It's hard to make a lateral career move in a weak jobs environment. It seems to me he might be better off finding a job that needs his technical background, but also has a PM component where he can develop those skills and maybe grow into doing it full-time. Being a developer does not necessarily prepare you for being PM any more than the reverse is true; they are separate and unique roles.
This brings up an interesting parallel to my situation - I'm kind of in the same boat, but I've also founded two different products myself (with lots of press attention) and have years worth of experience managing remote teams of designers, developers, writers etc for various projects.<p>Problem is I've been self-employed my entire ten years in the biz so don't have a "Product Manager" title on my resume that isn't self-applied.<p>I've been applying for PM jobs with lukewarm response. Its very frustrating since I'm at a point where I feel like its the thing I'd be best qualified to handle considering how much experience I have with pretty much every aspect of the role except for the titled position itself.<p>Curious if anyone has any incite into this - going from botched Founder to fulltime PM...
The sweet spot is probably larger startups, with an already-established, multiple-person product management team. Small startups with limited product staff are unlikely to take a risk on someone with no experience. Public companies, on the other hand, are often too bureaucratic to hire someone without 'credentials'.<p>Your friend will likely have to settle for a junior role at first - I'd search for 'associate product manager' or 'assistant product manager' roles. But a product manager with a technical background is a truly a blessing, and he should be able to get promoted within the company or move to a more responsible role at another company after a year or so of experience.