CareerZ Cast Guide: Personal Branding – First Day in New Job


[CareerZ Cast audio podcast version of this article]

What is Personal Branding?

Imagine that you could, when joining a new team or project, be instantly trusted, respected and perceived as someone capable of doing the job. A strong reputation can deliver that and is particularly important in structured environments where you need to lead groups and collaborate effectively, such as school and the workplace.

Personal Branding is an intentional process of cultivating a distinct public image that highlights valuable personal attributes and is aligned with your self-image and real capabilities. Successful organizational leaders are aware of their personal brand and continuously provide examples that reinforce and solidify their reputation.

Reputation often precedes first interactions with a group. Managing how you are described and then providing quick evidence to support the description is the best way to accelerate the formation of a positive perception.

This article specifically explores how you can do that as you show up for the first day at work in a new company.

Personal Brand as a Tool for Self-Development

When developing a personal brand, you need to look into your repertoire of personal attributes and identify what is most useful to highlight in a specific environment. For example, you might be detail-oriented, which is valuable to someone working as a quality engineer or accountant.

You might also consider looking at emerging attributes you would like to develop further and solidify. There is no better source of motivation to evolve personal behaviors than creating social accountability and committing to fulfill it. Let’s say you want to be known as a reliable partner. Declare that publicly and strive to always show up, be responsive to others, and deliver on commitments.

Use your living personal brand to drive you to become the best version of yourself.

Show, not Tell

People sometimes write statements like “I am a very honest and transparent person.” in their resume. Just because you say or write it, it doesn’t mean people will believe or remember that.

When someone with structural authority (e.g. the leader of an organization) talks about you: “John is joining us today and I know he is a very honest and transparent person”, the third-person endorsement carries social validation and is more powerful in influencing other people’s perceptions. Given a choice, let other people to praise you.

Storytelling… Scan your memory for short and interesting real-life anecdotes in which you demonstrate being honest and transparent. Telling those stories as you introduce yourself will create a much stronger impression than just declaring an attribute.

If your story is memorable and interesting, and it seems to represent your general behavior, people will start re-telling it, which then propagates your personal brand throughout the organization without your direct involvement. That is the most powerful way to build a personal brand.

This is how a reputation is created organically: demonstrate a consistent pattern of behavior in your interactions with others. People notice it and start talking to others about it by describing situations in which you demonstrated an attribute. People now believe you are and expect you to behave a certain way.

What I am suggesting is that, with awareness and intentionality, you can accelerate and focus the normal process of building a reputation through deliberate demonstration of patterns of behavior. That awareness will also allow you to use personal branding as a tool for personal and professional development.

Put it together: A plan to showing up on the first day at a new job

How to “show and not tell” in personal branding? Here is what you can do when starting at a new job. The same can be applied to starting a new school year, introducing yourself at a cocktail party or networking event, or joining any organization.

  • Develop objective self-awareness – How do people perceive you? Does that perception match your self-image? What are the positive traits you want to reinforce and highlight? What are the negative attributes you want to modify? You can reflect on that and ask trusted friends and family to provide their honest assessment.
  • Write down you personal brand – How would you like to be perceived and described? Your brand must be directionally consistent with your behavior and can also be aspirational. Set a goal to further develop certain attributes. It should enable you to work more effectively in a certain environment and not necessarily include all aspects of your personality. Documenting it will allow you to create that focus and intentionality.
  • Select attributes to project intentionally – Select and tell stories in which you demonstrate parts of your brand you want to cultivate and practice telling them. Use every opportunity to loudly practice those behaviors. For example, if you want to be perceived as “honest and transparent”, be particularly candid and provide memorable behavioral examples (so people talk about them) during the initial interactions within a group.

A Real-Life Example

As I prepared to join a large Tech company in 2020, I considered how to quickly establish credibility and earn the respect of the large organization I was going to lead. My hiring manager described initial challenges of my role as unifying two teams that had often conflicted in the past. Besides creating organizational trust, I had to address group morale challenges and counter an elevated dose of leadership skepticism in the organization.

I worked on my personal brand and selected to focus on (a) technical credibility, (b) transparent and honest communication, and (c) care for members of the team. I believed those attributes were important for me to perform my role and I could not afford to spend months earning that reputation through consistent behavior alone.

As an example, let’s look at how I deliberately pursued the goal of quickly being perceived as a caring leader (an attribute I genuinely cultivate).

Senior leaders often rely on management layers and avoid interactions with individual contributors. Early in my tenure, I scheduled 1:1 calls with every individual contributor in my team. Before each call, I made sure to understand their profile and role in the team. I wanted to surprise and impress team members demonstrating genuine interest in them and their ideas, creating a memorable experience.

What I had hoped for did happen: immediately after the call they turned around and told their team mates: “The new Director read about me before the call. He seems to care about us and be interested in what we think. Did he set a call with you as well? Wow, it is rate to se a senior leaders investing time to get to know the team…” I was able to quickly establish a reputation of caring for individuals, which was key to reduce anxiety as we implemented necessary organizational changes.

The fastest way to establish a reputation: get people to tell stories to others about your behavior.

Conclusion

Developing and cultivating a personal brand is usually listed as a study topic for senior organizational leaders. I argue that not only developing a personal brand is useful to anyone in structured organizations, but it can also be used as a self-development tool that accelerates our progress becoming more effective part of a team and organization at any level.

Follow-up Action

Developing objective self-awareness requires candid feedback. Ask people you trust how you are perceived. The level of alignment between who you want to be, your behavior, and how others perceive you is essential to being effective as part of an organization and is key for your development both as a person and a professional.

Use this article as a conversation piece, set candid conversations with peers, friends and advisors, and start developing your personal brand. Share this with a friends and career peers.

About the author

Marcio is a technology veteran both in large corporate and startups. He has led a handful of people in startup environments, dozens of people in traditional companies, and hundreds of people in large Tech. Marcio provides career coaching, including preparation for successful onboarding and development in organizational leadership roles.

CareerZ Cast Guide: Entrepreneurship


[CareerZ Cast audio version of this article]

What is Enterpreneuship?

In the broadest sense, Entrepreneurship is the willingness to challenge the status quo and explore a different way of doing things.

More specifically, in the now global Silicon Valley model of Entrepreneurship that spread across the globe, Entrepreneurship the ability and readiness to develop, organize and run a business enterprise, embracing iherent risks, in order to make a profit, creating scalable companies (“startups”) that deliver innovation to the market and profits to investors.

So, there is an alternative to the career path of “getting a college degree and find a job in a good company”. Innovation these days often software-based and delivered via the Internet. This makes it easier to test and validate ideas with fewer resources, lowering the threshold for entrepreneurs to start new companies.

The peoeple who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the one who do.

~Steve Jobs

Why do we Need Technology Startups?

Companies that achieve a significant degree of growth and success and become the status quo, have a desincentive to create innovation and disrupt themselves.

