Product School Reviews
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Jacob Neal
Helpful
I had a great experience at Product School, it was definitely worth the money. Our instructor Jeremy was very knowledgable, accessible (open to questions in and outside of class), and set up hands-on activities that you can't find in a book.
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Patrick
Product Shool NYC w/ SHENDI WANG
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Product School was an amazing place to start my career as a PM. The PM course has fantastic reading materials with important product management principles. Each chapter has plenty of applicable real-world examples. The lectures and in-class exercises were very helpful.
My instructor Shendi Wang did a terrific job delivering course concepts and referencing her experiences from the workplace; she is the Director of Product Management at Mastercard. I highly recommend enrolling in a cohort taught by Shendi. Not only does she know what she's talking about, she goes above and beyond by being a professional mentor for her students. -
Molly Sheehy
Software Product Management (Santa Monica)
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I highly recommend the Software Product Management course as an excellent baseline introduction for a Product Manager role.
Our instructor, Rich Headley, Lead Product Manager at Cornerstone, ensured the class was engaging for the students; he varied the pace of the course at times and shared great examples from his professional experience and sample work product.
Each class includes small group exercises and presentations, which facilitate collaboration and feedback. We built a strong camaraderie in our class; in fact, a few students offered to continue meeting (after the course ended) to explore enhancements for a consumer-facing product.
I gained insight into key success factors for product management and practice analyzing a company's vision, customers / persona, aligning product roadmap to the strategic goals and analyzing which features to develop or enhance next. We practiced design sprints and used Balsamiq to create wireframe mockups of our product enhancements.
A small bit of feedback to Product School is that some of the early exercises included features (bookmarks) which seemed basic; however, the focus of the course is not technical.
Overall, I looked forward to the Tuesday & Thursday evening classes, learning about the latest tools and UX design best practices; it was a highly valuable and informative experience.
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Anton T
Great first step for aspiring PM
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My path to Product School was inadvertent. Initially I was looking at product management as a transitional role to bring me closer to a dev role, since I believed a good PM would need to be technical to work with engineers. As I learned more about product management though I realized that this multifaceted role was actually exactly what I was looking for. I decided to enroll in Product School, and after some research and finding rave reviews I decided on Dr. Joel Palathinkal as my instructor (and I was not disappointed). Dr Joel brings his professional experience from a broad product background and this was most valuable for me in class. Anyone can learn product management from a book or online materials, but realistic case studies and insight into what a head of product looks for in a candidate when hiring was invaluable. He is an expert instructor able to weave his professional experience into the Product School curriculum, and resonate with students from diverse backgrounds. I hope I cross paths with Dr. Joel in the future and would recommend him as a product expert.
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Ian
Amazing foundation for product management
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Going to the 8 week course at Product School in NYC was one of the best decisions I could've made. I've worked with the product team for two years at my current job, but needed experience with the product development process. While I've worked on many releases, I didn't know all the in's-and-out's of how to build and launch a product. This course will help lay a great foundation for you to cover what you need to know to make the jump into product. It has a well thought out curriculum. The optional homework assignments give you a chance to apply what you are learning and provide a good challenge. You also get to bring the work to life through team exercises. They help you use your new skills quickly on-the-spot, while collaborating with others. By the end of the course, you'll know how to take a product from ideation/validation through design, and bring it to market. You get to present a full product plan that you built over the course of the class. It's also an excellent piece to put in your portfolio for future interviews.
The instructors are fantastic and well versed in product. For our course, it was Chris Maliwat (former Netflix, Facebook, eBay, Warby Paker). His presentations were very insightful, as he often referenced real world experience to bring topics to life. He even brought in colleagues from other companies to give small talks. He was extremely enthusiastic about all topics and answered any questions very thoughtfully. He made you want to grow and do your best in each class. His input to all homework assignments is valuable to help you understand where you can improve. He also was open to taking a second look at homework after you made updates. Additionally, he provides individual attention. He went the extra mile to meet with you outside of class for anything you want to discuss further. For me, that was help with prepping from resume to apply for product positions.
