I'm genuinely confused about this.
Everywhere I've worked, product managers are sharp, experienced professionals who own the vision of a product and lead a team of engineers and designers to realize that vision.
Which is why I'm so confused when I see so many MBA students I know getting internships as Product Managers at big, established tech companies (e.g. Microsoft, Dell, Square) when they have no experience working at software companies, let alone actually managing revenue-generating software products.
My thought process is this: if an engineering student got an internship at a legit tech company, it signals to me that they are skilled enough to write software at that company, albeit with lots of support and handholding. But I would be dumbfounded if the people I see taking these product management internships could actually go to one of these companies and do what product managers do, even with lots of help. In my mind, it's as if these companies are offering CEO internships. It just doesn't make sense to offer internships in something that requires such deep level of experience, leadership and skill.
What am I missing here?