  • The Innovator’s Dilemma – Take the auto industry in the past two decades, for example. Established companies like Ford, GM, Toyota knew there was a need to adopt assistive technology that eventually can lead to autonomous vehicles and move away from from fossil fuels to power engines using renewable energy. It would be natural to expect those companies to leverage their brands, expertise, factories. distribution, supply chain, etc. to lead the development of electric and autonomous cars. Instead, a new industry entrant, took that role. Large companies fail to take risks and disrupt their existing profitable products, creating space for startups.
  • Crossing the Chasm – Revolutionary technologies (like The Internet, mobile technologies, autonomous vehicles) goes through a boom-and-bust cycle of hype and disillusionment before reaching mainstream adoption. A small, focused, company is better positioned to cater to early adopters and navigate the challenges of bring disruptive technologies to the mainstream.

That is why, often new products adopting innovative technologies are often created by startups with little to lose, funded by venture capital who can tolerate bigger risks. Successful startups are often acquired by the established companies and the cycle re-starts.

How do Startups work?

A group of founders imagine a novel idea to solve an existing problem. They build a prototype of the new product and validate “market fit”. Then they establish a company and develop the product and prepared to deliver it at scale.

Bootstrapping, where early revenue and profits generated by the company is re-invested for growth is the most obvious way to fund a startup.

Silicon Valley came up with an alternative model to fund big ideas… Match entrepreneurs with venture investors to fuel aggressive business plans. Companies can make the investments to create a bigger business faster and investor get to participate in the oversized returns on investment.

Angel investors invest a relatively small (seed) amount to help validate an idea and build a product. Institutional investors (VCs) can invest larger amounts after the startup shows traction to fuel the fast growth and scaling of the business. Most startups aim to eventually being acquired by a larger company or becoming a pubic company through an IPO.

Founders resorting to investment funding need to be able to “pitch” business and get investors to provide money in exchange for a participation in the company. While “Shark Tank” has been simplified for TV, the principles you see in that show are similar to startups in the regular market.

How do I Become an Entrepreneur

There no right age or market condition to become an Entrepreneur. Startup founders often disregard conventional wisdom, believe in an idea, and take risks to build a product and a business.

  • Stay Curious and Creative – Look at the word with the eyes of a problem solver. Look at technology as tools to address world problems in novel ways. Be inspired by learning about the history of the companies or organizations you admire.
  • Exchange ideas with the Community – Connect with like-minded people (see CareerZ Cast Guide: Professional Networking). If you leave near a large city, look up and attend meetups and startup events in your area, where you can find connections, information, and inspiration to start a company.

Conclusion

The primary founder of a startup is usually someone who can ignore risks and obstacles and execute on an idea towards a goal, and that is a relatively rare skill. Participating in a entrepreneurial project can be an exciting way to start or build a satisfying career. For more on the trade-offs between working in a large company versus a startup: CareerZ Cast Guide: Transitioning from Corporate to a Startup job.

Follow-up Action

Regardless on whether you intend to join or start a small company, explore the entrepreneurial path. Follow the recommendations above and pay attention to opportunities. Use this article as a conversation piece, set an informational interview, and talk to a entrepreneur you know.

Share this with a friends who might be at similar points as you are in their career.

About the author

Marcio is a technology veteran with over 35 year of experience in product development. He has been part of several startup projects and taught entrepreneurship in workshops at Stanford University and University of California Los Angeles. He is always open to startup chats to help individuals to navigate the changing landscape.

CareerZ Cast Guide: The Impact of AI in your Career


[CareerZ Cast audio version of this article]

AI and the Future of Work: Navigating Uncertainty

“What jobs will AI replace first?” This question has dominated conversations about the future of work. While some anxiety is justified, it is crucial to remember that technological advancement have historically created disruption, but also created new opportunities.

The rise of AI has sparked a wave of anxiety and uncertainty among workers. Will robots replace us all? In this article, we’ll explore the potential impact of AI on the job market (not really to answer to the question) and discuss how to navigate this evolving landscape were robots can plausibly be able to perform most human tasks in the next decades.

Ask the AI…

Google Gemini has a take on the answer to the question above.

Jobs that involve repetitive tasks, data entry, and predictable patterns are likely to be most affected by the emergence of AI. Here are some examples:

1. Data Entry Clerks: AI can quickly and accurately process large volumes of data, making human data entry less necessary.
2. Telemarketers: AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can handle many customer service and sales interactions.
3. Truck Drivers (in certain situations): Self-driving trucks are already being developed and could eventually replace human drivers for long-haul routes.
4. Manufacturing Workers: Automation and robotics powered by AI are increasingly used in manufacturing, potentially leading to job displacement.
5. Proofreaders and Editors: AI language models can now generate high-quality text, potentially reducing the need for human proofreaders.

It’s important to note:

AI will also create new jobs: While some jobs may be displaced, AI will also create new roles in areas like AI development, data science, and AI ethics.
The impact will vary: The extent to which AI affects different jobs will vary depending on the specific tasks involved and the pace of technological advancement.

Google Gemini

Okay. That sounds reasonable. Jobs that involve repetitive tasks can be more easily automated and will disappear at some point. But that has been a long-standing unfulfilled prediction. The successive waves of technology application since the Industrial Revolution have created more, not less, repetitive work for humans.

An opinionated view of where AI will disrupt first.

“Making predictions is hard, particularly predictions about the future.”

I have been lucky to be at the epicenter of a few large societal disruptions triggered by past emerging technology. Here are a couple of lessons I learned.

  • The Gartner Hype Cycle model says that the impact of technology follows a pattern of hype and disillusionment before productivity. The commercial Internet was going to change the world in 1994, then it was going to fade away into irrelevance in 2000, then it changed the world around ten years after the initial hype. The launch of ChatGPT-3 in early 2020 is arguably the “technology trigger” that gave birth to the AI/LLM hype cycle of the 2020’s. It won’t change the world “next year” (as pundits have predicted every year since). It will eventually change the world and re-shape the job market in more than a few and less than fifteen years from now.
  • The impact of a technology is first felt, not where it is more logical, but in industries that are closer to the precursors of the said technology. Autonomous driving (not a repetitive task) is probably one of the most difficult use cases for AI to solve, but it is where a lot of the early AI efforts are going. LLM AI is ripe to replace proofreaders and paralegal staff reviewing and editing documents, but I bet software development (a significantly more difficult task to automate) will be affected first because people working on AI are personally close to the software development use case.

Preparing for the future

How should an early-career professional face the prospect of future job market disruptions by AI technology? AI will eventually change the jobs available, but our advice is that what you do until then does not change significantly.

In other words, don’t give up your dream of becoming a software developer, practicing law, or going to medical school because you heard someone say that AI will replace jobs in those areas. Technology will eliminate the need for some work and create need for new work. Nobody knows whether the net opportunities for human impact in each area is positive or negative.

