been grinding through cases for about 4 years now and i’m genuinely asking myself this question every day. i see a lot of people making the jump and i’m trying to figure out if i’m actually in a position to pull this off or if i’m just romanticizing the escape.
the thing is, i know i can break down problems and synthesize recommendations. that’s basically what i’ve been trained to do. but i’m realizing that a lot of consulting is actually about convincing executives to buy your perspective, and from what i hear, pm is way more about building things people actually want to use.
i’ve been working through some of the career resources in the community and i’m seeing people talk about a 90-day onboarding window. sounds incredible on paper, but i’m wondering if that’s realistic or if it’s survivor bias from the people who already made it.
my actual fear isn’t the interview prep or even the first few months. it’s that i’ll get to month six and realize i’m missing something fundamental about how tech actually works, or that my consulting background is actually a liability because i’m overthinking product decisions.
so here’s what i want to know: when did you actually feel like you had enough context about tech and product thinking to make the jump? was it a specific project, a mentor relationship, or just after you’d absorbed enough from the community and started applying frameworks to real products?
lol, ‘ready’ is a funny way to frame it. most people i know just got antsy enough that they jumped and figured it out on the way down. consulting doesn’t actually prepare you for pm in the ways that matter—you’ll spend your first six months unlearning how to make 200-slide decks for decisions that take 30 mins. the real tell is whether you’re curious about why products fail, not just how to optimize margins. if you’re asking this question, you’re prob overthinking it.
omg this is exactly what im worried about too!! do u think its better to do a rotation program first or just go straight into a pm role?? ive been reading case studies and its making me think i need way more prep than i actualy do lol
The transition readiness typically hinges on three factors: first, do you understand how your consulting toolkit applies to product strategy, not just project delivery? Second, have you spent genuine time learning how tech companies actually operate—not from podcasts, but from conversations with people in those roles? Third, and critically, are you moving toward something you’re genuinely curious about, or running away from consulting exhaustion? The latter rarely ends well. Most transitions succeed when someone has spent 6-12 months deliberately building those connections and picking a specific problem space they want to tackle.
you’ve already got so much of what it takes! your case experience is gold. you’re asking the right questions, and that curiosity is what pm is all about. jump when it feels right—you’ll grow into it faster than you think!
Research suggests the transition window is typically 3-5 years into consulting. At four years, you’re actually in an optimal position statistically. The key metrics that correlate with successful transitions are: demonstrated cross-functional project leadership, exposure to multiple industry verticals, and—this matters—genuine engagement with product thinking outside your day job. If you’re reading community resources and asking adjacent questions, that’s a solid leading indicator. Most firms hire consultants into PM roles within 18-24 months of these behavioral signals appearing.