How you communicate is simultaneously the most obvious and the most subtle information you convey during an interview. The importance of being a strong communicator is reflected in the intangibles that define a great product… Read More »Communicating Well In Your PM Interview
(and what good answers look like) Let’s get something straight: there is no question that is so insightful, so incredibly, mind-blowingly smart that it will move a candidate from the “reject” to the the “accept”… Read More »Questions To Ask After An Interview
In my experience, “analytical ability” is the most nebulous trait to be tested for in interviews. Some companies (mistakenly) equate it with “analytics”, asking you to set success metrics. I think of analytical as the… Read More »Showing Analytical Ability During Interviews
Before landing at ChartHop, I spent almost half a year interviewing for product manager roles remotely at a variety of tech companies during the pandemic. Through trial and error, I’ve compiled a list of advice… Read More »Advice for Interviewing Remotely
In the product management canon, there are two prominent definitions of “product sense”: From Jackie Bavaro: “Product Sense is the ability to understand what makes a product great. It’s the ability to hone in on… Read More »Showing Product Sense During Interviews
I want to share the resume I used when applying for the Yahoo APM program, where I spent the first two years of my career before joining ChartHop. This is by no means intended as a guide… Read More »My Resume When I Became an APM
Going into my senior year of university I expected to graduate into a software engineering job, so finding myself in an APM program with zero formal product experience was unexpected. Those two years, however, ended… Read More »How I Maximized My APM Experience
This article is cross-post with PM101, a product and program management blog written by Thaisa Fernandes. A big thank you to Thaisa for sharing her time and knowledge. If you like this article, there’s tons… Read More »Frameworks to Keep in Mind
This may seem antithetical to this site’s founding purpose, but you don’t actually need a technical background to become a product manager. Let me share some ways in which my CS degree doesn’t help me… Read More »Where My CS Degree Doesn’t Help
To empathize with your engineering team, you need to think like a programmer. I hear all the time from friends and family that I approach things in a “nerdy” or “robotic” way. I find this to be… Read More »Non-Programming Programming Exercises
As an APM interviewer, one of my questions was “Design a self-driving ride-share car experience.” More often than not, the interviewee would describe some variant of “tap your phone to unlock the car”, implying the… Read More »Why Technical Details Matter in Interviews
Aspiring product managers know that “product sense” is a necessary trait to develop — many articles (Jackie Bavaro’s is a good start) have been written on what it is and how to develop it. I want… Read More »Technical Product Sense