  • Embrace Learning – Develop AI literacy. People who understand and use AI will be more able to leverage it, apply it, and make sure it is used well and for the common good. Martin McLuhan wrote 60 years ago “Technology is an extension of man” and argued that any transformative technology will also re-shape the human mind and that resisting its effects is futile.
  • Focus on Human-Centric Skills – Job descriptions might change and the need for humans to perform certain tasks will disappear, and we need to adjust. You might, for example, focus more on data architectures and less on mastering a specific programming language, but the need for software engineers will remain. An entry level job at a law firm might involve less redlining contracts than typically require today, but one should assume Law will continue to be relevant.
  • Growth Mindset – Prioritize adaptability – Perhaps there will be a time when humans no longer need to work and that triggers major societal changes and challenges. This is another long-standing prediction – I first read that concept in a book by Domenico di Masi 40 years ago. Historically, humanity has been very creative finding new ways of “doing work”. At some point that prediction might come true, but worrying about it is not exactly the best way to prepare for it.

Conclusion

While AI presents challenges, it also offers immense opportunities. Most of the readers of this blog are pursuing knowledge-based careers (work that can be done in front of a computer), which are more vulnerable to replacement by AI than work that involve interactions with the physical world.

Don’t rush into big directional changes because you heard someone predicting the extinction of a career.

Follow-up Action

To identify the adjustments needed, you might want to talk to people who are further along in the career you intend to pursue. Use this article as a conversation piece, set an informational interview, and ask them what are the early effects of the adoption of AI they see or predict in their area and what are the adjustments (if any) they recommend.

Share this with a friends who might be at similar points as you are in their career.

About the author

Marcio is a technology veteran with over 35 year of experience in product development. He has witnessed firsthand the impact of earlier technological disruptions and provide career coaching to help individuals to navigate the changing landscape.

CareerZ Guide: Manager and Individual Contributor Roles


=> audio podcast version of this article

Early-career professionals working on large companies soon or later will be faced to the dilemma: “Should I become a manager?” and this article discusses how to go about answering to that question.

Is that really the right question? I am going against the traditional consensus that people should do what they are naturally inclined to do, some people thrive in hands-on technical execution and others gravitate naturally towards coordination roles. I propose that, in order to develop a successful career, people who enjoy and thrive in IC roles can delay their transition into management, but should not assume they will not become a manager over the long-term.

That reframing of the question is important because, I believe that, regardless of how comfortable and satisfied someone is in an IC role, they should seek the development of leadership skills. Professionals will gain experience over time (which is important in management/leadership) and will become less competitive in maintaining sharp specific technical expertise as technology evolves.

There are alternative career trajectories outside the scope of this article that allow value creation without being part of a hierarchical structure, such as becoming an architect or consultant.

The role of Individual Contributors

An Individual Contributor (IC) focuses on the technical execution of tasks and delivery of results that, combine with the work of others, achieve a certain business goal. For example, in Software Development, IC Software Engineers design, write, test and deliver working software that meet partial stated technical requirements.

ICs are responsible for the delivery of the tasks assigned to them and their own professional development and performance. They don’t have other people reporting to them and are on the leaf end of the organizational chart.

Most college-graduated professionals start their career as ICs, using technical skills acquired in school to perform specialized technical tasks. As they gain more domain expertise, they can take more complex tasks and start advising junior ICs on technical matters (sometimes referred to as “technical lead” roles).

The role of Managers

A Manager has direct reports and is responsible for the management of a team and its outputs, guiding the career of others and providing the resources need by the team to succeed. This requires domain expertise and experience, so most managers have earlier been ICs in that domain.

Managers are less involved in the direct execution of technical tasks and have two sets of responsibilities in most organizations:

  • Project management: Deciding technical direction, decomposing larger projects into its parts and assigning individual tasks, providing guidance/advice to less-experienced employees, coordinating dependencies with other teams, managing project timelines, budget, and delivery.
  • Organizational management: Being a conduit of communication between leadership and employees, maintaining team coordination and culture, responsible for the career development of team members: hiring, training, performance management, promotions, compensation changes. These organizational tasks are often not learned in school.

Management roles typically involve less technical and more process and people-related work, which can be more demanding and stressful than an exclusive focus on technical challenges. Managers typically spend more time in meetings. For example, in Software Development, a manager might meet team members individually and review project status with the team periodically and coordinate with other teams to deliver a system that solves business problems.

Transition from IC to Manager

A high-performing IC who has neglected the development of communication, people-management, collaboration, leadership skills will not be a good manager. That is the reason why many brilliant ICs go onto becoming mediocre managers.

Regardless on how long you intend to be an IC for, seek the development of communication and leadership skills from early on so you are ready when the opportunity comes.

Determining your path and timing

If you are a manager working in a large organization, experience is valuable, while specific technical skills are difficult to maintain and have less durable value compared to more junior ICs. For example, younger, less experienced software engineers might not know how to decompose a large project into individual tasks, but they will be more up-to date on the ever-evolving tools and programming languages.

So, assuming most people are looking for increasing levels of responsibility and compensation over time as their experience levels increase, for technology/knowledge workers, the question is less on whether, but on the timing to transition from IC to management roles.

I usually recommend that early-career professionals rotate between at least a few IC roles within a certain area to gain a more systemic view of the roles and responsibilities involved, and gain domain knowledge before taking on a manager role. How fast that happens will also depend on what you enjoy doing and how ambition-driven you are. ICs who want to continue to be hands-on performing technical work, could also consider moving to smaller organizations with smaller teams and less management demands.

The direction and timing of turns in your career is the result both on what you want (and you will find it through self-awareness and reflection) and the opportunities that come your way.

Reflection Guide

A “SWOT” analysis is a popular framework for reflection

  • Strengths – Think about what you naturally do well and what you enjoy doing. If, for example, you are in Software development, do you tend to get immersed in solitary solving coding challenges or you prefer to solve challenges by interacting and collaborating with others? That will tell you how fast you want to consider a management role to leverage your natural preferences effectively.
  • Weaknesses – Communication, leadership, people relationships, presentation, process and project analysis, etc. are examples of skills required by management roles. Reflecting on how well-prepared you are will give you a roadmap to develop skills necessary to advance your career.
  • Opportunities – In some environments, becoming a manager is the only path to advancing your career. Consider whether or not you want to accelerate your transition or look for a different environment that will extend your learning and growth as an IC. This reflection will tell you how to select a role in a company that maximizes growth opportunities for your profile.
  • Threats – Particularly in the technology space, knowledge obsolescence is always a threat. Can technology changes disrupting your career? Is the impact of emerging technology going to affect decisions you make? Think about how to consider the market context in your career decisions.

Becoming a manager/leader is not absolutely necessary for a satisfying career. In innovation-driven organizations it is possible to grow into a domain expert and technical thought leader on a primarily technical track over a long period of time.

