Andrew Bowker

Customer Experience | Teamwork | Growth Strategy

Senior Product Manager

IBM PM's operate at the epicenter of multidisciplinary teams which include design, engineering, sales, marketing, finance and legal. PMs build deep and broad skills including market and competitive analysis, planning and shepherding product development, driving adoption through marketing and digital engagement, and sensing how offerings are performing in the market.

"I’ve received very positive feedback from all of Andrew’s peers. He demonstrates a great can-do attitude and is always willing to take on additional projects. He’s curious, always keen to learn and it’s a pleasure having him on the team." - Manager

"Thank you Andrew for always helping our team to move forward and set us up for success. I'm definitely thankful for your work as our PM, and helping us developers the best way you can. Hearing our feedback and working together has been wonderful." - Developer

"Andrew is both a great coach for our bootcamp incubator team and did an outstanding job in his "herding cats" presentation on leading without authority. I've been using the principles he outlined in my daily interactions and they're so useful!" - Mentee

"Thank you for giving great advice to our bootcamp in your session "herding cats without authority". The session taught be a lot about how to take responsibility at IBM and influence people around me.You were down-to-earth and very relatable, which is exactly what all of us needed. I think this session with you is a must for future bootcampers. Thanks again!" - Mentee

“Andrew never skimps out on being generous with his time, energy, and advice. He has given me great excitement for and insight into how to creatively engage with not only my peers in college, but also my future colleagues.” - College Mentee

Product Manager

Drove two "buy-don't-build" businesses cases. Those products went on to make $5M+ in the first 2 years

Product Manager Intern II (MBA Internship)

A to B Coaching LLC

It took me 3 years and 60+ failed applications to break into Product Management. If I could go back, I'd focus on 3 things from the start:

1. Create products
2. Build relationships
3. Interviewing skills

Now I help a community of 24k+ do the same. So far, I've helped folks land at places like Amazon, Zoom, Pfizer, Pendo, IBM, Bandwidth, & more.

I specialize in helping non-technical professionals land roles in the tech industry. Non-technical roles include product management, program management, project management, customer success, strategy, business operations, marketing, sales, and more. When we work together, you'll be heavily guided on:

· How to craft a resume that gets noticed
· How to craft the perfect linkedin presence w/o the cringe
· How to build important relationships w/o the awkwardness
· How to abolish imposter syndrome and interview confidently
· How to perfect your story and pass any recruiter screen
· How to SHOW your work and beat other candidates
· How to negotiate for 45% more money

Ultimately, there is no such thing as a dream job. As we learn and grow, the "dream job: changes. I coach people to find a "dream fit" based on skills, passions, and what the market values that allows for future optionality and growth.

Owner

Wedding Taggers

It's a goal of mine to be a lifelong learner. The best way for me to learn is by starting, growing, and managing a company in my spare time. Hands on.

Founder

North Carolina State University Poole College of Management

Concentrations & Certificates:
Technology Commercialization & Entrepreneurship 
Marketing Management 
Innovation Management
Decision Analytics Certificate

Activities:
Hi-TEC Scholar (1 of 2 selected) 
MBA Student Association President (vote by peers)
Team-Lead for Wolfpack Investor Network (WIN), (start-up company due-diligence reporting)
NC State University Entrepreneurship Clinic Undergraduate Teaching Assistant
University Ambassador for prospective Jenkins MBA students
Jenkins Career Management Peer Coach for 1st-year Jenkins MBA students
Consult Your Community (CYC) Undergraduate Advisor - "Designed For Joy" (a Raleigh non-profit)
Founder of first ever Jenkins Entrepreneurship club (E-Club) for MBA students

Achievements:
4.0 GPA
Selected as a McLauchlan Leadership Fellow (Jenkins' most prestigious development program)
Elected by classmates as MBA Student Association President
Co-founded Chirp, an innovative IoT device to improve emergency response to house fires
1st Place 2019 LuLu Entrepreneurship Games - Design & Prototype Category (Chirp)
1st Place 2019 LuLu Entrepreneurship Games - Fan Favorite Video (Chirp)
1st Place 2019 Poole College Leadership & Innovation Showcase (Chirp)
1st Place 2018 Product Innovation Lab Pitch Night - Investor's Choice (Chirp)

Jenkins MBA Hi-TEC Scholar 

inMotionNow

I was the one they called to save "code red" customers :)

Customer Succcess Consultant 

Customer Success Manager

Account Coordinator

Campus Outreach - Raleigh

A little bit of everything, supporting leadership development at NCSU, UNC, Duke, Campbell University, Meredith College, ECU, and UNC-W.

