Typically, product roles align to one or more of the responsibilities below:
Project Manager or Technical Product Manager
Planning, designing, and execution of projects or products.
"How do we turn this vision into reality?"
Product Manager
End-to-end product design, requirements, road-mapping, implementation, risk-analysis, user adoption
"What should we build and why?"
Program Manager
Process optimization & improving business performance - or a blend of both Project and Product
"How do we make this better?"
Product Vision & Strategy - Driving Execution - Cross Functional Collaboration - Communication - Risk Management and Unblocking
As a PM, your job is going to be to identify the best problems to solve, to solve those problems, and to make the business money.
You will interface with, and empower customers, developers, designers, upper management, compliance teams, and your peers to ensure that you`re building & delivering the best possible solution.
You are the primary instrument to make sure that everyone gets what they want.
The name of the game is `interdisciplinary.
adjective
relating to more than one branch of knowledge.
"an interdisciplinary research program".
If you`re managing the design of a product, should be well-versed in how different aspects of that product should come together.
1. Customer Empathy
What should we build? Why should we build it? Who are the users? What are their needs? Is this the real problem? How will we measure success?
2. Design (more than just looks!)
User-Centered Design, Human Factors, Mock-up Design, Lifecycle Design, study Ul Breakdowns, take a Design Course.
3. Business
Stay current (TechCrunch, Y-Combinator), create SWOTs and build strategies.
4. Technical & Data
Software Architecture, familiarity with programming concepts (1-2 high-level languages), hackathons, basic statistics - trends, analysis, significance
5. Relationships & Communication
Growth Mindset: Learn, Adapt, Apply
Build something! Analyze & strategize!
Do a product tear-down with friends. Identify opportunities to improve or own something on your day-to-day.
Study Great Products
Shadow a PM
Participate in a hackathon (non-technical participants are still valued!)
Build your website from the perspective of a PM
Take a free design course or boot camp
Join student design teams or volunteer.
Myth: You need to have a Computer Science degree to be a PM.
Being "Technical"! = Knowing how to code.
Being Technical can mean...
Ability to breakdown complex technical concepts.
Desire to learn and adapt to new technologies.
Asking the dumb questions
Being enthusiastic and curious
Get good at breaking a big problem down into smaller problems.
Always, always, always ask questions
Try it out - don`t let perfect stand in the way of good.
A promise that describes what you can deliver, based on what you`ve already done.
Like an essay, a resume should craft your story - what you`ve achieved and what you stand to achieve.
A resume should deliver a blend between the skills you possess, and the impact you`ve created.
Name & Title
Basic Contact Information
Skills (Technical & Non-Technical)
Education
Work Experience (Paid or Unpaid)
Volunteer Experience
Side Projects & Leadership
Accomplishments & Awards
Interests, Objectives, & Summary.
Lead each bullet with a unique, relevant action word
Ensure each bullet has an associated skill and/or an impact
Align your content & titles to the job to which you`re applying
Be concise, keep your sentences short (ideally 2 lines max)
Experiment with sans-serif fonts (instead of serif fonts)
Look at the resumes of others, learn, iterate - and ask for feedback!
Don`t go over 1-2 pages (typically 2 pages is for > 10 years of experience)
Don`t use qualifiers/adverbs without associated impact
E.g. "Greatly enhanced the product" vs. "Improved revenue by 67%"
E.g. "Massively decreased spending" vs "Reduced costs by 56%"
Be careful with industry-specific acronyms & jargon - your resume could be screened by anyone
Don`t include content you can`t speak to
Don`t spend too long on cover letters
Cover letters typically go unread, unless the company is < 50-100 people.
1) You can seek out your former employer or coworkers to solicit metrics
2) You are allowed to estimate your impact
Don`t write down anything you`re not comfortable getting called out on, but you are the expert on whatever you worked on. If you can walk me through the justification, that`s just about good as having the raw data.
In fact, that walkthrough demonstrates a good analytics mindset.
Research indicates that people read in an "F-pattern". Consider structuring your resume content accordingly, especially if you`re using two-columns.
The most important is in the upper left corner, the least important is in the lower right corner.
You can adjust your job title to better suit the role you delivered (within reason)
You can use color to highlight your impact, increasing recruiter readability by 54%
Lead with impactful action words, but avoid words that minimize your responsibility/leadership: e.g. Facilitated Communication
Adjust your resume based on the job for which you`re applying
Don`t have direct work experience? Projects count!
We`ve all been there.
If you have old
experience, or are early in University/College and only have High School experience, it is fine to include it - until you don`t have to anymore
1) Pivot the experience to best reflect the skills & impact required to land your desired position
2) Work (via the tips in your breakout rooms) to gain new, relevant experience.