Pros
Great curriculum and product school book
Experienced and well versed instructors
Engaged students
Challenging homework assignments
Hands on team exercises
Outside learnings/readings from instructor
Outside speakers
Areas For Improvement
Time to complete and get feedback on team exercises
Additional outside reading suggestions
Better learning management system that houses course content -
Jesse I Barlowe
Product School Review
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Product School was an amazing experience, especially since I had little to no product management experience when I enrolled in the course. The course itself truly takes you through every step of the product life cycle from ideation to iteration and everything in between. The lectures were informative, the notes provided excellent context, and the readings offered a fantastic in-depth foundation for everything learned in person. My instructor, Chris Maliwat, is a true product management veteran, having worked as a PM at some of the world's top companies. He was a fantastic teacher and provided excellent advice through lectures, hands-on projects, and interview/career prep. If you are seeking a career transition into Product Management, this course is for you. The tools to become a PM are truly at your disposal!
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Abhishek Singh
Product management
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It was good experience to be part of product school. The best part was guidance provided by the lecturer, resume review. The area where I feel it could be enhanced are
a) Revisit lectures ( recordings) if possible.
b) Increase number of hours as mostly class cover is definitions, a brief intro of terminology/jargon which basically force you to google to read more about it and sometimes connect with what's taught in lectures.
c) it's a course to enhance and make professional ready for product management role. So I think assignment should have ample time for completion in order for the student to learn properly, understand and complete it. It might be wrong not precise but the student should understand rather than just try to complete as time line to complete is less. This does not help much as by the time one student complete assignment and g t reviews which he think to work on further another class comes up which just pile up work of revisiting assignments.
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Will
PS Will
Review of Product School NYC
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Henry Liu
great experience
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Product School is a great place to get a structured understanding of product management and start a career as a Product manager. I'm lucky to have the privilege work with my mentor Sudheera who shares enormous insight about not only what a product needs to know but also how a PM should think and act. I would recommend this course for people who are looking for new opportunities in product management.
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Sritama Paul
Software Developer in Test
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I took the Product Management class offered by Product School this spring. The course was comprehensive and touched upon all the phases needed to build a product. It was further enriched by our instructor Nima Shafiee's (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nimas/) personal anecdotes, tips and advices. His vast experience in the field of product management and across various industries helped the students enormously. Nima was always encouraging, ready to respond to the students' queries and giving constructive feedback. After taking the class, the students came out with a holistic idea about the product management and more confident to make a career switch to product management.
The course curriculum could have been better if we had more material on data analytics and how it influences the product success strategy, feature prioritization etc. I also wished we had more sessions on mock interviews and design sprints.
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Blaise Bark
Great Course
Really enjoyed this course. It helped me feel very confident in my past learnings and helped open the doors to new ways of thinking. The teachers are absolutely A+++ and are very up to date in the tech world!
Could not recommend more!
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Albert G
Product School Instructor Review Joel Palathinkal
This is a review of my Product School instructor Joel Palathinkal. I highly recommend taking this course with this instructor. He has an easy going demeanor and speaks clearly. He knows what he is talking about and is always ready to help. He is quick to provide meaningful and relevant guidance. He keeps the class going and engaged. Sign up. Don't wait.
Having fun with the class.
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Inna E.
Great Experience at Product Management class with Joel Palathinkal
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I am half way through the 8 week Product Management course with Product School. It’s been a great journey so far, learning a lot and formalizing the product management knowledge from the materials presented and most importantly through the expertise of the course instructor Dr. Joel Palathinkal. In addition to having already taught a number of the Product Management courses at the Product School, Joel has extensive work experience in Product Management having served as a PM in diverse industries. Joel is extremely responsive to all the students in and outside of the classroom. He is able to connect concepts and frameworks to real examples. He is very familiar with all the current trends and products in technology, financial services and start-ups.
Attending the class provides a unique experience to learn from real PM experts in the field. Joel invites other PM speakers and professionals to class and that allows us to expand our understanding of what the different companies and hiring managers are looking for in Product Managers. The class is great for both the new entrepreneurs and those interested to formally transition to PM field. Joel is mindful in that he tries to create a class environment where every student is able to gain and be exposed to the experience they are looking for in obtaining as part of the class. Look forward to continue through the next 4 weeks of the class as well sharpening my PM skills and knowledge.
