Marily Nika, a Google AI product manager with over a decade of experience in AI product roles, has shared unconventional career advice for aspiring product managers: “be like crabs.” In an episode of “The Growth Podcast” by Aakash Gupta published Sunday, Nika explained that professionals should move laterally, leveraging their existing domain expertise rather than starting from scratch in tech.
Nika’s “crab strategy” emphasizes that past experience serves as a competitive advantage when transitioning into AI product management. She illustrated this with a compelling example from her AI product management boot camp: a student working in the hearing aid industry felt trapped and disconnected from tech opportunities. The student believed his background was irrelevant to product management roles. However, when Nika and the student explored Apple’s careers site together, they discovered a product manager opening for AirPods—a position where hearing expertise would be highly valuable.
“We need to be open-minded. We really need to bring in the previous experience we have because that’s gonna set us apart,” Nika emphasized. She provided another example involving a sports journalist seeking to transition into AI product management within the sports industry. Rather than viewing his non-traditional background as a liability, Nika advised him to lean into his domain expertise, noting that while product skills can be learned, deep understanding of users and industries is much harder to replace.
Nika also outlined essential skills for modern product managers, emphasizing that becoming “AI literate” is now non-negotiable. “Understand the unique intricacies that AI brings, understand how dependent we are on data,” she explained, describing how AI proficiency has become a baseline expectation for the role. Aspiring product managers should also understand technical fundamentals like APIs and product shipping processes.
Other tech leaders echo this sentiment. A Dropbox vice president of product and growth for AI products told Business Insider that product managers should familiarize themselves with vibe coding tools that enable non-coders to quickly prototype ideas. A senior product manager at Microsoft noted in December that product managers will increasingly be expected to use AI tools to work faster, including drafting documents, summarizing information, and generating product management solutions.
Key Quotes
That means that you need to move adjacent to what you’ve been doing
Marily Nika explained her “crab strategy” for career transitions, emphasizing that professionals should leverage their existing experience rather than making dramatic career pivots. This approach helps candidates stand out in competitive AI product management roles.
We need to be open-minded. We really need to bring in the previous experience we have because that’s gonna set us apart
Nika emphasized the importance of viewing non-traditional backgrounds as competitive advantages rather than liabilities when transitioning into AI product management, challenging the assumption that only pure tech experience matters.
Understand the unique intricacies that AI brings, understand how dependent we are on data
Nika outlined the essential requirement for modern product managers to become AI literate, highlighting how AI proficiency has evolved from a specialized skill to a baseline expectation for product management roles.
Our Take
Nika’s “crab strategy” represents a refreshing counter-narrative to the anxiety many professionals feel about AI disrupting their careers. Rather than viewing AI as a threat that requires complete career reinvention, her advice suggests that domain expertise becomes more valuable, not less, in the AI era. This is particularly insightful as companies rush to integrate AI across products—they need people who understand both the technology and the specific user problems being solved. The hearing aid to AirPods example is especially compelling because it demonstrates how seemingly niche expertise can translate to major tech opportunities. However, the emphasis on AI literacy is crucial: domain knowledge alone isn’t enough. The winning combination is deep industry understanding paired with technical fluency in AI tools and concepts. This creates a more accessible path into AI product management while maintaining high standards for the role.
Why This Matters
This story highlights a critical shift in how tech companies are approaching talent acquisition and career development in the AI era. As AI becomes embedded across all product functions, the traditional path into product management is evolving. Nika’s advice challenges the conventional wisdom that aspiring product managers need purely technical backgrounds, instead emphasizing that domain expertise combined with AI literacy creates a more valuable skill set.
The emphasis on becoming “AI literate” reflects a broader industry trend: AI proficiency is transitioning from a specialized skill to a baseline requirement across product roles. This has significant implications for workers in traditional industries who may feel locked out of tech careers. The examples Nika provides demonstrate that expertise in fields like healthcare, sports, or journalism can be powerful differentiators when combined with product management and AI skills.
For businesses, this signals the importance of cross-functional expertise in building AI products that truly serve user needs. Companies that recognize the value of domain knowledge alongside technical skills will likely build more innovative, user-centered AI products. This approach also expands the talent pool for AI product roles beyond traditional tech backgrounds.
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Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/google-ai-product-manager-career-advice-be-crab-skills-2026-1