How To Pivot To Product Management From The Medicine Field (or Any Field) - w/ Jackie
I’m Naman Pandey — welcome back to Ready Set Do. If you want to break into product management from a totally different career, this two-part jam with Jackie Henning is everything you need. In Part 2 Jackie walks us through the exact pivot she made — from medicine to product management — and the surprising, simple moves that opened the first PM door for her. This episode is practical, honest, and short on buzzwords: if you’re an aspiring PM working in a different industry (medicine, finance, design, teaching — whatever), you’ll leave with a clear, actionable roadmap.
Why this episode matters
Most career advice about “breaking into PM” feels theoretical. Jackie’s story proves the opposite: real transitions are tactical and repeatable. She shares the mindset shifts, the micro-skills, and the concrete projects that signaled product credibility to hiring teams. We break down what hiring managers actually look for, how to translate non-PM experience into product language, and which early wins accelerate your path from applicant to hire.
What you’ll get from listening
• A step-by-step recount of Jackie’s pivot from the medical field into health-tech PM — the decisions, mistakes, and small experiments that worked.
• Actionable tips you can implement this week: how to reframe your resume, build a PM-style project, and run mini-experiments to prove product impact.
• Clear differences between health-tech PM and general PM roles — what to emphasize when applying to clinical or regulated products.
• Practical advice on stakeholder management in healthcare environments — a must if you want to ship responsibly and quickly.
• The “threshold concept” Jackie uses to get unstuck — a mental model that turns vague career change goals into daily habits and measurable progress.
Who this episode is for
Aspiring product managers who aren’t currently in product, career pivoters curious about health-tech, and anyone who prefers blueprints over pep talks. If you want a direct playbook — not theory — press play.
How to use this episode
Treat it like a mini workshop. Listen with a notebook, pick one micro-project Jackie suggests, and run a two-week experiment. Share your results with me — I love seeing people ship things inspired by the show.
If you liked this, check Part 1 for Jackie's tactical tips and frameworks. Subscribe, leave a rating, and tell me which non-PM background you want us to break down next. Build something — then tell us about it.
Timestamps:
00:00 — Intro + Background
02:16 — Breaking into Product Management: Misconceptions and Realities
04:51 — Jackie’s Journey: From Medicine to Product Management
07:49 — The Evolution of Product Management: Learning by Doing
10:54 — Health Tech vs. General Product Management
13:51 — Navigating Stakeholder Relationships in Health Tech
16:43 — Advice for Aspiring Product Managers: The Threshold Concept