Project Manager 

L.A. Weaver Co.

Read and interpret depositions, OSHA investigative reports, as well as Safety and Health Standards to craft reports outlining findings, criticisms, and opinions concerning engineering related accidents in the workplace.

Research Analyst

Altec

• Solved a 10 month-old-problem that even full time engineers failed to
• Saved the company $1M+/yr in perpetuity 
• Found out I didn't want to be a career mechanical engineer :)

Mechanical Engineering Co-op

NC State University Housing

Planned social events, team building programs, and community service outings for residents

Resident Advisor

☀️ Product manager by day ☀️  |  🌙 Dad by night 🌙  | 🔨  DIYer / 'maker' by late night 🔨 

I write about product management, career lessons, side projects, and soft skills. 

A core belief: humans are the backbone of business.  Because of that, I like to spend time developing and nurturing personal relationships. I've found that to be the most useful skill despite the random collection of 'hard skills' I've acquired over the years. I've spent time developing start-ups, diving into the intricacies of digital marketing, managing products, selling, creating successful customer outcomes, and sharpening statistical analysis skills to make better business decisions. 

Strengths:
1. Achiever - I come alive when I can work hard, get many things done, and achieve audacious goals.
2. Belief - I can talk to the hearts of people and see past the surface. High Emotional Intelligence.
3. Self-Assurance - I have the power to persuade and lead passionately. This shines during presentations and in situations where I need to persuade. 
4. Restorative - I love to solve problems and constantly improve things. "It can be done better".
5. Woo - I have a knack for "winning others over". Relationships are important to me.

Now accepting clients for Career Cheat Codes 2023 - https://careercheatcodes.tech

It took me 3 years and 60+ failed applications to break into Product Management. If I could go back, I'd focus on 3 things from the start:

1. Create products
2. Build relationships
3. Interviewing skills

Now I help a community of 24k+ do the same. So far, I've helped folks land at places like Amazon, Zoom, Pfizer, Pendo, IBM, Bandwidth, & more.

I specialize in helping non-technical professionals land roles in the tech industry. Non-technical roles include product management, program management, project management, customer success, strategy, business operations, marketing, sales, and more. When we work together, you'll be heavily guided on:

· How to craft a resume that gets noticed
· How to craft the perfect linkedin presence w/o the cringe
· How to build important relationships w/o the awkwardness
· How to abolish imposter syndrome and interview confidently
· How to perfect your story and pass any recruiter screen
· How to SHOW your work and beat other candidates
· How to negotiate for 45% more money

Ultimately, there is no such thing as a dream job. As we learn and grow, the "dream job: changes. I coach people to find a "dream fit" based on skills, passions, and what the market values that allows for future optionality and growth.

LearnTech2Gether Community

At LearnTech2Gether, we connect young Product managers, designers and software developers to build meaningful projects while gaining experience

Founder and Lead Product manager

Mdundo.com

Mdundo is the leading Pan-African Music service with 30+ Million Monthly active users.

Our BHAG is to reach 50Million MAUs by 2025.

We are  present in  16+ markets and focused on 5 key Markets (Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, and South Africa)

Some key achievements
- Creating and socializing the product strategy and roadmap across the board of Directors and senior leadership
- Led expansion and stabilization of premium service into two new markets( Ghana and Kenya) in partnership with Telcos  like MTN, Safaricom and Vodacom
- creating new revenue streams and increasing existing revenue streams 
-leveraging SQL and Google Analytics to glean insights from data

Technical Product Owner

MarketForce

Marketforce is the leading retail distribution company for small and medium businesses with a focus in 5 African markets( Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and  Tanzania

some key achievements are 

I designed functional requirements for a new merchant verification process that increased the ease of merchant verification by 5%
2. collaborated with Engineering, Design, Product and Partnership teams to launch our applications in Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda. This increased our transaction volumes 
3. owned and prioritized the backlog that led to the development of the merchant retention program
4. wrote functional specification documents for the merchant notification system that increased merchant retention by 5%
5. collaborated with Engineering,Design,leadership  teams to launch an internal financial portal which improved ease of use.

