Tech Industry
Yesterday
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(new grad) Got rejected from my dream job, should I just end it all
Tech Industry
2d
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How did this happen? (Meta Stock)
Tech Industry
Yesterday
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1 vs 5 Million - no lifestyle change
Layoffs
Yesterday
2117
Fired without warning, no severance. Top performer.
Tech Industry
Yesterday
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Tech companies to avoid as a white guy?
Had rejections after onsites at 3 of the MAANG. Few other reject/ghosts from mid sized (series B to D) startups. Never did any preparation, and took the sign of getting to onsites easily as I can maybe skirt by. Today’s rejection was a wake up call that PM interviews require serious prep and studying, and even if I excel in my day job as a PM, the type of questions asked and frameworks expected to be followed in 30-60 minute interviews is very unnatural. Interviews essentially packs weeks/months of ideation, strategy, design, prioritization, sprints, testing and launch process into minutes, under pressure from complete strangers, often lacking context (without studying). TC:240 YoE: 8 #productmanager #meta #amazon #apple #netflix #google #pm Thoughts in a diagram below
Same boat dude and now stuck with cool off periods. Best to approach strategically, wait a year and work on a study guide
What is a cool off period ?
If you don’t get an offer some companies won’t interview again for some amount of time (usually 6 - 12 months)
Can you please specify the questions that were asked in the 3 MAANG interviews? This may help others in the community acquaint. Also what level did you apply for , OP?
it was recruiter reach outs so assume level would be determined for offer
Agree that interviews are unnatural and don’t guarantee someone will be a good hire. However, there is some value in knowing the common product archetypes and approaches that work for them. Being able to derive solutions from foundational principles is a key skill, but does it preclude also having a library of more generic product knowledge? You seem like someone who will do well regardless, so just study and good luck on your next try.
Yes. This will hurt you. Your going into interviews with some people prepping 10 hours or more a week. Working hard in one space doesn't always give you enough broad experience to answer some of these case studies. E.g. how many drones does Walgreens need to deliver drugs to the city of San Francisco? Or what you fix with YouTube?
0 drone. Because the regulations not allowed.
I was in your shoes many years back. I used to falter at lot at metrics interviews, simply because as enterprise PM I had no clue about consumer metrics. There isn’t a lot out there teaching you about metrics and A/B tests, power analysis etc
can you share resources/other tips - looks like you’re at a FAANG so guessing it worked :)
I got lucky with one of the interviews as I had prepped the exact same metrics question (metrics around search). I don’t really have anything earth shattering to share other than the standard PM interview books everyone buys at Amazon. Your best bet is deep 1:1 practice with someone who works at FAANG or adjacent companies. Multiple sessions. Not sure if Product School has something similar. Also, subscribe to Lenny’s newsletter https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/
In general, we are looking for a few things: Solve for the user Show creativity Show organized thought There are other parts to this however. Always be prepared to confidently state your assumptions. Ideally get the interviewer to solve with you. Have metrics in mind, along with your North Star. Be prepared to answer business questions about product. Think about MVP. Think about your constraints, or where you could fail. Finally, think about how whatever you are solving for could have a larger impact. Think cross functionally, think about how the the usecases can grow, get excited.
thank you for the pointers! I think where I fail is the organized thought at on-site, unfamiliarity in certain questions (i.e design a parking garage and i haven’t been to a parking garage in 2+ years and start flustering in thinking around throwing thoughts out) so definitely practicing with that intent in mind helps
Google interviews are so inconsistent. My strategy question, was simple, but my interviewer cut me off at defining users and asked me to just define a solution. Any PM out there would know you can’t define a solution without understanding the user and goals. I made it to the HC and was rejected and the feedback was they wanted to see more strategic skill lol… Allot of it is luck and dependent on your interviewer. If you get a good batch, you have a much higher chance
You should learn and adapt your prep after each phone screen and on-site.
Learning to interview well should be standard college curriculum
Interviewing at google isn’t the norm tho. How do you tech how to interview if all companies are different?
Only if the stuff we prep for at interviews is used in the real world at that company.
Is it possible to get into PM as a SWE after a month of prep time? I have cracking the pm interview as resource. Maybe apprentice PM or associate PM?
Tc?