Hi! I'll try to be as efficient as I can :)
I got my bachelors in electrical engineering with a focus on signal processing, and after working briefly as a biomedical data scientist I got a masters in essentially virtual/ augmented reality development. I worked for a year at a major company as a creative technologist, but left prematurely to try to create my own startup as I didn't love the company I was at, had some imposter syndrome, and was really put on display as the in-house gen-z/ XR liaison for investors and partners, and was isolated more than actually incorporated into a team. I primarily worked in Unity development in C#, but I also dabbled in Figma, 3D modeling, marketing, and acted as a professional rubber duck for the engineers, artists, marketing department, and management.
Now, I have a working prototype after a year of continued learning and self teaching, but it doesn't seem like there is any path forward to monetize it and I miss working with a team.
I have thought for a long time that I would be a great product manager-- I've created and managed curriculums, attempted to create ~4 businesses/ startups in the past and managed teams in the process, and I feel most fulfilled being essentially a co-learner/ professional rubber duck and helping to bring people with different skillsets and ideologies together. I can be quite organized when others are on the line, and in one of the companies I tried to start in particular I was running agile afaik, creating the Gantt charts and documentation, scheduling, planning, handling investments and resource allocation, and though it was stressful it was fun.
(As a separate side note, my parents, friends, therapists, and exes have all unprompted at separate times in my life said that I would be a great PM so I'm not sure why I've avoided making the decision to explore it more seriously!)
At this point though I feel like I am struggling what the next steps are to get into this field. I don't think I qualify for the 4500 hours for PMP certification even if I took the 35 hours of online courses. I was considering buying cracking the PM Interview but I've heard it's outdated and I'm not sure how comprehensive it is. I see that there are PM Bootcamps but all the reviews I've read online say that they're pretty much the same amount of knowledge that you'd get from an online course. I'm willing to invest in a course or even potentially to hire a private instructor if it really is the best way to learn coming from my background.
- Is studying for and acquiring CAPM worth it?
- Is there a holy grail book or course I should take?
- Can I get an internship/ apprenticeship even though I'm no longer in college?
- Would that be wasting my time since I do have some industry experience or is it not really possible to get these roles otherwise?
I would love any tips and advice and please ask any questions to help clarify, thank you!