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The 5 Questions Every Aspiring PM Asks Me (And My Honest Answers)

What I learned from 15+ mentoring calls about breaking into product

Author

Stefanie Brown
September 12, 2025

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👋 Hey friend,

Last Tuesday, I wrapped up my third ADPList call of the day and realized something wild. Three different people, three different backgrounds, but they all asked me the exact same question within the first five minutes: “Do I even have a chance without a traditional tech background?”

I get it. When you’re scrolling through PM job postings that want “5+ years of product management experience” for an “entry-level” role, it feels impossible.

But here’s what I told all three of them (and what I wish someone had told me when I was transitioning from customer success): Your non-traditional path isn’t a weakness. It’s your secret weapon.

The Real Questions (And My Real Answers)

After 15+ mentoring sessions, these five questions come up every single time. Here’s what I’ve learned to say, and what actually helps people break through.

1. “Do I even have a chance without a computer science degree or traditional PM experience?”

My honest answer: You probably have better customer intuition than half the PMs I know.

Last month, I was in a feature prioritization meeting where we were debating whether to build a complex, high lift, technical feature. While the team was getting lost in technical specs, I pulled up actual support tickets, community posts, and call clips.

“Here’s what customers are actually asking for,”.. We ended up building something completely different, and simpler. It solved the real problem.

Your customer-facing experience gives you something most PMs have to learn the hard way: what users actually want versus what they say they want.

2. “How do I get PM experience when no one will hire me without experience?”

My honest answer: Start thinking like a PM in your current role, then document everything.

When I was in customer success, I started treating every recurring customer complaint like a product problem to solve. I’d track patterns, propose solutions, and measure results.

One quarter, I noticed customers were confused about a specific feature. Instead of just escalating to engineering, I created a mini case study: customer pain points, usage data, and three potential solutions.

I presented it to the leadership team. They implemented one of my suggestions, and I had my first real product win to talk about in interviews.

Try this: Pick one recurring issue you see in your current role. Spend two weeks documenting it like a PM would. Create a simple doc with the problem, impact, and your recommended solution.

3. “What should I put on my resume if I’ve never been a PM?”

My honest answer: Your resume should prove you’ve already done parts of the job you’re applying for, not document your entire work history.

Here’s my approach: Look at the PM job description. What are they actually asking for? User research? Data analysis? Cross-functional collaboration? Process improvement?

Now look at your previous roles. What part of PM work were you already doing?

Instead of listing everything you did, highlight only the work that maps to PM responsibilities:

Don’t include: “Answered customer support tickets and maintained 95% satisfaction rating”

Do include: “Analyzed support ticket patterns to identify top 3 user friction points, leading to 25% reduction in related inquiries after collaborating with product team on solution”

Same work, but you’re showing: data analysis, user insight, cross-functional collaboration, and measurable impact.

The magic question I tell everyone: “What metrics did I move in this role that a PM would care about?” User satisfaction? Retention? Feature adoption? Process efficiency? Lead with those numbers.

4. “How do I talk about product strategy when I’ve never owned a roadmap?”

My honest answer: Focus on customer insights, not frameworks.

In interviews, skip the generic “I’d do a SWOT analysis” answers. Instead, share specific customer stories that led to insights.

“At my last company, I noticed customers were churning after 90 days. Through exit interviews, I discovered they felt overwhelmed by our onboarding process. If I were prioritizing features, I’d focus on simplifying that first-time experience because retention is cheaper than acquisition.”

That’s strategic thinking. You just grounded it in real customer evidence instead of abstract frameworks.

5. “What’s being a PM actually like day-to-day?”

My honest answer: It’s messier than LinkedIn makes it look, and that’s why your background matters.

This quarter, our overarching strategy has changed three times. Each pivot meant re-evaluating priorities, re-communicating timelines, and getting everyone back on the same page.

On top of that, I’m currently working with a team that actively doesn’t want to use the features we’re building for them. They have their own tools, their own processes, and frankly, they’re not convinced we’re solving the right problem.

My job isn’t to have all the answers or force adoption. It’s to ask the right questions: Why don’t they want this? What are they using instead? What would make this valuable enough for them to change their workflow?

Most of product management is navigating ambiguity, shifting priorities, and getting people aligned who don’t naturally want to be aligned. If you’ve worked in customer success or support, you’ve been doing that every day.

Your Transition Toolkit

The “PM Mindset” Framework I share with every mentee:

Problem-first thinking: Before jumping to solutions, spend time understanding the real problem. Customer-facing folks are naturally good at this.

Data-driven decisions: Start tracking metrics in your current role. How many tickets did you resolve? What’s your customer satisfaction score? How did your process improvements impact the team?

Cross-functional collaboration: You already work with multiple teams. Start framing these interactions as “stakeholder management” on your resume.

3 Projects You Can Start This Week:

  1. Customer Voice Document: Create a monthly summary of customer feedback themes from your interactions. Share it with product team.

  2. Process Improvement: Identify one inefficient process in your current role. Propose a solution, implement it, measure results.

  3. Competitive Analysis: Research how competitors solve problems your customers complain about. Write up insights and recommendations.

Bonus: Use AI to Level the Playing Field

Here’s something that’s changed the game for aspiring PMs: you can now prototype your ideas without waiting for design or engineering resources.

Tools like Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, V0, and Lovable, can help you build working prototypes, mockups, or even simple web apps to test your concepts. It won’t be production-ready, but it’s enough to get real user feedback.

Instead of just talking about your solution in an interview, show up with something tangible. “I noticed customers struggled with X, so I built this prototype to test my hypothesis. Here’s what I learned from 10 user tests.”

That’s the kind of initiative that makes hiring managers sit up and pay attention. You’re not just theorizing about product work, you’re actually doing it.

Your Next Step

Pick one recurring problem you see in your current role. Spend this week documenting it like a PM would: What’s the user impact? What’s the business impact? What are three potential solutions?

Create a simple one-page summary. Practice explaining it out loud. This becomes your first product story for interviews.

Remember: Every PM started somewhere else first. Your path just happens to give you superpowers most PMs have to learn.

Want to dig deeper? I’m mentoring on ADPList and would love to help you think through your specific transition strategy. Book a free session [here] and let’s turn your experience into your competitive advantage.

See you next Friday,

– Stef

💬 What’s your biggest PM transition question? Hit reply and let me know. Your question might become next week’s newsletter.

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