Ep 55 - How to Become A Product Manager with Walner Dort

On this episode of #WorkingInTech, we're talking to Walner Dort. Walner is a Senior Product Manager at Microsoft with a strong background in engineering, team leadership, and product operations. He leads work on Defender for APIs and DevOps Security as part of the Customer Engineering (CXE) team, focusing on customer adoption, product updates, and feedback-driven improvements. Walner is skilled in product leadership, roadmapping, research, and cross-functional collaboration. Known for his analytical approach, he consistently delivers solutions that align with business goals. Walner will share insights from his career, tips for thriving in product management, and advice for driving innovation and collaboration in tech. CONNECT WITH ME: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juwonthetechie/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/JuwonTheTechie Threads: https://www.threads.net/@juwonthetechie IG: https://www.instagram.com/juwonthetechie/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juwon-io/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@juwonthetechie CONNECT WITH WALNER: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/walnerdort/ Substack: walner.substack.com CHAPTERS 0:00 - Intro 1:00 - Breaking into Tech 6:00 - Networking at Events 9:46 - Working at Microsoft 11:38 - Product Engineering vs Product Management 18:15 - Getting into Cybersecurity 24:00 - How to Learn Cybersecurity 25:35 - API & DevOps 29:15 - Getting Better at Interviews 40:20 - Self-learning 47:05 - Finding Mentors 51:25 - Is Product Saturated? 53:35 - Details vs Big Picture 56:10 - Building a better Life with Tech 58:40 - Why Macro-thinking? 1:00:20 - Salary Progression 1:01:50 - Final Words 1:03:20 - Conclusion