But let me be direct. If increasing financial compensation is a priority for you, developing management and leadership skills and eventually becoming able to lead organizationally is a necessity. In the vast majority of societies and industries, there is a significant difference in value attributed to knowing how to do it and knowing how to lead others do it.

Also, as we grow older and more experienced (and less agile in refreshing our technical skills), we tend to aspire to more systemic and larger business impact. So, the fact that being an IC suits you well today doesn’t mean you should neglect developing skills to eventually be able to lead others at work.

You have control on how fast you make that transition, allowing the time and experience to develop domain expertise before you start managing others.

Follow-up Action

Practice some reflection and seek to develop organizational management skills, even if you feel comfortable and would like to remain an IC for a while. Other articles on this channel offer advice on how to develop leadership.

Take the time to share this post with a mentor and use it as a conversation piece. Share this with a friends who might be at similar points as you are in your career.

About the author

Marcio is a technology veteran both in large corporate and startups. He has built a 35-year career in Technology product development and led a handful of people in a startup environment, dozens of people in traditional companies, and hundreds of people in large Tech. Marcio provides career coaching, including preparation for successful onboarding and development in organizational leadership roles. 

CareerZ Cast Guide: Is it time to quit my job?


=> [ audio podcast version of this article ]

It is an important and complex question

Work is a major part of our lives, providing income, purpose and identity. So the answer to the posted question is important, complex, and individual.

For the purpose of this article, we will assume most readers aim for career growth and increasing levels of responsibility and compensation over time.

Some readers may have the privilege of not needing to work, but still find value in the advice. Most of us have to balance the desire to do work that is comfortable, pleasurable and enriching against the practical fact that we need to earn some money to cover the financial responsibility associated with our life choices.

Voluntarily quitting is difficult to do

We are told to persevere and avoid quitting. We are taught that the secret of success is delayed gratification. Like any good rule, it must be broken at certain times. We feel fear and insecurity about disruptions in our income stream. We might worry about others will perceive our decisions.

Anecdotally, I have seen people who are capable of proactively starting change at the right time to have more successful careers. If that is true, the question is: What are the times when disruption is better than continuity?

  • Quitting your job is justified when you are in a bad work environment. It might be because a manager you do not respect. It might be because of a toxic culture. If you spend most of your time at work resenting the environment or complaining how bad things are, do something about it and change the situation.
  • If you’re comfortable but unchallenged, consider seeking new opportunities. There are no opportunities to create more value or to contribute to larger goals. You don’t admire or believe company leadership. You cannot align company mission with your values. While less urgent, seeking change in those situations is what differentiates professionals who reach their potential from the ones that stagnate below it.

Don’t let fear be the only reason you are not doing something. Most people have more fear than granted of not having a job for a short period of time. Once you make the decision of quitting a job, be decisive and realistic. Make a plan, execute on your plan. Change is uncomfortable.

When not to quit

As much as possible, the decision of quitting a job should not be triggered by an emotional response to an isolated event at work or outside work. Most companies do offer accommodations and resources for moments of individual crisis.

Every company goes through difficult moments triggered by outside conditions or internal events. Usually, that is the cue and opportunity to show grit and persistence, work with your team to overcome difficulties, learn, grow and help to make the organizational successful. That is the exact moment not to quit. While difficulties can trigger negative human behaviors, don’t confuse difficult situations with intrinsically bad or uninteresting work environments.

No matter how small, you are part of the environment you are in. Think objectively of what is triggering your thought of quitting and find whether or not you can do something about it. If you are part of the problem, get help and work to change your behavior. If you don’t respect your manager, there may be and opportunity to change teams within the same company and functional role. If another person is the reason for collective discomfort in an otherwise healthy environment, talk to your manager about it. If there are new challenges available but your team avoids them, push yourself and the team to do more.

Leadership is the ability navigate the environment and effectively move a group of people towards achieving a common goal. Exercise your leadership.

So, what are the practical rules?

There are no fixed practical rules.

Generally, as part of this audience (early-career professionals, looking into building a successful career), seek role changes at least once every couple of years (either by changing companies or taking larger responsibility within the same company). Optimize for learning, not for comfort.

As much as possible, maintain a financial reserve so that you can make important decisions without being driven only by fear (in this case, of financial duress). Staying somewhere just because you need the pay is common, so if you don’t want “common”, give yourself the freedom to decide.

Follow-up Action

Proactive job changes are difficult, but necessary at crucial moments for job satisfaction and success. A career motto of mine, which I always go back to is “Cautions and Analytical most of the time, bold when necessary.” Respect your fears, but do not be controlled by them.

When considering quitting a job, seek advice of external mentors (you can use this article as a conversation piece), practice some introspection to get to a conclusion. Then be decisive, make a plan, and execute on the plan.

This article on Leadership (covering the concept of self-leadership) and this on Navigating Early Career Choices might be useful if you are considering proactive job changes.

If you know others struggling with similar decisions, take the time to share this with them.

About the author

Marcio is a technology veteran both in large corporate and startups. Marcio has cultivated grit and persistence over his career, but also proactively triggered career disruptions and quit jobs (including coveted prestigious roles) a few times. He provides career coaching, including preparation for successful onboarding and development in organizational leadership roles. 

CareerZ Cast Guide to Informational Interviews


=> CareerZ Cast audio version of this article

What are informational interviews?

While the term “informational interview” can be applied to different types of career-related conversations, for the purposed of this article, we defined it as a one-on-one conversation with a professional in a field you are interested in with the main purpose of obtaining first-hand insights and information.

The potential learnings out of an informational interview can be, for example, how a more seasoned professional get inspired and conduct their work, learn about the skills needed/daily tasks in a specific job, how to take the next step in getting into a target career, what skills/knowledge you need to pursue, understand an organization or company culture, discover career paths or resources you were not aware of, etc. While there might be occasional transitions, do not treat an informational interview as a covert job search requests.

Once you start doing it, in addition to the information you ask for, you will also realize that having candid conversations helps to build relationship, learn about the person you are talking to, and possibly to the building of longer-term relationships and opportunities.

A formal informational interview will typically be scheduled for 30 minutes, but depending on how close you are to the interviewee or how the conversation goes, it could be both longer and involve multiple sessions.

Who should I talk to?

Particularly if you are approaching a career-related milestone (picking a major in college, earning a degree, starting a job search, preparing for a job interview, considering a career change, promotion into a new role, etc.), it should be easy for you to approach anyone and ask for help.

You will find that most people, particularly people who have achieved a successful career, are more willing than you imagine to share their ideas and knowledge.

We are not used to just approach people and ask for help. In this case, the worst thing that can happen is the person offering some excuse (“I am too busy in the next few weeks…”) and declining the appointment. The upside is compelling so, as long as you are genuinely interested, just do it.

Some of the most insightful and productive informational interviews I have requested were with people I was not close with. But it does take some courage to take that first step and cold contact someone. So, you can start and practice with someone you already know.

