efforts for the same goal (ie project success). All types of work are equal to each other, and there is no "lower class" situation.
From the perspective of career development, as a fresh graduate, the average salary of a development position will indeed be slightly higher than that of a product manager position, but the work pressure of developers is very high, and the requirements for time and energy are very high. Overtime is the norm and it is very hard; and many People who are a little older face the dilemma of limited career development and too fast technological update. The job content of the product manager position is more humane, with stronger management and communication elements, and a broader field of vision. On the contrary, there may be better career development space.
Judging from the current situation, as a project promoter with no real power, product managers often need to "seeking" developers to work, and they appear to be "inferior to developers". However, these can be effectively solved in some ways, such as: becoming good friends with developers; thinking about product requirements carefully, and trying not to change requirements midway; in the process of project progress, providing developers with what they want, Let each other's interests align. Finally, I personally think that product people must have a strong spirit of service. As project promoters, product people need to find ways to serve their team members well, let everyone understand the value of what they do, actively help team members solve problems, and ensure the steady progress of the project. Therefore, product personnel often need to have a better communication awareness and service mentality, but this does not mean that product personnel are "lower than developers."
Confusion 06: Do product managers work a lot of overtime, often "996" (long-term high-intensity overtime)?
Answer: Whether or not to work overtime varies with team projects, but the overall work intensity of the Internet industry is generally higher than that of traditional industries, and it is necessary to be mentally prepared for overtime.
What needs to be explained briefly is that teams that have the opportunity to work overtime often are lucky: a team in this state is usually in a stage of rapid development, and this means that both personal abilities and economic benefits may be significantly improved ; On the contrary, an overly idle team often means that there are relatively few opportunities for improvement.
The specific choice of lifestyle needs to be determined after an assessment by the job-holder based on his own situation. If you are very concerned about working overtime, you can ask relevant questions during the interview stage. The interviewer and HR generally will not hide it. However, long-term high-intensity overtime work will indeed greatly affect personal life, and it needs to be balanced.
Confusion 07: Is internship more important than academic performance for product job hunting?
Answer: Indeed. As far as product manager job resumes are concerned, high-quality internship experience (well-known company, core business, long-term internship) is the most important bonus.
At this stage, the product manager position does not have a real counterpart. Therefore, excellent academic performance can prove that the individual is diligent and studious or has a good IQ, but has limited value in actual work. High-quality internships not only illustrate the basic strength of individuals (internships in Internet companies are not easy), but also directly and fully prove that they have mastered orthodox product knowledge, have high industry quality, and can obtain greater Opportunities for regularization are multiple benefits.
Of course, the internship experience is just a representation. What really matters is the knowledge and abilities you learn from the internship. If you are a foreigner during the internship and don't want to make progress, it will be useless even if you pass the interview.
Confusion 08: The position of product manager is too hot, so is the corresponding job pressure very high?
Answer: The job search pressure for the product manager position is indeed relatively high. In the Internet industry, product manager is the hottest job, and it is also the job with the most competitive pressure, far exceeding other jobs. In many Internet companies’ Ba Bi Ba Mian sites, the number of Ba Bi Mian resumes for product manager positions tends to be the largest. In fact, BAT receives tens of thousands of product resumes every year, but the actual number of admissions is about 100, and the admission ratio is less than 1%, which shows the fierce competition.
Confusion 09: If the Internet goes viral, will the product manager lose his job? Should I still choose a product manager position?
Answer: In the foreseeable future, the Internet industry will only become more popular, so product manager positions will only become more popular.
If the Internet industry collapses, there will indeed be a lot of product managers unemployed, but based on the current situation, it is unlikely that this will happen.
The Internet, as the core of the contemporary science and technology industry, has developed extremely fast, and it has also directly promoted the development of the entire society in the direction of informatization and intelligence. It has greatly facilitated people’s lives and improved the operational efficiency of the entire society. The degree of Internetization will only get deeper and deeper until it reaches the new world of "Internet of Everything".
As the core position of the Internet industry, product managers will have higher status and greater power, and their development prospects are very optimistic.
Confusion 10: Is it necessary to be eloquent to make a product?
Answer: Eloquence is really important, but enough is enough.
As the coordinator and promoter of the project, good communication and expression skills are necessary, but the interviewer is not required to have the "eloquence" like an announcer. It is enough to explain the problem concisely and efficiently, encourage, coordinate and mobilize the entire team. In an interview, if you talk a lot for the sake of "exhibition of eloquence", it will appear false and empty.