The COMPLETE AI Product Manager Roadmap [2025]

Breaking into product management in 2025 isn't easy. Every product manager role

isn't easy. Every product manager role is flooded with hundreds of applications and with AI taking over, it's getting tougher day by day. But here's the actual thing. You don't really need an

actual thing. You don't really need an MBA, years of experience, or even a technical degree to land your first product manager job. Because that is exactly what I'm going to share in this video. I'm going to share the exact

video. I'm going to share the exact steps that I would have taken in 2025 to get my first product manager job. Hey

everyone, my name is Nilan and I work as an AI product manager in one of the top AI startups in the world. And after

transitioning to product management without an MBA, I've actually helped dozens of people to get their first product manager job. And many were not even from technical backgrounds. And

today I'll break down the exact steps that is required for you to become a product manager in 2025, acing interviews and building skills along the way. Guys, this might be a long video

way. Guys, this might be a long video because I actually cover everything that is required for you to become a product manager. or take out a piece of paper,

manager. or take out a piece of paper, take out a pen and start taking notes because this will be super helpful and valuable for you guys. Now, firstly, you need to understand what a product manager's role is in 2025. They act as a

bridge between the users, tech, and the business. They are the ones ensuring

business. They are the ones ensuring that the users needs are actually understood by the engineers, the tech team's challenges are actually understood by the business, and everybody in the team is actually working towards the company's goals.

Right? Wrong. Because AI has completely changed the way how product management works in 2025. Companies now also expect you to understand AI concepts and technicalities. How you can leverage

technicalities. How you can leverage generative AI for rapid prototyping and finally explaining these super technical concepts to nontechnical people like sales and marketing so that they can market and sell the product better. And

of course this is added with the regular PM skills that PM should have which is user centered design thinking, stakeholder management, client management, problem solving, all of that. But does this mean that you need

that. But does this mean that you need to know how to code? No. But you're

required to understand how all of these concepts work because you as a product manager is literally the bridge between the users and everyone in the company.

So now that you know about the role, let's talk about the skills that is required, right? How do you actually

required, right? How do you actually learn all of these skills? And that

brings us to point two. Well, to become a great product manager, you should focus on three skill sets. The business

skills, the technical skills, and the soft skills. Now for the technical bit,

soft skills. Now for the technical bit, like I said, you don't really need to know how to code, but you have to have a solid understanding of all the technical things and how these technical things work. Like companies now expect you to

work. Like companies now expect you to know the basics of a IML. You don't have to really know how to build an entire model, but they expect you to know what large language models are, what is the transformer and all of these things. Of

course, you don't need to build actual real models. I think the best way for

real models. I think the best way for you to start with this is the Andrew NG AI for everyone course as well as the machine learning 101 which is by Andrew again and that is something that I started my a IML journey as well in my

first year of college. It's super

beginner friendly and explains AI concepts in plain English. Now next you need to understand the different text tags how APIs work and you need to know basic SQL that will help you in your data requirements and your data

analysis. And of course, I know that

analysis. And of course, I know that these are a lot of technical bits that you might not be comfortable with, especially if you're from a nontechnical background. You don't need to know all

background. You don't need to know all of this before you get into the job. You

can actually learn them on the go. Like,

I did not really know SQL when I first joined as a product manager. Now, I've

started to learn it and then use it in my day-to-day life. So, you can learn them on the go as well. But make sure that you're actually learning these things because knowing them actually helps you better communicate with the developers in your team. And finally, in

technicality, you need to know a bit of the tools that product managers use on a day-to-day basis. Tools like Jiraa,

day-to-day basis. Tools like Jiraa, ClickUp, Tableau, Excel, all of these things. You can learn them on the go as

things. You can learn them on the go as well. But if you know a bit about them,

well. But if you know a bit about them, I think it just helps ease the process of becoming a product manager. Of

course, again, you don't need to be an expert in these, but having a hands-on experience will give you more confidence to work with the team around you. And

like I said, using generative AI for rapid prototyping. Imagine that your

rapid prototyping. Imagine that your designer is busy and you really need a design. You can actually use any of the

design. You can actually use any of the generative AI tools to do some rapid prototyping. Get an MVP out and test it

prototyping. Get an MVP out and test it with some beta users before even taking any bandwidth of your entire team. That

is incredibly valuable. So, make sure you're learning all of these AI tools as well. I'll link all of them down in the

well. I'll link all of them down in the description. Now, next we have the soft

description. Now, next we have the soft skills. Now, product managers as a

skills. Now, product managers as a person has to do a lot of stakeholder management prioritization coordinating among multiple teams and that requires you to be very good at communication.

