The service-to-product transition is one of the most common career moves in India's tech industry — and one of the most strategic. Product companies typically offer 50-100% higher salaries, better engineering practices, more impactful work, and stronger career growth. But the transition requires deliberate preparation.
Skill gap analysis: Product companies expect strong fundamentals in: Data Structures & Algorithms (the biggest gap for most service company engineers), System Design (designing scalable systems from scratch), deep expertise in specific technologies (not just project-based exposure), and coding practices (clean code, testing, CI/CD). Spend 3-6 months strengthening these areas through structured practice on LeetCode/Codeforces (aim for 200+ problems), system design courses (Grokking the System Design Interview, Alex Xu's book), and personal/open-source projects.
Resume transformation: Reframe your service company experience for product company expectations. Instead of 'Worked on client project using Java and Spring Boot,' write 'Redesigned the payment processing microservice, reducing transaction latency by 40% and handling 1 lakh daily transactions.' Product companies care about ownership, scale, and measurable impact — not client delivery jargon. Add a strong Projects section showcasing personal builds, open-source contributions, or hackathon wins.
Targeting the right companies: Some product companies actively hire from services: Amazon, Microsoft, Google (through their hiring programs), Flipkart, Swiggy, Razorpay, and well-funded startups. These companies understand the service-company background and evaluate based on potential and preparation. Companies like Atlassian, Uber, and Google have specific hiring pipelines for service-to-product transitions.
Networking is critical: connect with people who've made this transition (they're everywhere on LinkedIn), attend tech meetups, contribute to open-source, and build a GitHub portfolio. Your network often surfaces opportunities that aren't posted publicly.

