Career Path of a Senior Product Manager at a Tech Support Company
Vinnie's career began unexpectedly with a summer QA testing job for a video game studio, a role that led to a software QA position after college. This experience, followed by promotions to project and then product management within a large company, gave Vinnie a "whole process from the bottom up" understanding before their recent move to a more dynamic startup environment at Promenade, seeking "more flexibility and…more learning."
Career Development, Project Management, Technology, Software QA, Career Trajectory
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Vinnie Shahzad
Senior Product Manager
Mid-Size Technology Support Company
UCLA, 2006
N/A
Engineering - Aerospace
Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG)
Product / Service / Software Development and Management
Video Highlights
1. A friend's connection led to a summer QA testing job in college, which unexpectedly launched his career.
2. He progressed from QA to project management to product management, all within one large company, gaining a comprehensive understanding of the software development process.
3. He later transitioned to a startup for more hands-on experience and flexibility, highlighting the different work environments and opportunities available in the tech industry.
Transcript
Could you walk me through your career path, starting with your experiences in college? Please also include any internships or jobs you had before your current role.
The thing that really got me started, funny enough, was an offer from a friend. While I was in college, we needed part-time jobs for the summer breaks. A friend had a connection at a video game studio and was going to be a QA tester. I joined him, saying, "That sounds fun. I love video games. I'll go be a video game tester."
I joined him for the summer and tested a bunch of video games. I was part of the testing team for Half-Life 2, if that dates me a little. I got to do beta testing and stuff, and it was a lot of fun.
What that really led to was when I graduated from college, it was early in the recession. That meant I needed to find whatever work I could. Because I had experience in software QA, a software development studio reached out and offered me a software QA position. This was for retail software, rather than video games. I said, "Yes, I will take this position."
That's really how I got started in software. My career trajectory is pretty familiar to a number of people who've tried this: you start in QA, then switch to project management, then move up to product management. I was lucky to be able to do it all at one company, which was a pretty large software development company.
I started in QA, became a project manager, and then a product manager. It was a really nice experience because I got to see the whole process from the bottom up. I really understood how things worked at that company, which gave me a lot of understanding and leverage for when I wanted to change or update how things were done.
After a while, though, I felt I wasn't getting enough hands-on time with the technology. I wanted to go to a real startup environment where I could do a lot more. At big corporations, you get a lot of cool stuff to do, but you're locked in your lane. At a startup, you wear more hats, which means more flexibility and more learning. The job is harder, but I think it's also more rewarding.
That's why most recently I switched to working at Promenade, which is a startup based in Santa Monica. They do SaaS e-commerce.