Have you had a career talk with your parents or a relative? You would be surprised at how setting a professional context and adding a bit of structure can change how conversations go, even with people you have been talking for a long time. You will lean a lot if you can get someone who knows you well to talk to you as an objective advisor instead of a well-meaning but subjective parent.

Once you have identified an immediate goal, do some homework and use your natural contacts, such as family, friends, professors, former employers, mentors to identify a good conversation candidate. People you know, even if not ideal candidates, can connect you to people who are.

If you are in college, the alumni network is an obvious place to look. If you are a professional looking for career advice, pick someone in your organization you admire and trust. If you are applying to a job, talk to someone in the company or in the organization you might be joining. Use tools like LinkedIn to look for possible contacts.

In summary, here is the list of places you can find people to share and ask for advice: family, friends, neighbors, classmates/colleagues, professors/managers, student or professional associations, social networking, alumni or ex-employees, other communities.

Preparing for an informational interview

  • Research – Do not ask trivial questions that ChatGPT can factually answer. You want insights, specific information that is not in job descriptions or Internet articles. For example, don’t ask “what does a data scientist do?”. Instead ask “I read that data scientists perform analysis on data to detect or predict business trends. Can you tell me what that means in practice in this company and give an example of business problems you work on?”
  • Develop a brief introduction – Be prepared to briefly tell your story: talk about where you are in your career, what your goals are, why you requested the interview and what you hope to get from it. Be candid and vulnerable with the interviewee and go into it with a genuine curiosity and interest in learning.
  • Prepare a list of questions – Particularly if you are talking to someone who is more experienced, you might expect them to partially lead the conversation and tell you things you did not even know existed. But be prepared with a list of questions exploring the things you would like to know. Listen more than you talk. Ask real questions you are interested in (don’t ask just because you saw it in an article like this one).

Reaching out with a request

Proposing an informational interview can be scary, but should not be difficult. Here are some examples.

  • Direct personal acquaintance – You are interested in going into a certain field and your uncle is a practitioner. You can simply say during Thanksgiving dinner: “I am graduating from college next year and considering exploring career option in <field>. Would it be ok for us to have a quick meeting next week? We have not talked about work much, but I know you are in this space and would like to get some insight and orientation from you as I start that exploring journey…”
  • Indirect connection – You intend or have applied for a job role at a certain company. You can explore your network and find someone who already works there. Contact them and state (a) who you are, how you got their name, (b) the context of your upcoming job interview, (c) what you are looking for (not asking for a job, finding more about the company and its culture, determine if I am a good match to apply to or be hired for a job).

Examples of questions to ask

  • Personal: Books that influence you, what drives/motivates you, how reality differs from expectations when you were where I am, what are your personal strengths in career development, specific advice on next steps, how to select a good mentor, how the job affects your lifestyle. Think about your current struggles. Ask them how they have overcome them.
  • Field of work: If your main topic is exploring a specific company/domain/industry, you can ask about important technical and non-technical skills, how a typical day of work looks like, the culture and attitudes in the company/organization, the business value of the work, how success is measured, suggestion for getting started, adjacent and next career paths, industry trends, thought leaders to follow or books to read.

Showing up for the conversation

While the range of formality in a informational conversation might vary broadly, make sure you treat it as a professional conversation.

  • Set a professional context. If you are meeting face-to-face, show up on time and dress appropriately. If you are having an ad hoc conversation at a backyard barbecue triggered by “what you do for a living?”, signal interest and suggest moving to a quiet corner for a minute. If talking to a personal acquaintance, preamble the meeting by declaring the professional nature of the conversation you would like to have. Bring your notes and questions if it is a planned meeting.
  • Introduce the conversation. Restate that your objective is to get information and advice. If necessary, highlight you are not asking for a job. Provide context and tell your story: where you are, what are your goals, why you are having the conversation, what you expect to get out of it.
  • Conduct the interview. You are the interviewer, so be prepared to ask questions. Be an active listener, ask clarifying questions as real insights will be one layer deeper. Respect the person’s time. Limit the meeting to the agreed-upon timeframe.
  • Conclude the conversation. Thank them for their time. Ask if you may contact them again in the future with other questions. Ask for names of other people to contact in order to gather different perspectives.
  • Follow-up. Follow-up with a formal professional note, request referrals or links mentioned during the conversation, say after our conversation I felt.. and was surprised to learn… and plan to do… If you were anticipating a career milestone, let them know where there is a resolution later (“I got the job!”, “your advice was crucial for my decision”, “I had a very instructive conversation with the person you referred me to…”, etc.) and thank them again and turn a transactional conversation into a longer-term relationship. Anyone providing advice and information wants to know what they did was consequential to you.

Follow-up Action

If you are reading this or listening to the CareerZ Cast podcast, you are obviously thinking about your career. Take action today. There is no better way of learning, communication your intentions, get advice, nurture relationships, letting the universe help you, than talking to people about your status, struggles and dreams.

While informational interviews are typically conducted with some formality and with people who are more experienced than you, that doesn’t need to be the case. Develop the habit of telling your story and your goals in conversation with your peers. They are in parallel journeys to yours and might have insight and information to offer you. Perhaps you can share your insight and information and help them.

Take the time to share this post with a mentor and have a discussion on how to approach people for advice and information. Also take the time to share this post and podcast with friends.

About the author

Marcio is a technology veteran both in large corporate and startups. He has built a 35-year career in Technology product development and led a handful of people in a startup environment, dozens of people in traditional companies, and hundreds of people in large Tech. Marcio provides career coaching services.

CareerZ Cast Guide to Leadership


=> CareerZ Cast audio version of this article

What is Leadership?

Leadership is the ability navigate the environment and effectively move a group of people towards achieving a common goal.

While there are certain roles (e.g. company executive, sports coach, army general, etc.) that are intrinsic leading roles within an organization, leadership is an attribute everyone should develop. Particularly in collaborative teams, every person should play a role coordinating and aligning with others in a common pursuit.

Not developing leadership limits one’s ability to work with others, restricting suitable roles that are limited in scope and responsibility. Leadership develops early in life. Don’t wait for a role that requires leadership to be available before you become proficient.

There are several styles of leadership and organizations, so there are multiple ways to lead people, but the top five actions of a leader are:

  • Vision – A leader will consider the environmental constraints and the interest and values of the organization and define a clear inspiring vision of the future, with realistic goals and a definition of success.
  • Communicate and Inspire – In order to bring the team along, the leader will communicate the vision clearly and inspire members of the team to embrace and work together towards it. The leader will also influence others outside the team to make coordinated decisions aligned with the organizational vision.
  • Support and Motivate – The leader will provide the knowledge and tools needed to achieve the common goal, support the team day-to-day in its pursuit by defining metrics and intermediate milestones, and constantly monitor progress and take corrective action.
  • Challenge and Innovate – Leaders will challenge the team to achieve more, experiment with new approaches, and encourage personal and professional growth.
  • Make decisions – Leaders make timely and fair decisions, particularly in times of crisis where the right path to take is not clear.

