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hi everyone alisa here and if you clicked on this video you might be a little bit confused because in the video title i'm telling you not to be a pm which kind of contradicts everything i've ever told you in this channel before so i want to clarify one thing no this is not clickbait and no i am not kidding there are some reasons why you maybe should not be a product manager i think product management is a wonderful career path i have been on it for quite a while i really like product management but i must admit it's not for everyone and so i wanted to highlight some things that you should maybe know about product management before you actually pursue the product management career path sound cool for those of you who are new to my channel hi hello welcome i'm so happy you're here my name is elisa and i talk about product management career and just general adulting in this channel so if you like any of that stuff please give me a thumbs up because you know why not and subscribe to this channel i would super appreciate it so before i dive into the meat of this video i want to first give you a refresher on what product managers actually do so product managers are generally responsible for aligning with the strategic direction of a company and then figuring out which product features or new products to build and then product managers work with engineers designers and basically the rest of the entire company to actually get those product ideas into the product itself and into customers hands it is a very strategic role that requires a lot of empathy and also really strong project management skills it is a career path that pays really well it's a very strategic career path and it's also one that in my opinion is pretty freaking fun but as i mentioned earlier there are some things you should definitely know about product management before you put all your eggs into the product management basket so i'm going to outline five things that you should know before you start your product management career so the first thing you should know before you become a product manager is the fact that although product managers contribute to the strategic direction of a company product managers are not the people who are actually setting the strategic direction that generally falls on leadership and maybe even the ceo or chief product officer product managers are a very strategic position because they contribute a lot to the strategy they're able to pitch ideas to leadership but there are definitely times where as a product manager you have to get on board with the strategic direction even if you're not 100 on board with it you need to get yourself on board with it and then evangelize that strategic direction to your engineers to your designers to marketing etc so i think that's something a lot of people don't expect in product management they expect that you know they're the ceos of their product meaning they can do whatever they want their product but that's not necessarily the case and if that's something that you really need maybe you should also consider starting your own product being a founder where you can act as a product manager but also be the person in charge of strategic direction the second reason why you might not want to be a product manager is if you don't like jobs that are very fluid and what i mean by that is product managers don't just have a set of tasks that they need to accomplish every day and then they can close their computers today and be done a project manager's job can be different every single day there's different expectations for different initiatives and there's just different things you have to do based on the product you're working on the strategic direction and even the specific feature you're focused on there's days where as a product manager i feel like my top priority is to improve morale of the team there's other times where i feel like my top priority is selling the product and then there's other times where i feel like my top priority is just doing the project management every day is really different for a product manager and if you really like structure and the very same schedule every single day then product management will be a really stressful and unpleasant role for you the third reason why you might not want to be a pm is because it's a really big responsibility especially if you're a product manager at a tech company because you're working on the very thing that the company is built on so it's a huge responsibility and unfortunately for product managers generally when there is a failed release or just an unsuccessful new product feature it generally falls on the product manager which kind of sucks but it's actually generally the product manager's fault if a release was not successful so it's a huge responsibility and a lot of people in the company are depending on you to build really successful enhancements to the product that customers will love because if you are successful as a pm it means that the sales team can sell the product better it means that customer success can hang on to more of their customers you get what i mean it's a huge responsibility to be a product manager because you're fundamentally impacting one of the most important parts of a company and that's a big responsibility so if you're not looking for that if you want something that's a little bit less intense then you might not really enjoy the product management role and that's totally okay the fourth reason why you might not want to be a product manager is if you don't like to be in the spotlight as a product manager i generally find myself doing presentations all the time sometimes it's at all hands meetings or in sales calls or sometimes i'm presenting my roadmap to leadership there's a lot of presenting that happens and the spotlight is often on the product management team i mean product managers are representing again that core part of a company so people in different parts of the company will look to the product managers to evangelize the product talk about it give beautiful presentations about the product and so if you really don't like being in the spotlight if you don't want everyone in a company to know your name and what you do then this might not be the best role for you now the last reason why you might not want to be a product manager is if you want to manage direct reports within a couple years of being a professional now this is something that i actually did not know when i was going into the product management career path but in product management you might have to work for a decade before you have direct reports so you know as a product manager we have to lead without authority meaning a lot of people have to do what we want them to do even though those people don't report to the product manager and that's a really good skill for a product manager to have but if you want actual direct reports within i don't know two to three years of you working in the field then product management might not be for you i mean generally you might start your career either as an associate product manager or product manager spend a few years there and then you would also need to spend a decent amount of years as a senior pm before you get to that point where you'd actually have direct reports and this is unique to product management you can actually become really high up in a company when you're a senior product manager you're in a very strategic role you get paid really well but you just don't have your own team of people that report to you until you become either a group product manager or a product lead so if you enter the product management career path you might see that some of your peers or other people your age are getting direct reports far earlier than you are and that doesn't mean they're ahead in their career it's just the nature of the product management career path so there you have it those are five different reasons why product management might not be for you and of course i'm going to add a disclaimer in there that none of these things deterred me from being a product manager none of them make me want to change careers anytime soon i still think product management is a phenomenal career path it is strategic it requires user empathy it gives you an adrenaline rush when you release things but that being said there are still some things that are hard about being a product manager and if any of these five things kind of scare you it's not to say that you should absolutely not be a product manager but rather you might just want to consider other options so i hope this video is helpful for you particularly if you are considering the product management career path but aren't quite sure about it just yet i hope this gave you some inside scoop as to what you should expect if you do pursue this career path thank you all so much for listening i do want to do one shout out before i end this video congratulations to justin who messaged me just a few days ago telling me that he just landed his first product management job after watching some of my videos and i'm sure doing some other work too but thank you justin for letting me know about your new career i'm so excited about it and if any of you also find your first product management job or just first job in general comment about it i love hearing that stuff and i'm so so so excited every time that happens so congratulations to you justin and uh yeah if you like this video please give it a thumbs up and if you want to hear more from me please subscribe thank you so much friends and i will talk to you next time bye you