Here Are Four Unconventional Suggestions for the Product Management Job Interview
Because sometimes, interview answers which sound counterintuitive can actually be the most impactful.
It’s a rainy afternoon in Vancouver, BC— a typical cloudy bed sheet seemed to be casting itself over the entire PNW area like a bird cage. Yet no matter how disruptive any weather can be, the tech world moves fast, and companies hire quickly. Product management is no different; so today, let’s chat about some unconventional interview tips when you’re gunning for the job. However, instead of tackling the usual product-related suggestions, I drafted a list of four items which may not look appetizing, but are important nonetheless.
1. Learn the System Architecture of your a Product/Project that’s SIMILAR in design.
This sounds like common sense, but some people get lost in the weeds.
Learning about system architecture is scary for those with non-technical backgrounds. There are questions such as, “Where do I get started?” and “I can’t learn so much material in such little time.”
But an easy way to get your mind flowing is to simply:
Find out what product or project you’re interviewing for.
Learn the system design of it.
Of course, it’ll be hard to find third party resources available to learn exactly what’s under the hood of any prospective team’s product. So do the mindful and learn the system architecture basics of how a generic version of that product would work. Here are some examples:
If you’re interviewing for a mobile food app, then explore a tutorial on how to build a more basic food app yourself on YouTube.
If it’s an API, then obviously, learn the layers of how an API works.
If it’s an analytical dashboard, maybe pick a few open-source examples which are pulling from different data sources.
If a similar product (like a competitor!) exists, and the resources to how that said product works are more readily available, then boom, you have an advantage.
Of course, for non-technical folks, general software knowledge is also useful. It doesn’t hurt to learn the basics of coding and how software is built (layer-by-layer would be helpful!). Knock back any fear and stand tall with a growth mindset bathed in humility. Try some basic stuff, and check out how basic apps — across any platform of your choosing — are made, so you that serves as the first step. Next is when you should do the above and dive deeper into the product area related to the one you’re interviewing for.
Get your hands dirty in creative yet tailored ways.
2. Prepare to talk about your failures as much as your accomplishments.
And perhaps, even boast about those failures; here’s why.
While it’s great and all that everyone brings their set of accomplishments to the table, a defining trait that sets you apart to all hiring managers is your ability to walk through certain work failures and the lessons learned.
In product management, it’s common to make small mistakes or failures — this can be the product launch, go-to-market strategy, prioritization, or even smaller decisions. A strong PM would never falter; it’s important to learn from mistakes to ensure the team succeeds in the long-run, and to fail fast. Being able to demonstrate your desire to fail fast and to learn from mistakes reflects the genuine dedication you show to your product and the product team. Any hiring manager appreciates that.
Ultimately, employers want to observe whether you’re willing to take risks, and what better than to ask about your past experiences?
Your accomplishments are the gold standard, but never pretend like you never encountered any failures. To have achieved so many accomplishments meant that you probably had to tread through mud to get there. Explain that process.
3. Talk in point form when demonstrating your ability to learn from failures.
While we’re on the topic of failures, I think it’s important to articulate your learning lessons in a rather fashionable way.
PMs often have to talk in point form anyway to their colleagues — it’s quite common, as it helps bring clarity and such when it comes to decision-making or explaining product decisions. This helps a trillion when it comes to explaining your past product failures; both the types of mistakes you made, and the learning lessons that came with it.
It helps if you’re pairing every accomplishment you’ve achieved with a mistake or failure to go along with it. It brings out a more human side to your ability to manage products. Doing so in point form, like the below example, helps make things easy to understand:
“While we did successfully launch the feature and achieve our objective, there were several mistakes I made along the way.
“First, I should’ve consulted with the Legal team earlier about a certain data usage risk that our feature entailed. Second, I could’ve raised the risks of launch delay due to limited capacity a bit earlier with the team, so they could plan some alternatives. Instead, we needlessly risked it.”
All in all, it’s about pairing your sincerity with structured articulation.
4. Don’t just practice product design questions — focus on the problem space of your prospective employer.
It may be useful to learn from the books on product design interview questions, but these days, employers care more about how you approach their problem space.
Take for example: Microsoft Bing. There are obvious challenges for anyone who could guess: competition with Google, high quality search results, and gaining ground with the new AI chat feature. If I were to go into the interview with this team today, I would try to understand the problem spaces more deeply beforehand. The main questions I’d think about are: what matters more, search quality or product design? Where else can the power of LLMs and OpenAI models be leveraged in the Microsoft ecosystem? How does a search engine stack work?
Approach your research and practice with context on the deepest challenges related to your prospective employer.
Conclusion
Never forget: product management interviews are hard. It’s still going to be a long and competitive road to drive, depending on where your starting line is. But keep in mind these suggestions I mentioned today, and you’re well on your way.
About Me
My name is Kasey, AKA J.X. Fu (pen name). I’m passionate about writing!
Follow me on Medium for more writing, product, gaming, productivity, and job-hunting tips! Check out my website and my Linktree, and add me on LinkedIn or Twitter, telling me you saw my articles!