Cracking the Product Management Internship
— Internship, Product Intern, APM, Resources — 2 min read
Over the past year or so, multiple folks have reached out to me on how to break into Product Management, this is a compilation of some of the best resources I have come across.
This is not an exhaustive list, but this should be more than enough for you to get started. If you want to add to this list or have any feedback for any of these resources, you can write to me on Twitter.
For internship opportunities across the Indian startup ecosystem follow INTERNFINDER
There is no better teacher than building and shipping an actual product.
If there was one exhaustive and detailed resource I would recommend to any PM aspirant it would be Manas Saloi's Project Aristos. You can find it here : [Project Aristos] PM Coaching
Some podcasts I did recently where I talk about breaking in as a PM Intern can be found here :
Books
A list of books that you definitely should read if you are considering breaking into PM are:
- Interviewing: Cracking the PM Interview (Lewis C Lin)
- Interviewing: Decode and Conquer (Lewis C Lin)
- Interviewing: Secrets of a PM Interview (Lewis C Lin)
- Before you start your role as PM: Escaping the Build Trap (Melissa Perri)
- The Third Door (Alex Banayan)
The Interview Process
Note this varies massively from company to company but broadly this is how it is categorized:
Product management interviews have three main types of questions:
- Product Questions
- Estimation Questions
- Business Strategy Questions
Practice applying frameworks to the questions. Understand that the frameworks given are not rigid and each section (user journey, user personas, product goals, etc) is a tool that can be applied when needed. The framework does not need to be followed exactly in order, learn how to apply different parts based on the question you are asked.
PM Case Study Practice
- https://pmschool.io/case-study-solutions-1 [Best for assignments]
- https://www.productmanagementexercises.com/ [Guesstimates are great]
- https://dailyproductprep.com/
- https://thepminterview.com/
Interview Resources
- The best resource : The Product Folks - Lots of mock interviews and Product teardowns to learn from especially with respect to the Indian Context
- Pragamatic Leaders - A free virtual PM Course
- Product School on Youtube
Some more resources
- https://productx.io [For everything end to end on your product journey]
- https://zerotopm.info/ [Will serve all purposes from prep to metrics to strategies]
- https://learnpmwith.me/ [PM resources site by The Product Folks]
- https://www.helpyourpeers.com/resources [Another PM resources site]