Product Manager(Financial services)

- responsible for launching and iterating on the Rejareja M.V.P in Nigeria to find product-market fit. This has increased the volume of financial transactions and purchases in Nigeria.by 6%.
-employed a variety of qualitative  and quantitative methods like usability testing, customer interviews, surveys, etc that discovered a major pain point in merchant verification. The solution increased the number of  verified merchants by 10%
- responsible for innovating on new features that solve customer needs and increase business outcomes
- collaborating with the product team to prioritize the backlog, issue resolution, and feature innovation
- responsible for managing Nigerian stakeholders on product updates and progress.
-collaborated with product, partnership and engineering teams to launch loan financing in Nigeria that increased merchant satisfaction by 15%

Product Discovery Manager(User researcher)

Ajua™

1. led the Mtn Engauge app to the 7th top free app worldwide.
2. a key member of the team that launched the Mtn Engauge app in partnership with the largest telco in Africa, MTN
 3. conducted the user research that increase customer satisfaction by 50%
4. Responsible for conducting market research that discovered the flagship feature on the Mtn Engauge app
5. Responsible for performing usability research with cohorts that led to a 30% increase in signups.
6. Responsible for working with Engineering/sales team to ensure the Mtn Engauge app is successful.
7. led the team 40 persons that achieved 40,000 active users within 5 months

Customer Success Analyst/ Product Manager

ipNX Nigeria Limited

1. Served as the client interface.
 2. Responsible for Liasing with   IPnx's collection of more than 30, 000 high rise customers to resolve internet related issues
3. Achieved a customer satisfaction rate of 85%.
4. Achieved a regional  customer retention rate of 80% 
5. A key member of the team that won the Internet service provider as well as the Broadband service provider for year 2020

Network Engineer

Multisonic Technologies

1.i worked with a team of 5 engineers to build several iot Products using Arduino microcontroller
2. built  and deployed several solar powered inverter systems
3. worked with PLCs to  automate systems

IoT Engineer

I have 4 years+ of experience working on products starting out briefly as a backend Engineer then pivoting into Product management.

 I  have experience leading integrations with financial service partners, banks, and telcos  like MTN (one of the largest Telcos in Africa) and Stanbic Bank (one of the largest banks in Africa)

I  have experience working on 0-1 Products as well as scaling products across 5 African countries (Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania) 

 I am conversant with the cloud. I started out architecting solutions on GCP and AWS and Microsoft  Azure. I have certifications in  three major cloud platforms Amazon web services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and  Google cloud platforms (GCP)

I am technical.  I pivoted briefly into Software engineering before discovering my passion for close customer interaction. This drove my pivot into User research and finally Product management. 

I am a team player. I  love working cross-functionally with software engineers, designers, QA, legal, and finance as well as leadership teams to build great products.

I am experimental. I utilize a wide variety of low and high-fidelity tools like Balsamiq and Figma to test big ideas before working on them.

I am data-informed. I use quantitative data from surveys and user analytics tools like Mixpanel, Uxcam, Amplitude, and Google Analytics, to understand user pain points in the customer flow. I am also proficient in SQL. 

I am customer focused.  I employ a variety of user research techniques like customer interviews, Card sorting usability testing to ensure my solutions solve user problems.

I am strategic. I employ a range of frameworks to prioritize the backlog and deliver the most important features at the right time.

I  am a designer at heart. I create designs using Figma.  I also utilize design principles like Nielsen heuristics, and usability tests to ensure products are usable and friendly.

I am an engineer in practice.  I utilize both no-code and code tools to build applications.
I currently use Nodejs, React, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build scalable responsive web applications.

when I'm not working, I  listen to podcasts or create content.

You can also reach out to me via mail at ekevalentine200@gmail.com or  via a Dm 

Disclaimer
(Everything I post on LinkedIn is my  personal opinion and does not reflect  the views of my current or past  employers)

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The Battle

Andrew Bowker

Valentine Eke

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