byginaz

This is a FAQ format inspired by questions I’ve gotten from students. A little bit about me: I’m a senior PM at Apple working on internal supply chain tools, and I got here through a pretty non-linear path. Everything here reflects my own experience, so take it with a grain of salt – PM can look really different depending on the team or company you’re applying for, but hopefully some of this is useful:)!

What got you into PM?

Honestly, PM wasn’t my original plan. I knew early on that PM intern and new grad roles often favor candidates with a technical background, which I didn’t have coming out of undergrad. I actually interviewed for an APM internship my junior fall and it didn’t go well – I just wasn’t prepared for the technical questions.

So I took a different path: break into a tech first, in a role where my existing skills could carry me. I started as a data analytics and visualization intern at Apple, then transitioned into a supply chain program manager role full-time. In that role, I became one of the main users of a product built by an internal solutions team – and that’s when I got curious about what was actually happening behind the scenes. The transition to PM ended up being a pretty natural conversation with my senior manager since that product team was already in my org. What drew me to the switch was wanting more end-to-end ownership of my work – and that’s genuinely turned out to be true.

What do you think helped you earn that return offer, and what made you stand out when you were recruiting as a student?

During recruiting, I think it came down to showing initiative, self-starterness and creativity. Almost like a “get shit done” mentality. Some things I talked about: I didn’t know how to use Tableau and it was something I’d wanted to learn, so during my sophomore internship, I just taught myself. I also talked about building product from scratch in the product clubs I was in at UCLA (shoutout to Creative Labs and DevX). Still one of the coolest products I’ve built to date – a smart & sustainable bean bag that I loved talking about. You don’t need anything big on your resume, you just need to show genuine curiosity about the work.

As an intern, the thing that probably mattered most for my return offer was my final intern presentation. Interns in my org present to the VPs at the end of the summer. I started building a skeleton of mine about halfway through the internship and had regular check-ins with my manager and teammates to improve and iterate. That also shaped how I approached my project in the remaining weeks. Honestly, their feedback was ultimately what set me up for success since they had a much better sense of how to tailor the presentation to leadership.

As a student, what would you focus on over the next several months to become a stronger PM candidate?

This really depends on where you are in your PM journey, so I’d start by understanding that first.

If you’re just starting out and don’t have any PM experience yet, try to get it wherever you can. Join a product club at your school, then try to get a PM role at a startup where you can get more real-world experience.

If you’re non-technical and worried that’s a dealbreaker: not every PM role requires a technical background. If you’re strong at product intuition or design thinking, lean into that and look for companies where those qualities are prioritized. Also with AI lowering the barrier to building things, “being technical” means something pretty different now than it did in 2020. See how PMs are using AI in their day-to-day and start experimenting yourself.

If you’re set on PM, start by picking companies or an industry you’re genuinely excited about and use that as your anchor. Look for product internships in that space (consumer apps, finance, hardware, supply chain, B2B, AI, etc.). And even if you don’t have product experience, think about what transferable experience you do have. For example, having a finance background can give you an insider view on pain points in that industry and give you a leg up on how you would recommend improving financial products.

One more thing worth noting, PM is a pretty senior role at a lot of companies. If the company you’re targeting doesn’t have an entry-level PM role, it might make sense to start in an adjacent role and pivot later. At least you can get your foot in the door first, so see if your existing experience aligns with anything else they’re hiring for.

From your experience, what makes a candidate stand out during the PM recruiting process?

Honestly, it depends on the team/company! Some companies prioritize entrepreneurial thinking whereas others might value clear and concise communication. Some teams weigh case studies more heavily, while others care more about behavioral and situational questions. Once you’re in the process, try to get as much information as you can from the recruiter about what they’re actually looking for.

What does product management look like at Apple?

Even within one company, product can look different depending on the team. The more “classic” PM role at Apple – working on hardware or software – is actually closer to a blend of product management and product marketing. To give you an idea, day-to-day for these PMs could be briefing a journalist on a new launch in one meeting and working with the engineering team on the long-term camera roadmap next! Very cross-functional and both internal and external facing. Apple also has Engineering Program Managers which is more project management focused.

My team is a bit different – we build internal software for supply chain teams. Nothing an end consumer would ever see! But we’re building the tools that help Apple’s supply chain run more efficiently and proactively, and be more resilient.

How was the transition from program to product management? What’s the most challenging part when you transitioned to product management?

My previous role was Materials Program Manager – a pretty established supply chain role you’d find at hardware companies like Tesla, Waymo, or Oura. In that role, I managed the supply health of a given hardware product, for example iPad Pro, making sure supply could meet demand. It was almost like an analyst role where you’re analyzing the supply picture across all the components needed to build an iPad Pro unit, finding the bottleneck, then presenting that to leadership. The minimum supply is your “constrained supply” and determines how many iPad Pros you can build.

Quick analogy: if a cake needs 2 eggs, 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water and you have 5 eggs, 3 cups of flour, and unlimited water, then you can only bake 2 cakes. The eggs are your constraint. My job was to surface those constraints and communicate why we’re short on eggs and when we’re going to get more eggs.

The biggest adjustment moving into product was the shift in cross-functional teams. As an MPM, I was working mostly within ops. As a PM, I was working with engineers for the first time – and things like how to communicate product vision to various stakeholders was a real learning curve. There’s also a skill of “influence without authority”. As a PM, you don’t manage anyone directly, but you’re still responsible for driving the product forward. That means getting everybody in the room aligned. Early on, having a senior PM in the room who can back you up honestly makes a big difference.

How did you actually learn product management?

Mostly on the job. Conceptually, you can read all the frameworks and case studies you want, and some of it is useful, but when you’re actually in the role, you’ll rarely think in textbook terms. The problems you face are often pretty specific to your company, team, culture, product and users. You kind of have to A/B test your way through it and figure out what works.

For me specifically, having some industry knowledge in supply chain was important to be successful in my role – which I was luckily able to pick up in my previous role. I could only advocate for my users if I truly understood their workflows and pain points.

The other thing I’d say: PM is way more relationship-driven than I expected. You’re constantly navigating competing opinions – engineers pushing back on a decision, stakeholders with conflicting priorities, leadership dropping an urgent ask on a roadmap you already locked in. You’ll have to be okay with handling all of that uncertainty while still moving the product forward. At the end of the day, your task is to ship product that your users will actually use.

What does your day to day look like?

No two days are really the same! But broadly it’s a mix of: talking to users, writing product requirements, explaining those requirements to engineering, reviewing design mockups (or vibe-designing myself), planning sprints, updating tickets, running demos, doing user acceptance testing, navigating stakeholder conversations, chasing down bugs, and planning the roadmap. And in between all of that – prepping for meetings, leadership reviews, and a whole lot of slide decks.

What does it feel like now at the 5 year career mark?

It’s crazy, but it definitely doesn’t feel that long! For one, I have a clearer point of view now and can do things more independently. I’m more confident standing behind my decisions, and I have more influence than I did when I was starting out.

I also spend more time asking myself whether I actually like what I’m doing. I’m more honest with myself about what gives me energy vs what doesn’t. I think I’m still figuring out what I want to do and my experiences so far has given me better information for figuring out what comes next!