How a Communication, PR, and Advertising Degree Accidentally Made Me a Product Owner (And I’m Not Mad About It)

It’s that time of year again in Cluj-Napoca. The streets are alive with students lugging suitcases, families saying goodbye, and the general buzz that only the start of a new academic year brings. I find myself swept up in conversations with old friends and colleagues, and one question keeps popping up: "Are you working in the same field you studied?"

Most people give a resounding "no." It’s almost expected, right? You study one thing and end up in a completely different field. But then, as I mulled it over, I realized something surprising, I am working in a field connected to my studies, more so than I ever thought. The more I reflected, the clearer it became: my time at Babeș-Bolyai University’s Faculty of Political, Administrative, and Communication Sciences (FSPAC) prepared me for a career in product management without me even knowing it.

Back then, I was studying Communication, PR, and Advertising. It felt like a world centered around journalists, event organizers, and marketing professionals. But as it turns out, those very skills I learned at FSPAC, communication, organization, persuasion, are the same ones that shape my day-to-day as a Product Owner.

One of the first lessons that really stuck with me from those university days was this: communication is everything. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but now, as a Product Owner, I can see how foundational it is. My job requires constant communication, whether it’s aligning the team on a new feature, explaining a complex concept to stakeholders, or sharing a product vision. It’s something that was drilled into me during classes like "Interpersonal Communication" and "Argumentation Techniques." At the time, they seemed like theoretical exercises, but little did I know that those debates and group projects would come to life in boardrooms and sprint meetings years later.

One moment that really brought it all together was when we were going through a major product design overhaul. I wasn’t just passively watching the UX/UI team at work, I was right there with them, brainstorming, sketching, and refining user flows. It was all so familiar. In a flash, I remembered those late nights working on visual content projects at university. The tools, the thinking process, it all came flooding back. My involvement in UX isn’t just a side note in my career; it’s integral to what I do. And that deep dive into visual communication, something I honed during courses like "Visual Content Creation & Editing," turned out to be one of the most valuable skills I could have picked up.

It was one of those moments where I realized: this wasn’t just theory, this was practical knowledge I was using every single day.

And then there’s the part of the job that involves managing people and expectations, a skill that any Product Owner knows is crucial. I remember one particularly tricky project. We had multiple stakeholders involved: engineering, sales, marketing, each with their own agenda. It was like navigating a minefield of opinions and priorities. But strangely enough, it reminded me of university group projects. Remember those? Trying to get everyone to pull in the same direction, negotiating differences, and making sure the project got done? Turns out, that’s not far from how real life works.

The way I was able to mediate between teams, keep everyone focused, and ensure we were all moving toward the same goal was something I learned long before I entered the tech world. My PR courses at FSPAC, where we practiced crafting narratives and negotiating, gave me the tools to handle those tough conversations and guide the team through the storm.

Funny enough, one of the things I never thought would transfer from university to my career was the experience of event organization. I used to think of it as a completely different world. But now, every product launch I’m part of feels like an event in its own right. There are so many moving parts to coordinate, so many details to nail down, and you have to make sure that everything happens on time. Those event-planning skills came in handy more times than I can count.

Then there’s the overlap with marketing. If you had told me back in university that the "Campaign Communication" course would directly impact my work as a Product Owner, I might have laughed. But here I am, constantly working with marketing teams to make sure the product is positioned just right. The lessons I learned about understanding your audience and crafting messages that resonate have been invaluable when launching new features or communicating the value of our product to users.

And let’s not forget about critical thinking. During my time at FSPAC, I took courses like "Research Methodology" and "Critical Thinking" which taught me how to analyze data, question assumptions, and make decisions based on solid reasoning. Those are the same skills I use today when prioritizing features, interpreting user feedback, and navigating the sometimes murky waters of product development.

When people ask me how I ended up as a Product Owner after studying communication and PR, I smile. The truth is, the jump isn’t as big as it seems. So many of the skills I use today were built during those formative years at FSPAC, and they’ve been crucial in shaping my career. The faculty might not market itself as a breeding ground for future Product Owners, but maybe it should.

As I watch the new wave of students settle into Cluj-Napoca, I can’t help but wonder if they’ll discover, just like I did, that their degree is quietly preparing them for something far bigger than they might expect. What I learned at FSPAC wasn’t just about communication, PR, or marketing, it was about how to think, how to solve problems, and how to work with people. And for that, I’ll always be grateful.

So, to the new students finding their way through the halls of FSPAC: you may not see it now, but the skills you’re learning could very well become the foundation of your future career, no matter where it takes you. For me, it led to product management, and I couldn’t have asked for a better start.