Role and Company
Senior Product Manager, Dun & Bradstreet
Expertise
10 years experience in information technology
Location
Van Nuys , CA
About Allison
I've had an extremely roundabout path to my current career as a Senior Product Manager for a small business credit building software application. I graduated from college with a Bachelor's in Architecture right at the height of the Great Recession. Architecture, it turns out, is not a recession proof industry, so I was unable to find much architecture work and eventually had to switch gears.
I worked retail for a while, and then I started working at a financial market research company. The role that I started in had no growth potential, so after a while I realized I needed to switch departments to one where there were more opportunities. Doing that led me to learn more and prove myself to senior management, and I eventually earned a position as a Business Analyst in the IT department.
At that time I decided that if I was going to give my new career path a good shot, it would be beneficial to go back to school and get some relevant education (unfortunately, architecture doesn't have much to do with IT or software development). Once I completed my degree, I realized that software product management would be an excellent way for me to combine my experience as an IT Business Analyst with my MBA and I eventually was hired as a Product Manager at Dun & Bradstreet.
In my role, I am responsible for defining the product roadmap and working with the software developers and QA testers to release features and enhancements to the software applications I manage. My favorite part of my job is looking at data and customer feedback to figure out what is it my customers need and then working with the software developers to bring the new feature or enhancement to life. I love being able to deliver the things my customer need to help them achieve their goals and grow their small businesses.