How Trent Blakely got into Product Management

Trent Blakely

Senior Product Manager

First product job

🐣 Joined a company as a PM in 2014

Before becoming a PM

💼 Franchise manager

💻 None of exp. in tech companies

🎓 Business Management and Administration

The Story

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

In short, dumb luck.

I fell into a product analyst job at a telco and didn’t even know what product management was. I had been running a home health agency franchise prior to that. Luckily, I had several really great mentors, and once I realized the career potential, I embraced it and dug into the self guided learning resources out there.

I also got the chance to do the Pragmatic Marketing course (actually, just 3 out of the 7 they have), which helped a lot. Other than that, some thought leaders I recommend are: Rich Mironov, Marty Cagan, and Shreyas Doshi.

Did you ever build or lead any side-projects outside of work before becoming a PM?

Not really. Just some small, run of the mill projects at work.

The challenge

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

Learning the industry, building relationships, understanding the levers we could pull in order to get certain results, and balancing trade-offs.

Connect with Trent Blakely on Linkedin

How Trent Blakely Got Into Product Management

Aspiring PM?

Yay! Almost there 🙌