Introduction

Breaking into product management is rarely a straight path. Many people enter the field from engineering, consulting, or business backgrounds. My journey into product management came from a slightly different direction — economics and data analysis.

In this article, I want to share how I discovered product management, how I transitioned into my first product role, and the key lessons I learned along the way.

Studying Economics and My Interest in Business

I graduated with a degree in Economics, a subject that fascinated me because it explores money, markets, incentives, and business systems.

In India, graduates in Economics and Statistics often begin their careers as data analysts. While that path was open to me, I was more interested in working closer to business execution and decision-making, rather than focusing purely on analytical tasks.

I wanted to be involved in building and improving products, not just analyzing data about them.

My First Job: Catastrophic Risk Analysis

My first job came during the COVID-19 pandemic, where I worked in catastrophic risk analysis. The role involved working with data and understanding large-scale risk models. Although the domain was intellectually interesting, the nature of the work was still heavily focused on data analysis.

Unfortunately, due to COVID and some health issues, I was unable to continue in the role for long and had to take a break from work to recover. That period of pause unexpectedly became a time for reflection about my career direction.

Discovering Product Management

During this phase, a cousin suggested that I explore product management as a career option. At that time, I had very little understanding of what product managers actually did. However, he believed the role might align well with my personality — someone interested in business strategy, problem-solving, and execution.

Curious to explore further, I enrolled in a product management bootcamp at Upraised, which was a well-known program at the time. Very quickly, I realized that I genuinely enjoyed learning about product thinking. It felt like I had finally discovered a discipline that combined business, technology, and user understanding.

In many ways, the frameworks and structured thinking reminded me of what a traditional MBA might teach — although choosing not to pursue an MBA is a story for another day.

Learning Product Thinking at Upraised

The bootcamp helped me develop a structured approach to solving business problems, which is one of the core skills required in product management.

Some of the key things I learned included:

  • Diagnosing product and business problems
  • Working through industry-relevant product case studies
  • Learning practical product frameworks
  • Writing a Product Requirement Document (PRD) with guidance from an experienced product mentor

This experience helped me build a foundation in product thinking, which later proved extremely useful in real-world situations.

Landing My First Product Manager Role

Shortly after completing the program, I landed my current role as a Product Manager. Interestingly, I joined the company as the first and only product manager in the organization at the time. This meant I had to take on a wide range of responsibilities from day one.

Some of the work I handled included:

  • Setting up Mixpanel analytics events
  • Writing Product Requirement Documents (PRDs)
  • Conducting user interviews
  • Introducing structured product development processes

What made the experience particularly unique was that many of these product practices were being introduced for the first time within the organization.

What Being the First Product Manager Taught Me

Being the first product hire gave me immense hands-on exposure. Instead of working on a narrow slice of the product lifecycle, I had the opportunity to contribute across almost every stage — from user research and product discovery to analytics and execution.

This experience helped me develop:

  • Strong product intuition
  • Confidence in solving real user problems
  • A practical understanding of how products evolve within organizations

Final Thoughts

Looking back, my journey into product management was unexpected but deeply rewarding. Coming from an economics background and initially working in data analysis, I did not originally imagine myself becoming a product manager. But exploring the field, investing in learning, and gaining hands-on experience helped me build a career in product.

For anyone considering a transition into product management, my biggest advice would be this: develop structured thinking, curiosity about users, and the ability to solve real business problems. The path may not always be linear, but the learning journey itself can be incredibly fulfilling.