~ 4min read
Venky's path to product management is inspiring.
After completing his Master’s in the U.S., Venky returned to India with family top of mind - and a career ambition to match. Now, as an Associate Product Manager at a global payments technology company, he’s working in a team to bring smoother transactions to millions around the world.
We caught up with Venky to talk about how he got started, what excites him about the job, and the advice he has for others looking to follow a similar path.
“The training was a month-long, hands-on programme. We started right at the beginning from the basics of product management to client case studies. The last week consisted of real-life problems that I would face when starting my full-time role.”
“We went through forecasting, what to do when faced with credit card fraud, to finding new methods of payment gateways. The training was spot on, it was really impressive. I learned a lot.”
Venky found that the training prepared him for the situations he would face when working in his current job, “there was a point a couple of months ago where I was asked to brainstorm a new feature, but I’d already brainstormed it during the training so I felt really prepared.”
“One of the other people on the training programme is now my best friend too. Having people around in the same position as you really helps to keep that focused mindset. I’m in touch with everyone from the cohort and we have lunch together regularly.”
“mthree really helped me to get the corporate job that I wanted and gave me a platform to succeed.”
After completing the training programme, Venky began his career, “I’m an Associate Product Manager for the payment gateway.”
“To explain what this is in a simple way, whenever you are doing an online payment - the payment gateway is the checkout page that connects your bank account to the merchant’s bank account.”
“I make sure that the products we are marketing are up to standards and the objectives set are being followed.”
Along with governance of the products, Venky ensures quality control.
“There’s a framework we follow. If a feature or idea is proposed, we aim to get it live as soon as possible. Otherwise, by the time work begins, the trend might have passed. My team owns the process for the payment gateways, making sure proposed products get to market quickly without compromising on quality.”
The products that Venky works on are used all around the world, even you reading this interview have more than likely used them!
“It’s incredibly rewarding. My parents shop a lot on Amazon, and I often say to them - guess what? The page that you’re on right now has been worked on by my team.”
“The products are white-labeled, so there are a number of companies that use them around the world. It’s really rewarding. Whenever I’m on one of the customer’s sites I find myself providing feedback to myself.”
“Is it fast enough, is it doing its job? I want to make sure it’s meeting the requirements. I don’t have the words to say how rewarding it is, I’m working on things I use in my day-to-day life.”
When asked about his goals for the future, it's clear that Venky is in a career he’s passionate about and wants to progress in.
“Right now, I probably handle about 10-15% of everything that my team oversees. But I really want to take on larger, more impactful projects, especially in the customer onboarding space.”
“Currently, it takes a long time to onboard a customer and I want to streamline that process. I see myself solving more real-life problems, I want to find the pain points and optimise them and streamline the processes. That’s really where I see myself going.”
“As well as having business acumen, having a get up and go and problem solving mindset will take you far. In my personal life, I’m always looking to fix things, even if they’re small. Having a problem-solving mindset, if you apply it to the right areas, it will definitely help you in roles like mine.”
“Another important skill is to be able to communicate with a broader audience, talk to people from different teams and areas. Talk to your peers and teachers, and really listen to what they have to say.”
“Knowing what’s happening in different industries really helps because there could be a time where you’re asked about trends going round and what you think of them. So, having that understanding of what is happening in the landscape can really help you.”
“The final thing is to have an understanding of tools and being able to identify new ones in mapping and mining processes. So just identify new tools in the industry and learn the basics of them.”
“Being a product manager isn’t just a talking job, it’s also data visualisation so knowing tools really helps.”
“It’s been a year that I’ve been working on-site, and I recently received a text from my manager saying you’re a star, with a little star emoji”.
My manager has recently been working on this huge data file with lots of errors and she asked me one question. I asked her to share the file with me so I could take a look.
Using tools I managed to find the issue that she’d been trying to figure out for two days, and that’s definitely one of my proudest moments so far.”
Want to follow in Venky’s footsteps? Find out more about our graduate programme and apply to one of our roles today.
AI is reshaping the world at an unprecedented pace. mthree's here to help businesses unlock AI's true potential through tailored talent and training solutions.
Learn more about AI workforce solutions >>
