PM (India): 6 months, 26 applications, 10 rejections, 4 offers (Poll)

Yes, 26 applications :) I was literally on a hunt for the right PM job in the last 6 months. Applied to all the vacancies in good companies that I know. [To be honest, In my mind, Microsoft and Google are the targets but planned to use other companies as interview practice because this is 1st time I was trying externally for a PM role] I did get the offers from FAAAM (there are a lot of threads @ Blind and YT on how to prepare, interview experiences,...etc at these companies). As a give back to this community, I would like to share my experiences with the other companies. I hope it would help someone from India...! First, let me share the "Rejections" I faced: *Harness: Expectations mismatch. They were expecting strong CI/CD/Docker/Container/Backend engineer with PM skills. *Behavox: I thought I had the right domain expertise and experience in this case. In fact, I do. But their loss :) Having said that, their interview process is a bit strange; record every interaction, one assistant [who doesn't share the video; so, we will get an impression that Alexa is asking the questions :) ] for asking the questions and actual interviewer/HM [shares video] take notes or ask follow-up questions. Bit *BrowserStack: Initial screening and HM rounds went fine. Then, I had a technical round (with an Engineer who has 6+ years of IT exp who has recently been promoted to the Director of Engineering) and he had a different set of expectations. *Teradata: Similar to Behavox, in this case also I thought I had the right mix of experience and expertise that they need. But a couple of interviewers rated me low! *YellowMessenger: Had a discussion with their CPO and it went well. After that, they ghosted. When I did a follow-up, I was told that they are finding a suitable position for my 'range'. *Postman: Initial round was an HR screen. It went well. And then she put me in a 3-rounds loop. All the 3 people I interacted with are < 4 yoe. One of the worst interview cycles that I have been through; Each of them came to the interview with one question each and expecting a 'template' answer. To my surprise, one of the interviewers was having snacks and drinks while during my interview :) *ServiceNow: Cleared the initial HM round then HR put me in the 4 rounds loop. I thought I did well but the result was negative. Surprisingly all the rounds were Panel discussions (at least 2 people in each of my interactions! Not sure if that is the S.Now policy) *Salesforce: Failed in the initial 30-minute interaction with the HM :( Had a long day (due to some urgent deliverable in my current company) the previous night. I should have postponed the interview but thought I could clear it (assuming that it is just a fitment evaluation) but failed miserably! Lost a good opportunity that could have served as a 'competing' offer for my targeted companies. *ZenDrive: This call came through an agency. Official company HR (who actually posted the same requirement on LinkedIn) didn't respond to my messages. Bit weird. Regarding the interview; I only had 1 round which I thought I did well but after 2 weeks they said that they found another candidate! One possible reason for my failure could be the Domain mismatch. They were expecting more knowledge on 'H/W Telemetry' Data Analytics. *Compass: Screening and 1st round with a PM based out of US went well. But I couldn't pass the 3rd round (with HM). Feedback was: I couldn't give convincing answers to her questions on GTM. *Celigo: My 1st interview as a PM after many many years. Could clear the 1st round with a peer PM and the Home Assignment. Then, I met the HM from US. Could not clear this one! Probably because I wasn't well prepared that day and his questions were mostly on the Assignment/Solution, which I missed revising! My fault!! Following are the companies that sent 2 auto-generated emails; one immediately after I applied and after few days/months another default email with a template 'Thank you' response... Freshworks, Goldman Sach, Github, Reputation (Remote), Fivetran (Remote), Facebook (Remote), SS&C-EZE, Fanatics, Indeed, and Uber. Let me now share the companies that are generous enough to extend the offers for me :) Google/GCP, a Series-D startup (don't want to be identified. So, not sharing the name), Amazon/eComm and Microsoft/Azure: Received offers. TC details are in the poll options. Need your help in picking the right one. I have time till Monday. *PhonePe, Confluent, Dremio: By the time, I received conclusive offers from the above-mentioned companies, I was halfway through the interview loops at these companies. Informed them immediately that I got good offers and don't want any additional confusion :) #pm #product #productmanager #Microsoft #Google #Amazon #GCP #Azure #India