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Diana Bhaktul
Product School NYC - perfect fit for landing a job as a PM
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Product School is exactly the program I was looking for, at just the right price and timeframe. I’ve been in product marketing for over 10 years in the fintech industry and now want to be more involved in building the product and not only the go-to-market strategy. The PM role sits at a unique intersection with designers, developers, sales/marketers, which fits my personality as a translator or diplomat that can bring together a team who can drive product strategy on behalf of the user. I came across Product School because I was looking for a quick way to build on my existing skill set (instead of going back to an academic program). Product School is perfect for mid-career pivots. The curriculum teaches the fundamentals of a PM role such as writing product roadmaps, wire framing, prototyping, identifying personas and user stories, writing engineering requirements, pricing/revenue mapping, etc. which are all the skills you need to start a career as a PM. I took the course in NYC and had Joel Palathinkal who is a great teacher. He’s very attentive to each student’s background, detailed in his lesson notes and brings a lot of field experience having worked as a PM across various industries. Best parts of class are the open discussions and case studies of real world examples. Included in the tuition is the added benefit of mock interviews and resume prep. That’s exactly what I need if I want to transition into a new role, and it’s great to lean on the network of PMs that Product School has built. They host weekly Meetups and AMAs so you can hear from PMs at some of the best startups in the industry. I highly recommend Product School for anyone looking to make the jump into Product Management. Course is targeted for the role, affordable, and has all the extra benefits to help you get a job.
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Himanshu
Learned PM and Got Guidance
I enjoyed being part of a diverse class. Joel introduces the concepts really well and is an excellent mentor even outside the class. Joel shares his enthusiaism and keeps the class more interactive.Group exercises were also a good way to get our creatiuve juices flowing. I am looking forward to my next class.
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Nidhi
Product Management done right with Joel
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I spent a reasonable amount of time comparing General Assembly and Product School for the Product Management course including Instrucutors, course content, etc. and am I glad that I chose Product School! Based on other reviews for Joel, I decided to sign-up for the weekend classes (since he was teaching that cohort only), even though it wasnt the most convenient time for me, but again, so glad I decided to do that.
Joel is very personable and goes out of his way to spend one on one time with the students, he supports all course content with real world examples (which are abundant given his experience) and does a great job of trying to cover anything there is to know to get ur career started as a PM. Cherry on the cake is that he even invites experienced PMs to class sometimes (during lunch) to talk to us and share their experiences with us
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Adam Hollander
Outstanding instructor, well structured curriculum, and overall great experience for those motivated to move into product
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Course: 8-week PM/Location: Santa Monica/Instructor: Gio
I just wrapped up the 8-week product course and am really happy with my decision. I had an awesome experience and would highly recommend it for anyone who is motivated to learn more and get a more formal framework/education for how to approach product thinking to advance their career, become more effective in your job, or transition into a product role.
Since product is really the intersection of design, business, and engineering let’s start there.
- Business: If you don’t have a business background, Product School gives you a nice overview of some key frameworks that help you structure your approach to problems. You don’t go super deep but if you’re someone technical or just don’t have a formal education in business this is a great way to get it. If you have a business background (like I did) its a nice overview but don’t expect these pieces to be the real value add for you at PS.
- Design: In PS you’ll do some wireframing in Balsamiq but that’s pretty much the extent of it. To be fair, PM’s don’t really need to design in most cases but it seemed like my classmates would have liked a bit more of this. Personally, I do the prototyping and design for my startup and spend a lot of time in Sketch and Invision so I’m glad we didn’t spend too much time on this. I think spending too much time on design takes away from the real ‘job to be done’/value to be added/purpose of a PM…identifying/validating opportunities and solving problems. I think PS does a nice job of focusing on these important aspects but also covering concepts like usability research, UX, and a touch of wireframing.
- Engineering: I think this really depends on (a) your instructor and (b) your classmates more than the cirriculum. Gio always provided awesome examples from his experience at Yahoo and Snapchat that really helped paint vivid & tangible pictures of experiences and challenges as a PM working with engineers. I think this is one area PS could add some more umph with maybe some videos to watch at home or a required Udemy overview of coding class ahead of starting PS to help students come in with a little more confidence and color (or you could just do it yourself ; ). Again, you can only cover so much in 8-weeks but I think we had time to squeeze in more about concepts like front end vs. backend, common terminology, etc. There were a few of us with technical backgrounds but for the others I would imagine some things went in one ear out the other without having prior experience with engineers.
- Project Management: I think this is sort of the ugly duckling/4th circle of the PM ven diagram that isn’t talked about as frequently bc its not as sexy and more administrative than anything, that said I think its pretty important. PS doesn’t touch too much on project management so I’d recommend (if you don’t have prior exp and aren’t detail oriented) to take an online class in project management to help fill that gap for yourself. Learning is much better on-the-job with real experience (as with everything) but a key PM skill is being able to take a goal, and turn it into manageable small pieces that can be sequenced and executed on which often can be complex with dependencies.
