How I Discovered That Product Management was the Right Career Path for Me
- Tushar
- Dec 1
- 6 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
For a long time, I did not wake up and say, “I want to become a Product Manager.”
My journey towards product management did not start with a job description, a certification, or a fancy designation. It started with a very simple question that kept bothering me for years:
“Why do some products feel effortless to use, while others make life harder?”
At that time, I did not know this question had anything to do with product management. I only knew that I was deeply curious about how businesses, users, technology, and decisions come together to create something that people actually use.
This is the story of how that curiosity slowly turned into clarity. And more importantly, how you can run the same self-discovery process for yourself, no matter which background you come from.
Table of Contents
The First Signal Came From Observing People, Not From a Classroom
While pursuing my Masters in Management in the UK, I began noticing something very ordinary but powerful. People were no longer planning their shopping trips, they were simply ordering.
Groceries, electronics, gifts, essentials - everything was shifting online. Amazon was not just a company anymore; it was becoming a habit. A behaviour. A default.
When I returned to India, that change became even more visible after affordable internet became mainstream. Delivery bikes, courier vans, online payments, everything started appearing in everyday life. At that time, I was not thinking like a “future product manager.” I was simply observing people, behaviour, and systems interacting at scale.
That is the first signal I would ask you to look for as well:
Do you naturally observe how people use systems, struggle with processes, and adapt to tools without being told to do so?
If the answer is yes, you already carry the raw instinct that product managers build their careers on.
Building a Business Taught Me What “Product Thinking” Actually Means
When I decided to build my own e-commerce business, I did not think of it as “entering product.” I thought of it as solving a simple problem:
How do we make good products accessible to people without friction?
What followed was five years of hands-on learning in:
Market research
User understanding
Supply chain
Pricing
Packaging
Customer experience
Returns, failures, and uncertainty
Every decision had consequences that showed up immediately—in revenue, in customer feedback, in operations. What I did not realise then was that I was unknowingly practicing the core muscles of product management every single day:
Identifying real problems
Validating demand
Designing solutions under constraints
Making trade-offs
Listening to users
Improving continuously
This is a very important point for anyone reading this from a non-founder background:
You do NOT need to run a business to develop product thinking.
You only need to operate close enough to real user pain and real outcomes.
Engineers, designers, QA professionals, customer success managers, sales executives, if your current role allows you to see real user friction and real system bottlenecks, you are already standing close to product thinking.
The Turning Point Came During Uncertainty, Not During Success
For a long time, my identity was deeply tied to my business. But after multiple COVID waves, operational shutdowns, and growing marketplace constraints, I found myself at a personal crossroad.
For the first time in years, I asked myself, “What do I actually enjoy doing every single day?”, The answer was very clear:
Understanding users
Breaking down messy problems
Designing better processes
Improving how systems worked
Not running inventory.
Not negotiating logistics.
Not managing daily operations.
What excited me was the thinking layer behind the business. That is when I began seriously exploring product management, not as a trend, but as a craft.
So here is a second reflection you can try for yourself:
When everything else is removed - titles, salary, prestige, what type of work consistently energises you?
Your honest answer to this question is far more important than any career trend.
Why Product Management Felt Like a Natural Extension, Not a Switch
When I studied what product managers actually do in practice, I realised something very quietly but very clearly:
I was not changing my way of thinking.
I was only changing the environment where I applied it.
As a founder, I:
Studied markets
Talked to customers
Tested ideas
Improved experiences
Made data-backed decisions
As a product manager, I would have to do the same - just within a technical organisation with various scale and multiple stakeholders.
This is an important mental shift for aspirants. Product management is not a “career change” in the true sense. It is often a context change of the same core thinking. That is why people successfully transition into PM roles from:
Engineering
Design
Customer success
Operations
Business analysis
Sales
The surface skills may differ, but the internal wiring - curiosity, systems thinking, empathy, decision-making, remains constant.
The First Reality Check: I Was a Beginner Again
When I entered my first formal product role, I did not feel “experienced.” I felt like a student again. New language, New stakeholders, New expectations.
For the first few weeks, even routine product discussions felt overwhelming. Tech conversations moved fast. Design reviews were deep. Decisions carried large downstream impact.
This phase was uncomfortable, but it taught me a lesson that I now share openly, " Discomfort is not a sign of misfit. It is a sign of growth when you step into a thinking-heavy role. "
Most people wrongly assume, “If I am confused, I must not be cut out for this.” In reality, confusion is simply the cost of learning how complex systems operate.
If you are an aspiring PM reading this and feeling overwhelmed by the breadth of the role - Know that this is normal. It does not disqualify you.
How You Can Identify If Product Management Is Right for You
Let me now translate my personal signals into a practical self-check you can run on your own life, regardless of your background. You may be suited for product management if most of these statements naturally resonate with you:
You care deeply about why a problem exists, not just how to execute a task.
You often find yourself thinking about how something could work better, even when it’s not part of your job.
You enjoy speaking to users or customers and listening for patterns, not just complaints.
You are comfortable saying, “I don’t know yet,” and then figuring it out systematically.
You prefer roles where outcomes matter more than instructions.
You enjoy collaborating across teams instead of staying within one functional boundary.
If you strongly relate to these, product management may not feel natural on day one—but it can become a deeply fulfilling long-term craft.
A Common Trap: Choosing PM for the Wrong Reasons
Over the years, many people have told me:
“I want to become a PM because the salary is good.”
Or,
“PMs get a lot of visibility in the company.”
Let me be very honest here, in the most supportive way, if money or optics are your primary motivators, product management will exhaust you very quickly. It is a role full of:
Ambiguity
Delayed rewards
Stakeholder pressure
Continuous failure before success
The people who sustain in this field are usually those who enjoy:
Problem framing
User understanding
Decision-making under uncertainty
Long cycles of iteration
If you like these, compensation becomes a by-product. If you do not, compensation rarely compensates for the stress.
What I Would Tell My Younger Self Before Transitioning
If I could speak to myself at the exact moment I was trying to decide whether to move into product, I would say five things:
Do not wait for absolute clarity. It never arrives fully formed.
Build thinking depth before chasing job titles.
Start observing problems where you already work.
Talk to users even if your role does not demand it.
Choose learning speed over short-term role comfort.
These five behaviours shaped my transition more than any formal preparation ever could.
For Engineers, Designers, and Business Professionals reading this, let me say this clearly, if you are:
An engineer who enjoys understanding why a feature exists,
A designer who wants to shape what gets built,
A QA professional who sees patterns in product failures,
A customer success manager who understands users emotionally,
A business professional who thinks in systems and outcomes,
You already stand much closer to product management than you think. The transition is not about abandoning your current identity. It is about expanding it.
Product Management Discovered Me Slowly
I did not “choose” product management in one bold moment. It quietly revealed itself to me through:
Years of observing people
Struggles of building systems
Failures in execution
Curiosity about how things work
Satisfaction of solving messy problems
For many of you reading this, the same process might already be unfolding - just without a label yet. And that is perfectly fine. Clarity in careers often arrives after movement, not before it.
Comments