As a product manager I face this dilemma as well. I work on side projects but I'm not a great coder and not a great designer. The following areas have helped m

As a product manager I face this dilemma as well. I work on side projects but I'm not a great coder and not a great designer. The following areas have helped me become more 'active' in the early development process: -Learn an analytics engine (I like Google Analytics) like the back of your hand. Help engineers build great testing tools that work well w/ your analytics engine, then segment + comb the data for patterns that shape the direction of the company. (see: http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/ http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/ and buy "Web Analytics 2.0" from Amazon for more info) -Become very familiar with A/B split testing and other forms of automated online testing. Try to gain an understanding of adwords as well so you can send targetted users to your offerings and help developers make informed decisions about whether or not the product will have interested users that are cheap to acquire off the bat. (see: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/ http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/ for expertise/more info) -Buy Silverback (http://silverbackapp.com/ http://silverbackapp.com/) and conduct user tests CONSTANTLY as in every day. Continously analyze the product, summarize user input, and pass that info off to development. -Buy Balsamiq Mockups (http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mockups http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mockups) and start prototyping pages with improvements or new features for existing apps. This can filter into User Experience/Information Architecture and I find that it's the best way for a 'product manager' to bridge the gap between design and development. Sorry I know that these won't get you hired right away, but they will give you the skillsets to work at a small (5-10 person) startup that is hiring people who can 'contribute.'