Some Qualitative KPIs from my experience at PS (in order of importance)
- Instructor (A+): When it comes to product, I felt without a teacher with real, relevant, AND current experience, there was point in taking the course. Other courses at different schools (no names need be mentioned) had pretty weak instructors…not PS. Our instructor Gio has really deep product experience, is a PM at Snapchat, and was absolutely awesome. Every question brought up he had 10 salient and relevant real world examples to color his answers and was extremely articulate. Gio is also just an awesome and fun guy which made sitting in class for 2+ hours and giving up Tuesday and Thursday a lot more fun than it sounds ahah.
- Cirriculum (A-): After taking PS I personally think this cirriculum should be taught in every business school and honestly every undergrad as a general requirement. PS does a really nice job of putting product knowledge into a logical flow that’s easy to understand, with a great reader filled with examples to help reinforce the lessons. The reason I didn’t give it an A+ is because I think there are a few areas that could be improved but overall was really happy with it and just what I was looking for.
- Classmates (B++): To me this was really important so I researched literally every alumni that had gone through PS before taking the course. One of the big selling points of PS (for me) was that everyone was supposed to have some prior relevant experience and that it wasn’t an intro level 101 type of class and overall I was pretty satisfied along this criteria. We had a APM from Dollar Shave, Proj Mgr from Fox, PMM from Activision, etc which was great to bring various experiences into the conversations. The reason I give it a B+ is only bc I think there was still a little more variance in the experience and motivation levels than I was hoping for—but obviously this is going to be the case in any course (even was in business school). The people were great though and we all had a lot of fun together and I definitely hope to keep in touch with people afterwards.
If you have questions or want some personal advice on whether its the right fit for you I’m happy to reply on this thread or hop on a quick call. Overall I had a great experience and would highly recommend it for anyone who is motivated to learn more and get a more formal framework/education for how to approach product thinking. I truly believe this thought process and approach is the future of creating value in any business and applicable to everything you do in life so there’s no way to go wrong here.
Thanks for a great 8-weeks Gio and team PS!
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Wayne West
Coding for Managers - SF
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Coming into Product School's Coding for Manager's course, I had little technical experience: I was an English major as an undergrad and most of my work in tech has been in marketing.
Considering that I wanted to get closer to the product in my day-to-day and how glaringly untechnical my background was, I decided that learning to code was the best first step.
Upon examining the syllabus, my expectation for this course was to gain a light but diverse understanding of the technical stack a typical PM should be familiar with. After speaking with a sales rep, I learned that this was indeed the intention of the course, as it introduces frontend development, backend development, and deployment/hosting all in a part-time two month program.
Despite such a fast-paced and hands-on curriculum, course instructor Charlie Depman's strong theoretical foundation in CS enabled me to understand the conceptual underpinnings of what we were coding. Additionally, his patience and clear articulation of responses to the many questions asked by our class added an extra boost of context that further reinforced my learnings.
Besides creating full-functioning product that I can add to my portfolio, by the end of the program, this class has inspired me to seriously explore an actual role in software engineering. Product School has provided us with great support from Charlie, his TA, and even the program manager: all of them willing to help post-graduation. I highly recommend this class for the purpose of:
1. Getting more technical for a PM role
2. Intro to software engineering at a reduced price (coding bootcamps are typically $15k) -
Christina Wong
Product School Silicon Valley Review
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Product School certainly reinforced my passion for building great products and on pursuing "product" for my career. I was lucky to have a great instructor, Yenyi Fu, and a great cohort to work with.
(CONFIDENCE) It gave me the confidence that I too have already acquired similar skill sets over the years in the product owner role. It also helped fill in the remaining knowledge gaps. Though this course is probably geared toward anyone who is new or with little product management experience, I was able to put in the extra efforts and to acquire deeper learning by taking my assignments to the next level. I was fortunate that our cohort also brought in interesting ideas and experience to share.
(CAREER) For job seekers, the course is designed to provide useful, practical tips but with product management flavors. Everyone in class got first hand practices with presentations, resumes reviews, participated and evaluated mock interviews, and practiced and evaluated design and estimation assessments.
