Introduction
My name is Tanpong Sukhonpanich (Tan). I graduated from Kasetsart University, Computer Engineering and completed my master degree from Malmö University, Sweden with a Strategic Media Development program. And I’m currently working as a Product Manager (CPO) at FutureSkill.
There are a lot of teams that I currently work with under the Product Management team, such as the customer experience team, product design (UX/UI) team, product marketing team
FutureSkill
FutureSkill is a platform to learn business, technology and creative skills, everytime and everywhere at a reasonable price with the best quality.
At Futureskill, there are a lot of teams that I currently work with under the Product Management team, such as the customer experience team, product design (UX/UI) team, product marketing team & research, and the data team.
Why the EdTechnology industry?
I’ve always been interested in education – back when I was young, I did volunteer work – by teaching kids how to use computers and technology. So I had this ambition of helping less privileged kids have access to education, so everyone can access new technologies easily.
My main goal has always been helping make technology accessible for everyone, especially for education. FutureSkill was looking for a new product manager and it’s an EdTech platform that’s still growing, so I thought ‘why not?’ It’s something that I’m passionate about so I decided to accept their offer.
Changing my passion to my current job…
Back in the day, I remember starting using my dad’s computer when I was very young, like 4 or 5 years old and I was passionate about it. When I grew up a little bit more as the web technology started to boom, I was very into web design and development. At that time I was very good at Dreamweaver so I joined the web development competition and won it. I think that started to evolve me to work in the technology industry.
Not just the product…
As a product manager, I am the voice of our customer. I have to work with different teams such as marketing, customer experience, business and developers to ensure that the product is delivered in the right direction and serve our customer well.
More changing, more challenging…
With the rise in education technology in recent years, there are so many competitors all the time, the challenge is how can we develop our product to stand out and deliver the best value to our customers in this crowded market.
The expectation in 5-10 years…
Education needs to equip today’s young people with the skills to thrive in tomorrow’s world. The world has changed a lot and people don’t mind learning online. Therefore, the importance of online education has increased a lot and will continue to increase.
Our online courses have been selected carefully, so that students can learn to upskill themselves. The EdTech industry is going to change a lot since it’s already growing so much and so quickly.
Becoming Product Manager
On becoming a good Product Manager, there are a variety of skills you’d need. You’d have to keep up with new technology trends because you would have to do market research all the time. Researching on our competitors’ products and researching on how we can make our products better. It’s good to have knowledge about these topics so you can work with the development team easily.
It’s also important to understand the UX part of work. You’d need to understand the user experience and their behavior as well as the journey.
Lastly, business marketing knowledge is advantageous for this position. Study the business model and think of the marketing strategies on how to promote your business.
These are the main focusing skills to become a Product Manager, and you would need to understand your industry as well – whether it’s EdTech or FinTech, or anything else.
The DNA of FutureSkill Work Culture
A fighter at heart. The DNA that can be found at FutureSkill, you’d need to have a lot of ambition since we’re still a startup. We’re on our way to expanding our business. At the same time, we’re not a hierarchical company.
Our communication culture is that we listen to everyone. We’re always looking for someone who’s passionate about technology and education since we’ll be dealing with these things most of the time. At FutureSkill, we have a lot of young employees, around 25-25 years old. We’re always looking for energetic people to join our team.
Upskill with FutureSkill
There are many courses at FutureSkill that you can take to help upskill and reskill yourselves, for example – UX/UI courses and also marketing courses. Many of our courses can help prepare everyone for the working world.