Even if you are not in a position of leadership, use every opportunity to exercise it as part of teams. For example, let’s say two colleagues have different views about how to go about executing a task and are arguing about how to move forward. Rather than adding yet a different view, you can engage in the discussion by asking them to explain and compare their perspectives and facilitate the convergence. Serving a broker of consensus also give you an opportunity to add to and influence it. That is how leaders act every day.

It starts with Self-Leadership

Avie Tevanian (Apple CTO in 2000) once told me during a career advice conversation: “Before leading others, one must learn how to lead oneself.” When I wrote that down in my notebook, I was not prepared to fully understand that statement, but that was the inspiration for me to seek education on the concept of leadership. In retrospect, I realize that self-leadership is not only a pre-requisite , but also a precursor to organizational leadership – a good self-leader usually also become a good organizational leader.

So, my recommendation to early-career professionals is to start with self-leadership. Develop and nurture good habits and active learning that will eventually prepare you to understand other’s abilities and motivations.

Consider the definition of Leadership above and transpose it to self. A self-leadership program would go like this:

  • Envision and achieve your next career steps – When it comes to life and career, set goals and milestones that are meaningful to you and develop your personal approach to achieve them. Learning how to focus and prioritize, visualize a set of steps to be executed that leads to the goals. Learn how to overcome procrastination, lack of motivation or focus, paralysis by developing productive habits and rituals.
  • Tell and live your story – Understand yourself and your attributes by telling the story of how you got here and how do you operate today (this is what is often referred to as your “personal brand”). Practice telling that story when you introduce yourself to others so it becomes second-nature to you. Inspire yourself to move forward by extending that story into the future and finding who you want to become.
  • Shift into a growth mindset – Constantly take the opportunity to learn (from books, from direct advice, from observing others) and grow. Understand the skills your a missing and go after them. Understand what people you admire do and imitate them. Dreaming big takes the same effort as dreaming small.
  • Challenge yourself – Don’t let constraints stop you. It is true that luck and opportunity is unfairly distributed, but you need to do your part. When people say they don’t have opportunity, I often find that people are not paying attention to the present opportunities. Success in life and work result from the interaction of your actions with the environment you live in.
  • Be deliberate and decisive – We are constantly presented with broad selection of choices in life. Be self-aware and make choices that take you closer to your vision. It is ok to discover a dead-end and have to backtrack and explore other alternatives. It is ok to take a detour and and a longer path to a specific destination. It is not ok to be stuck for too long because you cannot decide whether to go right or left.

Basic skills and resources

Leadership is a broad concept and there are multiple styles and perspectives that can be different and right at the same time. This is a very personal list of basic skills I recommend developing early in your life and career to prepare you for formal organizational leadership in the future. Traditional school is not very good at offering these skills, so you need to be an active learner.

  • Storytelling – Influencing, convincing, educating, inspiring, converging, motivating… All these verbs are much easier to achieve through a compelling narrative or story. The human brain evolved to produce and consume stories. Study and practice storytelling. Every major religion have a book of stories. Every great leader share stories. That is no coincidence. Storytelling can be learned and practiced since childhood and is one of the most important skills for leadership. A good book to read and understand the components of a good story is “Storyworthy” by Matthew Dicks.
  • Psychology – Understand how people react to incentives, how people behave when not thinking objectively, what moves people. Understanding how humans operate is a core skill for leadership. Behavioral Economics is a discipline that combines some economics and psychology and focus on practical experiments over theoretical models and it is what I selected for me as a basic toolkit for leadership. There are plenty of book titles in this space that are more up to date than the titles I read 25-15 years ago.
  • Project Management – I find it surprising that people I interact with, seasoned professionals, lack the ability to break a large project into a set of smaller tasks. Cooking is a great analogy… You can envision a finalized dish, you can break that into sup-projects (the main component, the sauce, the seasonings, etc.), then map to the ingredients you have to purchase prepare. You can synchronize the different branches of execution so that tasks complete in the right sequence. Project Management is a basic life skill, that is also critical for executing professional projects. Here is a web list of resources on Project Management.

Follow-up Action

Leadership is not a narrow skillset. It is the result of experience working with others, but it requires you to be aware of what it takes, learn models and frameworks to make the process repetitive, and requires you to develop a good personal brand and empathy with others.

Don’t skip steps and focus on the basics early. Storytelling, psychology, project management are practical and useful by themselves. Learn how to enjoy progress on those basic skills so you can become effective and later develop formal leadership capabilities.

Take the time to share this post with a mentor and have a discussion on leadership Also take the time to share with a friends who might be also developing leadership skills.

About the author

Marcio is a technology veteran both in large corporate and startups. He has built a 35-year career in Technology product development and led a handful of people in a startup environment, dozens of people in traditional companies, and hundreds of people in large Tech. Marcio provides career coaching, including preparation for successful onboarding and development in organizational leadership roles. 

CareerZ Cast Guide to Job Interviews


=> CareerZ Cast audio version of this article

The first rule of job interviewing

Be your authentic self and apply to job roles that match your experience and ambitions.

You want the company to hire you for who you are and your skills, experience and potential. But that does not mean you can just “wing it”. A job interview is a performance that can have a meaningful impact in your career and life and it requires your diligent preparation.

I have conducted hundreds of job interviews and know it is a flawed method, subject to the biases and perceptions of interviewers, who often do not perform the job they are hiring for. By being authentic and well-prepared, you can convince the hiring manager that you are the right fit for the job.

This guide provides advice on achieving those goals. It is primarily addressed to early-career professionals, but can be used a good reminder for more experienced interviewees.

Applying for jobs

Do your research and learn about the company business and its culture. Ideally, apply for jobs that match your qualifications and can provide a good learning experience, in companies you believe in.

While your basic resume should be a good representation of your professional experience and capabilities, tailor it to highlight certain experiences and skills. For example, if the job description lists a specific programming language or a software tool and you have that corresponding experience, make sure your resume include those keywords.

Applying for jobs using forms in company career pages might be part of a job hunt, but is a long shot. Networking and referrals significantly increase your changes of landing an interview. Find someone who knows someone who can refer you, request informational interviews.

Interview basics

You got an interview. That means your resume was deemed compatible with the job and you are one of the handful of candidates being considered. If odds were against you before, they are now in your favor (everyone in the room want you to be hired and end the search for candidates). Shift into a positive mindset.

If you know who is going to interview, spend the time to study their profile on LinkedIn.

Show up on time and dress professionally. If you are interviewing with a tech startup in Silicon Valley for an engineering role, jeans and T-shirt might be ok. If it is a sales job, dress as you would visiting a client. If it is a video interview, find a good background and lighting and make sure you have a solid Internet connection.