And this communication also means how well are you able to tell a story. How

well of a product manager are you? So

you actually need to be very good at soft skills because selling is very important for a product manager for everyone actually. And also you'll have

everyone actually. And also you'll have to be very good at telling a story about your product and you'll be using this story to explain to your customers that why is this product the best thing that they have ever used and to your seuite

and your higher-ups as well because why else would they approve this product if you don't actually make them understand how good of a product you have built. I

link some of these articles and the frameworks down in the description. So,

go check that out. And over time, as you become a product manager, you'll actually develop some of these frameworks yourself as well. So, you

don't really need to worry a lot about that. But learning these soft skills

that. But learning these soft skills will help you a lot in the long term.

You actually need to understand some key metrics which product people use, which is churn, retention, dao, ma, all of these things. And apart from that, you

these things. And apart from that, you also need to be very good at doing market research, competitor analysis, as well as understanding what are the different business model that exist in the world. Now, I know I talked about a

the world. Now, I know I talked about a lot of these skills, right? But you

don't really need to have an expensive course to actually learn all of these things. I actually learned all of these

things. I actually learned all of these things on my own just seeing YouTube, learning different articles, going through random videos, all of that. And

I'll list all of those down in the description below. So, go check that

description below. So, go check that out. You don't need an expensive course

out. You don't need an expensive course to become a product manager. You can do it for free. But of course if you prefer structured learning you can go for a course like next leap or something. I'll

link that down in the description as well. Now after learning these things

well. Now after learning these things you already have the skills to become a product manager. But in 2025 when you

product manager. But in 2025 when you look all around you you see that everybody claim that they have the skills. Everybody has done a product

skills. Everybody has done a product management course and claim that hey I'm ready to become a product manager. So

how do you actually make yourself different from this bunch? Well by

proving the recruiter with some real world experience. There are three ways

world experience. There are three ways for you to do that. Path number one, internships at startups. This is perhaps the fastest way for you to gain experience and actually achieving a full-time role at a company as well.

Startups don't really care about your fancy resumes, your technical degrees, your background, none of that. They care

more about your potential and your curiosity to learn and improve on a daily basis. And interning at a startup

daily basis. And interning at a startup also lets you wear multiple hats and that actually gets you very valuable experience as a developer, as a marketing, as operations, as in sales.

And even if you don't get a product internship in a startup, you can actually start with the adjacent roles like marketing, operations, business analyst. You can actually learn work

analyst. You can actually learn work with the PMs there and actually transition your way into product management. CEOs in startups actually

management. CEOs in startups actually value that they want to promote someone internally to become a product manager in their teams. Now path number two which is side projects. Now I remember I built this project called find your

passion back in college in 2020 where I had actual revenue. I had actual customers and I had actual users who are using the product on a day-to-day basis and this was something that the recruiters absolutely love because this

was something real. This explained to the recruiters that hey I have what it takes in me to become a product manager.

So build projects with actual possibility to actually becoming a startup and this experience actually taught me more than any course would have ever done and you can do the same.

It can be a niche tool or a community app or a blog anything. Side projects

are proof that you have seen the entire product life cycle. They stand out in interviews and show that you take initiative. And now part three which is

initiative. And now part three which is the most common which is product tear downs and case studies. And even though I say these are common, these are not actually common. I think around 20 to

actually common. I think around 20 to 30% of the actual applicants actually have real product tear downs or case studies in their resumes. You can

actually start by analyzing these popular apps like Swiki or Zumato and do an entire breakdown of how each of their products or features work. You can

identify their strengths, their weaknesses, what is their go-to market strategy, how are they expanding, all of these things. And there are also a bunch

these things. And there are also a bunch of resources where you'll actually see real life tear downs and case studies that are done by people who actually won competitions and have contributed to like the open source community. I link

all of those down in the description as well. Now, once you've done this, go one

well. Now, once you've done this, go one level higher. Everyone has resumes,

level higher. Everyone has resumes, right? Create a portfolio, create a

right? Create a portfolio, create a GitHub repo where you're adding all of these things. This shows initiative to

these things. This shows initiative to the recruiter that this guy is doing something different and that is how you'll stand out from the crowd. Now

comes step number four which is nailing the application process. Applying for

jobs in 2025 isn't just about submitting résumés. It is about standing out. And

résumés. It is about standing out. And

here's how you can do it. Your resume

should be one page clean and focused on impact. No gimmicks or colorful images

impact. No gimmicks or colorful images and pictures in the resume. Always use

bullet points to show measurable impact.