This will vary from company to company, but on average:
High grades + extracurriculars/experience/projects = awesome
Low grades + extracurriculars/experience/projects = great
High grades + no extracurriculars/experience/projects = alright
Low grades + no extracurriculars/experience/projects = not so great
Your grades are just one part of a complete picture that employers look at.
Are my skills coming across in this bullet or section? Which skills?
Is my resume telling a story? What story is my resume telling?
What impact have I delivered?
Are my action words relevant and unique?
Is my resume concise, easy to read, and easy to understand?
1. Behavioral: Tell me about your experiences and your personality.
Tell me about a time you had to influence someone.
Tell me about a project or team that you led at work.
2. Product and Design: Show me your product sense and decision making.
What is your favorite product and how would you improve it?
How would you design an ATM for a blind person?
3. Technical: Can you understand and communicate technical challenges?
Explain how the YouTube recommendation algorithm works.
Can you compare pros/cons of X different sorting algorithms?
4. Analytical: Can you leverage data to solve a problem?
Our user sign-offs dropped by 50%. Tell us how you would approach this?
[1]Behavioral:
Questions you should always be ready for:
Tell me about yourself
Tell me about a project you`ve worked on
Why are you leaving your job?
What do you want in your next role?
Why do you want to work here?
[2] Product Interview Guide:
1. Scope the problem
Ask clarifying questions
Identify potential customers, competition, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats
2. Know your customer(s)
Build personas (demographics, behaviors, needs and wants)
Identify customer cohorts and problem hypotheses
3. Product ideation
List potential ideas
Select and justify an idea by tying back to needs
4. Go to market and measure success
Describe risks, explore ways to bring idea to audience
Create metrics
[3] Technical Interview Guide:
Similar to Product - break a big problem into smaller problems.
Ask clarifying questions
Identify:
Users
System Considerations
Functions & Requirements
Components
Assumptions
Draw a system diagram
Identify algorithms, data structures, trade offs, efficiency and improvements
[4] Analytical Interview Guide
Framework is very similar to the Product Design question (re: clarifying questions, users, requirements)
Be aware of and define funnels & timelines
Generate and test hypotheses
Propose a solution
Practice. Practice. Practice.
Have answers ready for typical questions
Practicing white-boarding, or at least, writing down solutions
Practice out-loud, interview with a friend
Study the company
SWOT analysis, and have questions ready
Think out-loud, and summarize/recap where possible
STAR/PAR strategies, be detailed where it matters
Have copies of your resume and recommendation letters handy
Engage
"May I have a moment to think about this?" - have a sip of water
"Do you feel I`m on the right track with this solution?" - don`t be afraid to ask for a hint/check in.
Have I practiced responses to interview questions? Out loud?
Have I performed a SWOT analysis for the company?
Have I thought about my story? What are my passions? What makes me unique?
Certain tech companies can receive > 2000000 applications in a year. Networking is essential to increase your adds - plus it`s good for your career!
Hackathons
Conferences, Career Fairs, Engineering Conferences
Canada: https://2021.cusec.net , https://cutc.ca
Facebook Groups, Linkedin Groups, Slacks, Discords, and other professional associations
Meetup
Eventbrite
Friends & IPN!
An elevator pitch is a quick summary of yourself, your skills, and your objectives.
Start by introducing yourself
Summarize your history
Summarize what you do
Explain what you want
Finish with a call to action
Write it down - but practice, practice, practice out loud
Take your time, but time yourself
Make it conversational - don`t be a robot
Create multiple flavors of your pitch based on your goals
E.g. Meeting a recruiter, meeting a colleague, or meeting a founder
Tell a story and showcase your passion(s)
What steps am I taking to expand my network?
What kinds of people am I trying to target in my network?
Have I created and practiced a compelling elevator pitch?
Contrary to popular belief, you do not need a tech degree to land a tech job.
You do however, need relevant or applicable experience.
You can gain relevant experience, from jobs that are not in tech.
Think about how to leverage your passions to build or advertise skills.
Think about the stories that make you stand out, use those stories to build your career, use them in the interview.
It is normal to:
Get rejected. Even for experienced professionals, rejections can outnumber interviews.
Flub interviews. Especially for your first few, or early on in your cycle.
Feel overwhelmed. Being uncomfortable is how you learn! You don`t need to be an expert at everything, you`ll build off your strengths.
Feel envious. You can always make more, and some people are always going to be one step ahead. Focus on being the best you that you can be.
Ali Vira, Microsoft Product Leader.