Be yourself, but showcase the nice, positive and high-energy side of yourself. Bring a pen and a notebook, it is ok to have notes, but don’t depend on them. Silence your cellphone. The interviewers are more experienced and they want to go through their script, so they will usually conduct the meeting.

Prepare for each interview and perform the part

By the time you sit down to interview, you must know the job description, the company business, the profile of your interviewers. Be prepared to showcase your attributes that match the requirements during the interview conversation. Nervous and prepared wins over calm and clueless.

Rehearse your part and practice a mock interview with a friend or mentor with experience in hiring. It is a small investment that has the biggest impact on the outcome of your interview. Just do it.

Job interviewing is an art and most interviewer will ask predictable questions.

  • Talk about yourself – Practice a concise, meaningful, fluid, memorable speech typically delivered early in the interview. Highlight the experiences and skills that are relevant to the company/job. Read body language and be prepared to answer questions or go one layer deeper. Finish by declaring your interest in the role and why you decided to apply for it.
  • Factual questions – Answer factual questions truthfully and confidently. For example: “I am good with spreadsheets. I have done this and that <relevant anecdote>. While I have not played with macros or built pivot tables, I am a faster learner, so I feel ready to take the challenges of this role.”
  • Behavioral questions – Usually take one of two forms: (1) “Suppose you are faced with this situation… how would you handle it?” or (2) “Tell me about a situation where you were faced with this situation… how did you handle it?” The “situation” is relevant to the company culture. Conflict, objections, collaboration, priorities are common subject of those questions. Have a collection of 5-6 anecdotes that can be adapted on the fly to answer those questions meaningfully. For more, including the “STAR” (Situation, Task, Action, Results) framework, see this article.
  • Role-specific Knowledge – Interviewers might ask factual or behavioral questions that are specific to the skills or experience needed for the job. Handle those questions as above, truthfully and confidently.
  • Ask questions and close the deal – If you have concerns, ask the question (you will usually be given the opportunity to ask questions towards the end of the interview). Listen to and acknowledge the answer. Don’t waste the opportunity to ask questions. For example: “As I take this role, what is the main success criteria and what are my opportunities to learn and grow my career?”. Before giving up the microphone, make sure to “close the deal”: State your continuing interest, repeat the reason why you believe you are the best candidate for the job.

After the interview

After the interview, you might send an email to the interviewers thanking then for their time and again expressing your interest on the job and confidence about performing it. Depending on the interview results and other candidates, you might get a final answer within minutes or weeks. Regardless of the answer, always be professional.

Embrace the concept that interview panels are trying to do a good job. Trust the method, give it your best, be yourself, and believe the process is good identifying a good match. If you take that attitude, preparing for an interview becomes a lot easier and more natural.

It is likely you will get a few “No” answers before you get a job, particularly if you have not prepared properly. It might hurt your ego for a day or so, but it should be seen as an opportunity to learn and succeed in the right future opportunity

Follow-up Action

It is your responsibility as a candidate, to prepare and perform to maximize what you communicate to interviewers in the short interaction.

Don’t skip steps. Spend some time browsing available roles so you understand them. Get a referral if you know an insider. Prepare for interviews the same way you prepare for anything important in your career.

Take the time to share this post with a mentor and practice a mock interview. Also take the time to share with a friends who might be considering applying for jobs.

About the author

Marcio is a technology veteran both in large corporate and startups. He has conducted interviews and hired hundreds of people along his 35-year career. Marcio provides career coaching, including preparations for interviewing or setting up for success in a new leadership role. 

CareerZ Cast Guide to Career Building for College Students


=> CareerZ Cast audio version of this article

Career Building starts before getting the first job

While I would offer similar recommendations to anyone, regardless of career stage, for the purpose of this article, let’s assume you are in school and will graduate with a specific college degree. You know what you enjoy doing, and which type of role and general industry you are interested in (that visibility usually start to develop during the two last years in college).

Early career is about exploration and experimentation (see “Navigating Early Career Choices“), so don’t feel pressure to know everything as what you want will change over time.

Continuous Awareness

Starting before you enter the job market and continuing throughout your career, one should periodically reflect, maintain and adjust awareness of professional branding, positioning, and intention. Be consistent and practice how you introduce or present yourself in a professional setting, telling other what your plans are, writing cover letters for job applications, or answering questions in a job interview. You will be surprised at the effect when relatives get a confident answer when asking you about it over the next holiday dinner. That intentionality will also help you to prioritize and focus learning and experimentation as well.

  • Start telling your story – We all develop a personal brand, a set of attributes we cultivate and that becomes part of both our self-identity and reputation we project. Think about your strengths and personal attributes that are useful to support your positioning, regardless of professional experience. For example, say you want to emphasize the ability to organize and plan complex projects. You could say “I have a passion for cooking and, before joining college, I run a small baking business with restaurants as customers. Not only I developed basic budgeting and accounting skills, but also learned how to manage multi-step projects from resource management, to planning, to execution tracking, to delivery and presentation”. If you are applying for a job that requires project management skills (most do), and your competitors cannot articulate anything beyond “I am graduating from college and need a job”, that story will make a difference.
  • Define Positioning – A career is result of the interaction between what you want to pursue with the opportunities that come your way. Always be open to adapt and change, but articulate your next-step goals. For example “Looking for roles B2B Marketing or Business Development where I can leverage my social and project management skills” or “Pursuing a challenging front-end software development role, where I can build user experiences in consumer-facing applications.”
  • Keep a Resume and Nurture Relationships – It is easy to forget things we did that are relevant to a hiring manager. Develop the habit of documenting your relevant activities (i.e. keep an up-to-date resume) and start developing a professional network (influencers or a connectors in your professional future). Most people do both today using social networking tools (see CarrerZ Cast “Professional Networking for early career professionals“). When writing your resume or interacting with others, keep your positioning in mind and use your story to convey both your intentions and capabilities. Don’t hesitate connecting with professors, relatives, peers that can have an input or open doors to future professional opportunities.

Internships

If you work plans possibly involves becoming an employee of a established company, consider applying for summer internships while still in school. Large Tech companies offer paid internships and often assist with temporary relocation. A successful internships, besides being a great learning experience, can virtually ensure a job offer once you graduate and it is a great way to bridge the transition from being a student to getting your first foothold in the industry.

Internships can be offered by any company at any time, but large technology companies usually post opportunities around September for internships in the following Summer. Check my “Guide to Google Internships” (applicable to any Tech company) for more information and recommendations.

If the future might involve working at or creating a startup, reach out to your network, attend local startup events. Volunteering, family business, university jobs are other avenues you can use to explore the world of work before you graduate with a degree.

Getting your first job out of college

If you have adopted the recommendations in this article in advance of graduation time, getting your first job out of college should not be too challenging. By now you have a directional idea of what you are looking for, you have connected with people in the industry and communicated your intentions and capabilities. Perhaps you did a summer internship and have already secured a job offer for after graduation.