Let's say you wrote work with engineers to develop a new feature. That does not tell me anything about the impact that you had. Instead, write it like led a

you had. Instead, write it like led a team of five engineers to launch your feature that increased user engagement by 10%, 20%, whatever your number is. By

the way, I have an entire video where I review and roast my own resume, my resume, which I actually used for my first product manager job when I first got hired. So, go watch that video out

got hired. So, go watch that video out as well. You will find it really good.

as well. You will find it really good.

I've also shared a framework in that video which you can actually use to write your resume in a very good way.

Secondly, optimize your LinkedIn profile. Your LinkedIn profile is your

profile. Your LinkedIn profile is your digital resume. In 2025, every

digital resume. In 2025, every recruiter, every company is on LinkedIn and they actually view your LinkedIn profile first before even seeing your resume. So, if you don't have all the

resume. So, if you don't have all the details written in your LinkedIn like your about section, your experience, recruiters might actually reject you.

You should have a very closeup professional profile picture with a headline that actually sells. I have

mine as AI product manager, I karakpur, ex Amazon. And finally, you should

ex Amazon. And finally, you should master cold emails and cold outreach in 2025. You can't just keep on clicking on

2025. You can't just keep on clicking on that easy apply button or applying to that careers page. Nobody's going to look at that. With not enough jobs in the market and AI taking over, you have

to go that extra step. I actually got my first internship in college in 2019 through a cold email. And I also got my present job where I'm working right now as a cold email as well. My tip would be

to keep your email short, valuedriven, and extremely personalized to the person and the company that you're applying for. Have a subject line which is

for. Have a subject line which is actually sellable and makes you stand out from all the other people who are junking their mailbox right now. Show

enthusiasm, highlight relevant skills, and always attach your portfolio link or your resume link in your emails. And of

course, don't forget to follow up.

Recruiters often miss their emails because they have so much going on in their lives. And followers can actually

their lives. And followers can actually help you get their attentions again.

I've created a blog before where I've shared some of the cold email templates that I have used, some of the subject lines, some of the LinkedIn messages that I have used in the past to actually reach out to recruiters. I'll link that down in the description as well. And

finally, after you have learned all the skills, you have gone through the application process and finally gotten an interview, you have to nail the interview, right? And that is what step

interview, right? And that is what step five is all about. In a product manager interview, case studies are something that are asked a lot. And there are certain defined product management questions which are very common and come in interviews often. In a product

manager interview, you are often judged by the case studies that you're solving inside that interview. And there are usually some common product management interview questions that people generally ask in their interviews. And

these are mostly number one guesstimates, questions like how many rides did Uber complete in one day in India. Number two, product design

India. Number two, product design questions which is like design an alarm clock for the blind. So this is a very vague kind of question and this actually test how you actually think about a very vague problem statement and actually

think about all the problems all the user needs and then come up with an actual solution with that. Third we have metrics which is like how would you define success for a particular product let's say blink kit zumato IND money how

would you actually define success for this particular product or this particular feature as well and another common interview question is RCA which is root cause analysis let's say a sample question would be zomato orders

has decreased by 5% in the last 1 month now these are the most common questions that people ask in product management interviews and I feel the best way to actually learn how all of these work and how you can actually solve them is to

actually go through the mock interviews that are there in YouTube. Exponent is

one of the best product management channels that is there and they contain a lot of mock interviews to surely go through that. There's also a bunch of

through that. There's also a bunch of other websites as well. I'll link all of them down in the description. Go through

that, see how they're solving, what are the different frameworks they're using and why are they using a particular framework for solving a particular problem. Try to understand that.

problem. Try to understand that.

Cracking the product interview also another book I really liked and I actually used for my product interview prep as well. Now, as soon as you understand how to answer these questions, start practicing them. You

can first start practicing with yourself like writing down in a paper that okay this is the problem okay this is the solution this is the user need these are the pain points all of these things this is the metrics all of the thing you can

start with yourself but eventually the best way for you to go about product management interviews is to find a partner and doing mock interviews with them. So before I got my first product

them. So before I got my first product manager job, I used to do mock interviews with my roommates all the time and that helped me a lot for getting my first product manager job.

And that was it guys, a stepbystep guide on how to become a product manager in 2025. If this video helped you, do hit

2025. If this video helped you, do hit the like button and share this video with your friends who wants to become a product manager in 2025. I list down all the resources down in the description below. So go check that out and of

below. So go check that out and of course don't forget to subscribe for more such videos. See you in the next one.