Google PM well regarded in industry?

Google
ohaidereee

Go to company page Google

ohaidereee
Sep 4, 2020 37 Comments

I've heard from my colleagues that being a PM at Google isn't as well regarded by recruiters/other PMs in industry as being a PM at, for example, Amazon, Uber, or Facebook, and that you won't learn as much through PMing at Google vs these other companies, as

1. Google PMs have much less structure and discipline around product decisions and being data driven - ex: at Amazon you have to write 6 pagers distilling your thinking, at Uber you need to contribute to P&L, whereas Google doesn't have the same pressures/processes, its more "anything goes"

2. Google is way too bureaucratic due to its size, so you'll learn much more about project management and dealing with bureaucracy through PMing at google, than more product oriented skills

3. As Google’s products are mature, there is much less opportunities to try new shit out than just iterating on features so less scope

Is this true?

#google #pm #pming #product #productmanager

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 TOP 37 Comments
  • Google
    unxoogler

    Go to company page Google

    unxoogler
    I’m a PM and I would generally agree with that sentiment. I’ve interviewed incoming Amazon PMs and was impressed by their structured thinking.
    Sep 4, 2020 2
  • Uber
    👻.ai

    Go to company page Uber

    👻.ai
    Not true from what I’ve heard / seen. PM role has a lot of variance even in the same company. Google PMs are typically strong technically and analytically. PMs at companies like FB, Uber have a stronger influence on product direction. FB PMs are typically very strong on metrics, experimentation and data. Uber requires you to be very strong on operational aspects, marketplace, P&L. I can imagine different roles will value different strengths of these companies differently.
    Sep 5, 2020 4
  • New
    fiddlestick

    New

    fiddlestick
    Google PM isn’t some sort of immutable identity. There is so much variety in teams and individual backgrounds one can’t paint it all with the same brush.
    Sep 4, 2020 0
  • varies. tough to generalize.
    Sep 4, 2020 0
  • Cisco
    Persistant

    Go to company page Cisco

    Persistant
    Their interview process is extremely hard. I guess that holds a lot of value.
    Sep 4, 2020 5
    • Facebook
      ucouldhave

      Go to company page Facebook

      ucouldhave
      It’s a high bar but it is also very unstructured.
      Sep 8, 2020
    • It’s definitely the hardest interview process out of all the FAANGs due to the number of interviews and variety of question types (strategy, estimation, technical, etc.). It takes longer to prepare and you need a lot of luck to do well in each of them.
      May 14, 2021