609: How to Break Into Product Management in Tech With Alex Valaitis, LinkedIn [Espresso Shots]

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Alex Valaitis is a product manager* and product lead of Elevate, one of LinkedIn’s enterprise product lines — with 12 dedicated engineers. When Alex graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in December 2016 with a double major in Economics and Computer Science, he had a sub-3.0 GPA.  And yet, he still managed to secure a job as a PM at Intuit. While at Intuit, Alex led a team in building a notification platform that powered smart notifications across the company. Alex is also the author of Modern College, which offers advice on how to find your “dream” job straight out of college. 

*Since Alex did this T4C interview he’s moved into Strategy and Operations at the DeSo Foundation.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE:

• What the difference is between product management and product development  (1:42)
• Why there isn’t one set path to becoming a product manager (4:55)
• How getting a grad degree could be a good time to reflect and expand (8:25)
• Why launching your own startup in school might be good practice for a career in product management (11:36)
• Why you should take the jobs that no one wants (15:26)
• What a “UED Rockstar” is (16:59/18:29)
• Why some product managers don’t actually manage people (22:12)
• If you want to learn more about what a PM does at LinkedIn tune in to Alex’s main T4C interview episode #898