Brian Rodriguez of realtor.com: Product Managers are Lifelong Learners
To acheive sustained success as a PM you need to be a lifelong learner, shared Brian Rodriguez, Senior Product Manager at realtor.com, for my interview series Austin Voice Of Product. Our interview has been edited for clarity.
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Austin VOP #103
What was your path to product management?
I studied engineering in school because I have always been interested in solving complex problems and I was also fascinated with technology and how it can change people’s lives. While I was in college though I had this realization that I am not the classic engineering personality like a lot of the people that were in the classroom with me. I am a social person. I need to be able to talk to people regularly. I like to connect with people. I was frightened that I was going to be stuck in a lab somewhere behind a computer screen all day. Given my proclivity and interest, I still did not know about product management and that it could be a good match for me.
My first job out of college was at a big company — Texas Instruments in Dallas. The beautiful part about working for a big company is that it’s easier to shift laterally across the organization. I started off in a supply chain role where I learned a lot of amazing things about customer service and basics like communicating ideas and concepts to different audiences and understanding a P&L. After a year there I found out about product management. At the time, I did not have a resume that screamed product management and I think getting the first product management role is the hardest one. So I had a couple of options: go to business school to get an MBA., or find a way to land a product management role without one. I chose the latter and was fortunate that the company supported the transition. I got to start my PM career in a really cool industry where I was able to work with sensors for autonomous vehicles. It was a super fascinating role and I think I will look back many years from now and realize I was actually part of a huge inflection point in the evolution of transportation. It was a really exciting opportunity for me. That role also sparked my interest in AI and I have been an enthusiast ever since.
What advice do you give to aspiring product leaders?
As it relates to career success — I believe that the most important skill, and I don’t think it is exclusive to product management, is the ability to learn. A lot of people think of learning as something that happens at discrete points in time in their lives. You learn in college. You learn in the beginning stage of your career. But I think that’s a fallacy or trap which can lead to stalled growth — both personally and professionally.
Being a lifelong learner is probably the most important skill that a product manager can have.
And when I screen candidates for potential roles, it is one of the first things I look for. I look for evidence of experience with learning new things. What are they learning right now? What have they learned before? What are you going to learn next?
What have you read/watched/listened to that has inspired you lately?
I categorize learning into two buckets. One is when there is a specific reason in my career or my life where I need to learn something. For example, I did that with AI and machine learning: I took courses specifically on it. I knew that it was something I was interested in and I wanted to pursue further in my career. I took several courses including one by Andrew Ng on Machine Learning. I strongly recommend that course to anyone who is looking to learn AI and further their career.
The second bucket - which I think is a lot more interesting - is learning that is aligned with your genuine interests and proclivities.
I think that too many people focus on the former bucket: I have to learn this skill or that skill to progress in my career or meet whatever immediate goal I have. But people don’t realize that the things that you learn in the other bucket can serve you equally or even greater in the long run.
I think an example of that for me is I have become incredibly interested in human epigenetics & biology over the past couple of years. I read this book called Lifespan by David Sinclair. He is a Harvard researcher who studies the science of human longevity. I am not trying to live forever or anything like that. But I think it is an incredibly fascinating science that has zero applicability to my current role or career path. But it might one day, who knows? Maybe I will work for a biotech startup. The point is that if you ignore your natural interests then you are selling yourself short. You are also potentially specializing your knowledge too much versus diversifying your knowledge.
What is exciting about the product you are working on now?
I am excited about two things. The first is the problem space. Realtor.com focuses on making buying, selling, renting and living in homes easier and more rewarding for everyone. For most people buying a home is the largest purchase that they will make in their lives. As somebody who recently purchased a home for the first time, I saw firsthand how incredibly stressful and fragmented of an experience it can be for people. At realtor.com our mission is to make that process better for everyone, especially first time home buyers like me. It is something that I really resonate with.
The second is the data science, machine learning, and AI part of what I am working on. For most Americans, AI has a really negative connotation. The narrative is typically around how these tech companies are invading our privacy and monetizing our data by serving us ads. While that may be true at some companies, it absolutely isn’t at realtor.com. We are incredibly respectful of consumer privacy, and we use data for a more altruistic purpose: helping people reach their goals of buying, selling, or renting a home for themselves or their families. I love coming up with innovative ideas to improve people’s ability to achieve their home ownership dreams.
How might we build a stronger product community in Austin?
I fear that Austin and other tech communities outside of Silicon Valley tend to look at what Silicon Valley is doing and then try to follow. I just don’t think it is a good strategy for Austin, because Austin should seek to create its own unique identity around product. Austin has a unique culture and demographics. So I think that we should leverage what makes Austin awesome and create its own brand of product management rather than seeking to copy Silicon Valley. As soon as we start doing that, then I think we have an opportunity to differentiate ourselves and really grow the community. Our culture for product management reflects the city’s culture which is a little bit more relaxed, a little bit more creative. We have a huge creative population in Austin and I think that that type of creative thinking could lend itself to being something that differentiates the Austin product community.
Last question, what is your favorite product?
It is the app Calm: a meditation based app for folks all the way from beginners to more advanced meditators. Meditation and mindfulness techniques have been an enormous source of growth, not just personally, but professionally as well. Product management is stressful. And we work with a lot of passionate people whose emotions can run high sometimes. I think mindfulness and meditation have helped me be more thoughtful and empathetic and calculated with my decision making because I am able to understand and put into context all of the internal factors that are influencing my decisions. How am I feeling right now? Why am I angry or sad or happy or optimistic or pessimistic? What are the internal biases that I have? Having that lens and observing my own behavior and thoughts has helped me become a more thoughtful and effective decision maker.
Thank you, Brian!
Austin VOP is an interview series with current and future product leaders to inspire the next generation of product leaders.
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