My wife moved to the bay area from India with me few months ago. She is an engineer turned designer turned Product Manager. She has more than 3 years of product experience at leading Indian FinTech firms and holds an MBA degree from reputed Indian campus. I was hoping that she won't particularly face difficulty in finding a job here especially with her visa situation all sorted out but it has been a rough ride frankly. She got plenty of interview traction may be due to her unique diverse background but she was mostly considered for senior PM roles and then would get rejected on basis of someone more experienced suitable candidate got chosen over her. I do understand the amount of context switch goes on with product roles moving across the geography but still its a rough position competing with candidates with local experience here. Nonetheless she managed to land an offer this week from a "HR & business compliance & training" start up but her compensation doesn't seem to reflect her experience level. She is going to be making 120k + 5-6k stock options. Based on overall experience we had so far I think we will be moving ahead and tackle the issue of lack of local experience and get back to job market in the background in a bit. Apologize for the long post but really looking for hearing on similar experiences and insights on this situation from product folks.
Product is also a role where 'soft skills' matter and the expectations can vary a lot from domain to domain and market to market. $120K base is low, but not unheard of for a 3 yoe candidate. Has she tried to apply to new grad roles?
Well she applied through networks and they forwarded to open positions, most happened to be senior roles, we had just started to apply for PM-I roles.. and landed this offer.. She still has to follow up on a Google opening she's being considered for but she doesn't want to risk losing an offer in hand and I understand that..
Also apart from 3.5 yoe product experience, she moved out as a senior PM btw, overall she adds up to 6+ yoe
Bruh you’re coming from India, you better be happy with the 120k...
Take the offer. Stay for 1year and then interview in other places. She has zero US experience and education so struggle is normal for all roles except SDE. Only thing that might have eased is if she worked in a big US company form India or had an IIT degree (only degree non Indians might know). Sounds like she has neither.
I think "local experience" is less of a factor than you think. Once she gets pass phone screen, onsite interview for PM is mostly focusing on product insight and problem solving. She should focus on improving how she performs in these interviews. Also, companies are very selective and subjective when it comes to hiring pm. It is possible that she just haven't found the right fit yet.
False. For PM experience matters all the way through since that's more important than a few problem solving questions in an interview. Especially for senior positions.
I said local experience not pm experience. If op's wife is experience building product in India and shines in interview, there is no reason why she would not get an offer
Also unlike engineering, sr. pm have different experience expectation everywhere. At FAANG, most pms do not reach senior even with 10+ yrs of experience.
Exactly.. I am even surprised she landed with a $120k offer with zero US education or experience. Senior PMs in large name brand companies have typically over 15+ yoe. Be happy. Have her work there for a year or so and then go from there. It does become extremely competitive just so you know. I am a Group PM myself speaking from experience.
I mean...you pretty much answered your own question. She is not good enough, at least in the interview loops, to land the senior pm role. So take the low-ball offer and turn that experience into better offers.
I don't really agree with "not good enough" part, if the bar is to have local experience and that is what ir sounds like so far, so really can't do much just find an entry where can and work way up from there. To clarify I'm not really looking for opinions/judgments, we get plenty of that from the job hunt experience so far, but to hear more on similar experiences and learned insights but all are welcome of course.