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Ajay Sharma- Technology Product Manager at Broadcom
I’m Ajay Sharma. I work as a Technology Product Manager at Broadcom and have been in this role for five years. My career in the industry spans 21 years. I never planned to be in product management. For a long time, I didn’t even know the role existed. What I did know was that I enjoyed solving technical problems for customers. That became the turning point of my career.
I started out in finance but soon moved into technology. I spent more than 15 years in quality assurance, including as a test engineer. My main job was to track issues and test software quality. I worked closely with customers and listened to their feedback. That gave me a clear view of where products were falling short. Testing could only go so far. I wanted to improve products from the very beginning, not just catch problems at the end.
The more I worked as a test engineer, the more I saw the same problems. Customers struggled with issues that testing alone couldn’t fix. I realized I wanted to be the person shaping the product, not only testing it. When I learned what product managers actually do, I knew that was where I wanted to be. My goal became clear. I wanted to build products that customers use and that meet their needs.
To prepare, I signed up for a Product Management course. The faculty were industry leaders, not just academics. They shared real experiences from product development. I learned the fundamentals of product management, including the difference between UI and UX. Like many, I once thought they were the same. Understanding the difference gave me clarity and changed how I looked at product design.
Working on my capstone project enabled me to incorporate everything I was being taught while simply having to understand who my customers are, test ideas with them, and ultimately ground my sense of direction. It also allowed me to bridge thinking to making and increased my confidence that product frameworks can be applied to solve real problems.
One-on-one career coaching was also valuable. It was easier to ask questions in a private setting. Coaches often challenged me to think through different scenarios instead of just giving answers. That helped me build my own approach. A diverse perspective is offered by the industry expert faculty.
The first challenge was to understand the few basic concepts and create clarity around things like UI vs UX. That alone felt like a huge victory. The biggest victory was the confidence I gained through the capstone project. It was really reassuring to see a framework that could actually solve customer problems, which truly put me in a place to move forward.
Today, as a Technology Product Manager at Broadcom, I’m part of the full product lifecycle. My responsibilities span design, testing, and then delivering goods to the market. At this time, I am directly involved in the creation of products that consumers will use and that will fulfill their needs. This is a real change from the quality assurance that I held previously.
In the past, I successfully transitioned into product management from a technical role and I found it to be an incredibly rewarding experience. Here are a couple of lessons for me:
My path from test engineer to product manager shows the value of continuous learning and clear focus. Product management is meaningful work to me because it enables me to build products that serve customers well. If solving problems and developing solutions excite you, then this field is worthy of consideration. In the right environment, combining structured learning, relevant hands-on projects, and coaching can make the transition possible.
Ajay Sharma has been a Technology Product Manager for Broadcom for 21 years, including five years in his current role. He has experience in fields like finance, quality assurance, and product management. He completed his Executive MBA in Product Management, which played a key role in shaping his transition into product management. Ajay focuses on products that solve real customer needs while balancing empathy with business objectives.
