What can someone who has an extensive engineering background do to prove themselves competent for an entry-level product management role?

Start with your passion for Product Management and DWIT attitude. Find a team who needs an extra pair of hands. Partner with them in your free time. Deliver results that are visible to others. From there, it's an easy sell organizationally for "why" you should become a PM when the organization needs one. 

Start by showing interest and taking steps in your existing role. Work with your engineering manager or the PM on your team to take on PM work. You can listen to customers calls, gather insights and turn those into a feature or investment proposal, or perform competitive research and synthesize that into an action plan for your team. The best place to make the transition is at your existing company, where you have already built trust and there is someone who's willing to work and invest in your development.

Having made the transition and reflecting on my experience going through the ranks of a product manager, I would say there are 2 key skills you need to have and really enjoy to become a product manager. I emphasize “enjoy” as I’ve been asked similar questions and once the person sees what a product manager needs to do, they tend to reconsider unless they are determined to make the switch. The key skills are:

• Communication

• Active Listening

Communication in engineering tends to revolve around code, architecture, and technical systems. As a Product Manager, when explaining a concept or pitching an idea, you must boil complexity into a digestible idea that can be understood by your audience. You need to tailor your presentation to the skill level of the audience. Leads and Managers practice this skill more often as they regularly interact with individuals outside of the engineering. If you cannot communicate your idea clearly, it will be very difficult for you to become a PM.

As a PM, your role involves gathering data to make informed decisions. This requires engaging with people and delving deep into the core of the problem, rather than just scratching the surface. While some PMs tend to deliver exactly what the customer asks for believing that "the customer is always right," a good PM listens for the underlying need and develops the right product to satisfy most, if not all, customers.

Learning these skills takes time and I agree that your current company is the best place to learn. An easy start is to look for technical product management roles working with developer-related products or APIs where your engineering skills are a plus. This will ease the transition and give you time to build up your skills.