Infinite Careers is a collaboration between Career Services (CAPD) and the MIT Alumni Association to explore career paths and the non-linearity of career decision-making. Read profiles of alumni with unique career paths, hear their stories, and network at a series of talks.
Education
- MIT Sloan School of Management M.B.A.
- University of Lagos B.S. – Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Bio
Chidi Okolo is a Senior Product Manager at Apple Inc., based in Seattle. He works on the Commerce Team, focused on building and managing Apple’s Services Offers platform, for Apple Services and Third-Party App Store Developers.
In his work as a product manager, he connects with internal business teams and developers to understand their business needs, and then collaborates closely with engineering, design and legal teams to build out capabilities that scale globally and achieve business objectives.
Before Apple, he worked as a Consultant at McKinsey & Company in Nigeria, where he worked on projects spanning industries including Banking, Telecoms and Public Sector.
He holds an MBA from MIT Sloan, and a B.Sc. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Lagos.
He remains active in the MIT community as a career advisor and Sloan alumni representative in Seattle.
What influenced your choice of graduate program? How has it shaped your career choices and professional ability?
I decided to get an MBA after working as a consultant for a few years. I wanted a master’s degree that combined my Engineering Degree with my Business experience, and the MBA was a good fit, especially at MIT. It has positively influenced my career, and has been very instrumental. My work as a product manager means I have to work with Business and Technical teams to build out products for customers, so the MBA was a great choice.
What has been the most rewarding aspect of your career?
The most rewarding aspect of my career is seeing the products that I work on eventually ship to customers. It’s great to do lasting work that directly and positively affects millions of lives.
Making decisions, especially important-feeling career decisions, is really challenging for people at all stages of their career. What strategies have you used to make career decisions?
The most important thing you can do when making career decisions is to use all the resources at your disposal to help you feel confident in choosing the best decision. While you may never fully be 100% sure of a decision, you want to be sure that you used all available resources to get to an answer. For example, if you were considering between two career options, you could talk to people in those careers, do a lot of introspection on what you want in life, do an internship, talk to mentors and trusted friends, etc. All these data points will help guide you to an answer, and keep you going, even when things may be challenging in the chosen path.
Do you have any tips for networking or job searching for current students and recent graduates?
Take advantage of the MIT Alumni Advisor Hub. It is a great resource to connect with Alumni that have volunteered their time to help current students and recent graduates navigate job search, and build networks. I used it extensively during my time at MIT, and I met Alums working in product management roles that I was interested in, and even got very senior alums to look at my resume and provide feedback. I am currently an advisor on the platform, and get the opportunity to give a lot of career advice to students and recent graduates.
Last Edited: September 2026