If you are graduating soon and have not done much, it is now time to catch up. Articulate your positioning (what you want in an ideal world), list companies and types of roles, your brand (your top skills/attributes you want to highlight), write your resume, put together a portfolio of projects and go job hunting.

Most colleges and universities offer assistance, job fairs, etc. Get informed and use the resources available.

Getting a job will involve interviewing. Job interviews do not evaluate your ability to do a job, but your ability to talk about what you can do, it is a communication exercise. It is a subtle but important difference and it is your responsibility as a job applicant to make sure you can convey your capabilities effectively. For interview preparation, check my “Guide to Job Interviewing“.

Going to company websites and applying for listed jobs through webforms might be your last resort, but it is not a very effective way of getting a response. Even if you have not done the homework, always look for a reference that can help with an introduction or referral before you submit that webform.

Conclusion and Call to Action

In conclusion, like other important things in life, developing a professional career requires setting goals, preparation, networking, dedication, communication, learning. This article gives you a few things to do to before entering the job market while still in college. Because your journey is unique, take this and other advice with grain of salt. Regardless, be pro-active and intentional as earning a college degree alone does not create a career.

If you found this article useful, please take the time to share this post with a couple of friends who might be in a similar context as you are. Exploring and exchanging notes with peers when starting a career opens more opportunities. You might also want to check and support the CareerZ Cast Podcast.

About the author

Marcio has had a 35 year career, mostly in product development., starting as an Electrical Engineer, transitioning to Engineering and Product Management, to CTO roles both in small and established companies. Marcio provides career coaching, with focus on early career choices and senior leadership roles in Technology.

CareerZ Cast Guide to Careers in Product Development


Careers in Product Development

This post is intended for students and recent graduates or professionals looking into transitioning into product development. We discuss and explain roles in technology (hardware and software) product development, how they evolve in a company, and how an individual can naturally start as an engineer to build a successful career.

Building products is a cross-functional pursuit and how we divide the work might vary slightly depending on company type, size or industry, but at a high-level these are the four major functional areas in product development.

  • Engineering – Function responsible for building the technical components of the product or service, this is where most careers in product development start. Engineering roles are typically filled by professionals with formal technical training (Electrical Engineering, Computer Science – we will generally refer to those as “engineers” in this article). Engineering roles include software development, hardware design, testing, quality assurance, user experience design, mechanical design, compliance engineering, web design, etc. Engineering roles typically focus on software and hardware development.
  • Product Management – Function responsible for managing product strategy, sometimes described as the “CEO of the product”. Product management roles are typically filled by engineering professionals who grow beyond their technical core and develop business and process expertise over time. The product manager is responsible from translating business requirements coming from customers into technical requirements to be met and delivered by engineering, and managing the product development process towards executing on a product roadmap. Product Management roles typically focus on use cases, product requirements, thought leadership, and engineering process and deliverables.
  • Product Marketing – Function responsible for representing the product capabilities and translating them into business benefits to customers. Product Marketing professionals typically come from either Engineering or Marketing functions. The Product Marketing Manager describes product capabilities outwards and positions the product in the market by communicating its capabilities, competitive differentiators, and business value it delivers. Product Marketing roles typically focus on product positioning, competitive analysis and delivering sales and marketing collateral.
  • Project Management – Function responsible for coordinating cross-functionally to ensure timely execution and efficient management of time and resources. Project Management professionals are analytical, proficient communicators, and understand processes. They can come from a variety of functional or academic backgrounds. The Project Manager tracks, coordinates and communicates project execution and manage the project schedule, influencing both the prioritization and expectations for the project. In large companies, a collection of projects can be grouped in a larger program under the coordination of a Program Manager, with similar but higher level functional role.

Product Development: Organizational Perspective

While the functional taxonomy above is well standardized, not all companies will have those exact functional departments. The exact roles in product development in a company can vary, depending on their culture, size and level of organizational maturity.

It is not uncommon in startups for one person to hold multiple functions. For example, initially the engineering manager might also be doing product management and project management. A software engineer might be writing code, testing the software, and prioritizing development tasks.

As the number of engineers grows beyond a handful of people, there is a need to implement more process to coordinate the work. Engineering roles branch and specialize across software and hardware development, user experience (UX) design, software and system testing, etc.

Next in the organizational maturing process, Product Management and Product Marketing specializes into separate functional areas (in some companies under Engineering, in others under Marketing). In a large organization, the Engineering Manager becomes mostly a technical and people manager for the Engineering team and leave the other functions in product development to others.

Once the company grows to have cross-functional teams, the need for coordination increases exponentially with the number of teams involved. That is when companies set a separate project/program management office (PMO) that focus on cross-functional communication and coordination. Companies that organize mostly along functional lines can live without a separate office of program management. Companies that have a matrix organization with unclear functional lines typically have a large number of program managers.

Product Development: Personal and Career Perspective

If you know you want to work in product development at a Technology company, then the academic door for jobs in that area are in Engineering and Computer Science related areas. While in larger companies there are opportunities for people in other functions to join product development, most careers in product development start in Engineering.

Once an engineer working on developing code or designing a system accumulates a few years of experience, there is a natural pressure for that person to take some other responsibilities. The rational for that pressure is that new college graduates might have less experience, but they can code as fast, are more familiar with new technologies, and cost less.

  • Stay an Engineer – Engineers who love the technical work and can remain as technical experts in their area can continue to do pure technical work at higher and higher level. That is not easy to realize, but it is possible in large technology-centric organizations.
  • Becoming a Functional Manager – Engineers who develop leadership and project management skills naturally transition to being engineering technical leaders and people managers. They can still do some technical work, but mostly spend their time coaching and managing the team.
  • Transitioning into Product/Marketing/Project Management – Engineers who evolve from building to understanding a product, can learn about engineering process and become the bridge between customers and markets with product development. They can take Product, Marketing, Project Management roles.
  • Taking Company Leadership Roles – As organizations grow and mature, the functional roles specialize and there are opportunities for senior engineers who continue to grow and learn to migrate to other adjacent functional areas in the company and eventually take major leadership roles.

Conclusion and Call to Action

In conclusion, the most significant source of career options for college students graduating in technical areas such a Computer Science and Electrical Engineering is to work in product development in the Technology industry. Academic research and software development in other industries are some of the other options.

If you found this article useful, please take the time to share this post with a couple of friends who might be considering the same questions as you. You might also want to check and support the CareerZ Cast Podcast as well.

About the author

Marcio has had a 35 year career, mostly in product development., starting as an Electrical Engineer working on hardware and firmware development, transitioning to Engineering and Product Management, to CTO roles both in small and established companies. His latest corporate role was leading the team responsible for development of Systems and Technologies for consumer operations and support at Google. Marcio provides career coaching, with focus on early career choices and senior leadership roles in Technology.