As a product manager you will set the vision for a specific product in the business. You will combine strategic thinking with an understanding of customer needs and direction from leadership to build a product roadmap and deliver on it. Your day to day will involve working with cross-functional teams of engineers, designers, marketers, data scientists and/or sales people to gather data and deliver products.
Product management is the easiest entry point for non-technical people to become "builders". You will get exposure to all the core functional skills needed to build successful products. This is incredibly high-leverage - you can take this to almost any company or even use it to start your own.
Most product roles don't have direct reports. This means you need to influence without authority. You have to convince management, engineers, designers, data scientists and marketers of your vision and coordinate between them to deliver results. For a consultant with little experience building and no technical background there is also a steep learning curve to understand how products are built.
When applying for product roles, a useful rule of thumb is that the larger the company is the less technical you need to be to get the job.
Equity in the business that typically vests over 4 years with 25% per year.
Product organisations tend to grow quickly meaning there is opportunity to move up the ranks as new people join below you. Your skills will also be valued at many other places and often lead to founder or GM roles.
Product skills are useful in most organisations and even in adjacent roles like growth or operations sometimes.
Product is good for building your network and presence within a company but less of an opportunity for external recognition.
Most companies will have some busy periods, but for the most part being an employee at one is a pretty good life with reasonable hours and good perks.
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