Guest Profile:

Hala Saleh, Director of Product, Expedia

Things to keep in mind for people who want to work in product management:

• Product managers need to understand what people are using the product for and what customer need you are trying to fulfill
• You can work on a product that is an all-new concept or idea, or you can work on one that is very clearly defined
• Interact a lot with engineering, user experience designers, analytics and other product managers
• You have the opportunity to bring people together and try to get them excited about an idea
• You do not need to be an expert in all fields in order to be a product manager, but you need to understand each of them at a base level in order to be successful
• Being curious and willing to dive deep into each of the disciplines is essential for a strong product manager

Rapid Fire-Round:

• What Hala wanted to be when she was a kid: Astronaut
• Best resource for career-related information: Blogs – producttalk.org
• What helps Hala when she has a bad day at work: Her kids
• Hala’s favorite product her company sells: Shopping Cart
• Best part of Hala’s work day today: Not going in to work

Advice:

• If you have an idea of what you are interested in, you have a head start
• Find what areas you are drawn to, and pursue that
• Don’t apologize so much

Why should someone want to be in product management

• You get to build things that hundreds, thousands, or even millions or people use
• You get to AB test things, which is so exciting because you can make a small change and measure the impact it has

Get in touch with Hala