Breaking into product management took me about five months, and the choice that mattered most was picking focus over a scattergun approach. Instead of applying to every PM opening I could find, I narrowed my search to the education sector, an industry I already had real experience in. That context paid off more than I'd guessed. When interviewers asked why a feature should exist or how to prioritize a roadmap, I could answer with actual conviction instead of inventing hypotheticals on the spot. The portfolio came together almost in parallel with the applications. I started publishing product case studies online, working through real problems in edtech products I used or admired, writing out my thinking on user research, prioritization frameworks, and trade-offs. It was painstaking to put together, but it gave me something concrete to point to in conversations. Recruiters and hiring managers could read my reasoning before we even got on a call, which filtered me into serious conversations faster. Beyond the case studies, I leaned hard on LinkedIn, not just to apply but to genuinely network. I reached out to PMs already working in education and asked for feedback on my case studies and honest takes on what they looked for in junior ↓
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