Many of you have asked about my own career journey and what’s led me to where I am today.
I recently joined Alan Stein on the Steer Your Career podcast to share my story. I covered the journey from marketing to product management, the path that led me through Amazon, and eventually to becoming a Product Management Career Coach.
How it began
My career started in marketing in San Francisco over 20 years ago. I first landed a contracting role reviewing user research for Kodak and Nokia customers and logging their feedback into a database. I then quickly moved into digital marketing & advertising where I spent the next decade.
Along the way, I discovered what I wish I knew sooner: I was more excited about building things for people than marketing to them.
This realisation is what drew me to Product Management.
Switching gears
The first major career pivot happened when I joined Amazon.
Within my first 18 months, I was promoted from an individual contributor to managing a team of Product Managers—a notably fast trajectory at the company.
Within a few years, I was awarded for my ability to hire & develop the best and selected to go through a career coaching training program. From that point on, I brought coaching mechanisms to my management practice with direct reports, and paired up with other employees, outside of my org, to help them with their careers.
Here’s what one of my early coachees had to say:
James helped me establish my career growth plan, which included a successful transition into Product Management at Amazon. His guidance has helped me surpass growth expectations I had for my product career.
Here are more testimonials from people I've been working with since.
It wasn't long after that I was reminded: success isn’t always linear.
A difficult conversation
Around 2018, despite strong performance, I faced one of many challenging moments.
My team had grown significantly, and the business needed someone with even more experience. The pace of growth for Amazon Echo outpaced my own. While initially difficult to accept, this moment prompted important reflection about my career and life goals.
This eventually led to my decision to move to Europe with my family in early 2020. Yes, interesting timing. But how could I have predicted it would be the start of a global pandemic?
Despite the challenges of relocating during that pandemic to a country where I didn’t speak the language, I consider it to be one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. I had a few other roles at Amazon before leaving and eventually moving to the UK.
I previously wrote about that exit story here and on LinkedIn.
A challenge turned into opportunity
In 2023, like many in tech, I was affected by layoffs.
Just 4 months after relocating my family to the UK to lead the largest product team under my CPO at ExpressVPN, I was right back on the job market.
I applied to a lot of jobs, interviewed for many, got to the final stage a few times, and even turned down opportunities. It was as challenging then as it is now for many.
This experience prompted me to reflect on what truly motivated me. I was tired of applying for jobs I didn’t even want to do.
During the job search, I was still mentoring and coaching people on their own careers. Since that coaching program a few years back, I continued coaching people to keep my leadership skills sharp.
As part of my reflection, I realised how much I enjoyed helping others grow in their careers. The successes, the clarity, the outcomes—they all gave me so much satisfaction and motivation.
With all the changes in how we connect and work with other people (something to look at as a positive following COVID), I decided to make coaching my primary focus.
The key lesson from my journey
Now, nearly two years into my journey as a Product Management Career Coach, I’m doing what I find most fulfilling: helping Product Managers navigate their own career paths, drawing from both my successes and challenges in the field.
Career paths aren’t always straight lines. Sometimes the unexpected turns, whether chosen or forced upon us, lead to the most rewarding destinations.
I have just a few open spots remaining for 1:1 coaching clients this Summer after a busy start to June. If you want to work together on your next career step, let’s talk.