How Lucila Zimerman got into Product Management

Lucila Zimerman

Product Supervisor

First product job

🐣 Joined a company as a PM in 2017

Before becoming a PM

💼 Process Analyst

💻 No previous experience in tech companies

🎓 Industrial Engineering

The Story

How did you land your first job as a product manager?

In June 2017, I made a trip to Israel with a group of people to get to know the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem of this amazing country. Back then, I was working as a process analyst in a bank, and after I returned I realized that I needed a change. This experience opened my eyes. I wanted to go and work in a tech company.

I still wanted to keep working in finance, so a fintech seemed a great option. I had a friend from university who was working in the biggest fintech in Argentina, so she introduced me to HR and a month later I started my journey as a product analyst in this company.

The challenge

What was the biggest challenge in your first year as a PM?

My first big challenge was Data. When I entered the company, I didn’t know how to use SQL. Yes, I had a subject while I was studying at university but it was just a few lessons and after that, I really didn’t have to use it. During my first months, I had different projects and initiatives to coordinate and work on, different stakeholders to interact and communicate so when I needed data for some analysis I mostly relied on the help of the business and risk teams.

It was really frustrating for me to depend on others to have some numbers, demonstrate insights or impacts, but I couldn’t make time for myself to learn how to do it until I realized that at least I had to try. It took me a few lessons with a teammate who did some practical exercises on things I worked every day and showed me the frequent tables I needed to use. After that, I started doing the analysis by myself. Of course, I had questions but I had the knowledge to understand and ask for help.

This time investment to learn SQL, paid off and still does :)

As PMs, we need to support our initiatives, test, ideas with data, and take care that everybody in our team does it. “In God we trust, everyone else bring data”

Connect with Lucila Zimerman on Linkedin

How Lucila Zimerman Got Into Product Management

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