(NETWORKING) This is a great place to network with others who share the same passion. Our instructor Yenyi Fu is the Director of Product Management from Tripadvisor who brought practical industry experience and wisdom. Where else can you spend 40 hours (over 8 weeks) with a PM veteran willing to help you learn? Even in an actual work environment, one may not feel safe or appropriate to freely ask any product or any career questions. She demonstrated many of the great PM qualities: leadership, openness to ideas, and great relationship skills on making everyone feel collaborative but guided.
Overall I'm very happy to have spent 8 weeks learning from and making new friends with the same passion.
Suggestions for Product School:
(1) More "real-life" case studies - It would be great if we can learn from the network of the many instructors real-life experience. If we can try tackling their real-life examples, it would give us more hands-on experience to learn and "fail."
(2) B2B vs. B2C product management - There are many nuances with the two disciplines, more information would help guide us choose wisely and understand how to get from B2B to B2C or vice versa.
(3) Beyond basics - since everyone has different level of understanding/ experiences in aspects of product management, it would be great to provide "bonus points" questions or exercises and additional references for some of us who want to learn beyond the basics. -
Josie Garcia
Great Product Management Overview!
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Product School created a great foundation for all things related to product management. Coming from a non-technical background, it helped give me a roadmap for all the things I needed to continue to learn in order to attain a product manager job. The instructors gave us invaluable feedback, support, and insights on what the life of a product manager is like (most if not all of them were Product Managers in well-known companies). Even after the class was over, I continue to learn through access to their events and slack forums that provide never-ending sources of knowledge. I definitely recommend you sign up for the class if you are interested in learning what it takes to get a role in product management.
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Jessie Lee
Great Weekend Class with Joel
l had to move myself to another class (due to my scheduling conflicts) but Joel continues to offer a lot of guidance and mentorship to me. definitely recommend Joel and Jesse Owens, whose class i am currently taking. Product School allows me to have a high level of Product Management and the weekly workshops are awesome too.
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Anna
Helpful and worth the investment
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I'd highly recommend enrolling in The Product School if you are looking to get a comprehensive education in what a PM does and the practical skills it takes to succeed in the role. My instructor, Joel, was sharp, highly knowledgeable, and incredibly helpful and responsive. He went above and beyond and continues to offer professional guidance now that the course is over. I was considering GA and The Product School and I'm pretty sure I made the right decision.
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Karl K.
Good Class, Great Instructors
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I completed the weekend course from November 2016 to February 2017.
Solid introductory program for those with a few years' experience seeking to transfer into a software PM role. While the provided curriculum is helpful, the school's real value lies in its instructors.
To get the most out of the experience, I recommend that future students learn as much as they can from their teachers' specific experiences, eg, how they made past strategy or design decisions, how they work with engineers, how their Product functions are organized, how career pathing works.
To that end, Joel Palanthikal was an outstanding instructor. He shared insights from years of relevant experience from various industries and companies, constantly sought and responded to feedback, and energized the classroom with communal spirit. He even offered to continue mentoring us well after the class finished; without question, we'll take him up on it.
(I should mention I also attended a few session of the weekday class, taught by Adam Stafford, and enjoyed learning from him, as well.)
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Sam S
Great weekend Class with Joel!
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Taking this product school class was a great decision for me. I was tossing up between General Assembly and Product School - and I’m very glad I made the decision to go with PS.
The course itself taught a broad range of topics, that were well dived into. It was a great combination of being introduced to topics, having explanations, case studies from the instructor and many resources to follow up on.
The instructor, Joel Palathinkal, had an incredible amount of energy and catered the class to our cohort. He provided a tremendous amount of value from his experience and provided great support to the cohort inside and outside of class hours.
I would definitely recommend this course (and specifically, Joel’s class) to anyone interested in product management - The money was well worth it.
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C W
Great Experience
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I was lucky enough to attend the Product School December 2016 - February 2017.
Having worked as a software engineer for the last 5 years I thought I had an excellent idea of what it would be like to step into a product management role. I was happily mistaken.
My experience was excellent. The quality of students was exceptional, with talents and interests that far reaching. Joel, my instructor, was a leader in the field, able to bring countless real life experiences to the table as examples. Material which could have been very basic was brought to life with Joels enthusiasm and insights into the product management field. Joel has also been a major support throughout this process and I see him as a huge asset to have in my future endeavors.
The Product School delivered exactly what I wanted, an in depth look a product management and a network of peers whom I hope to do great things with in the future.
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Cody C
Excellent PM experience
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I took the Dec 2016 to Feb 2017 cohort that just ended yesterday. Prior to the class, I was looking for a course that fit my background and after speaking with two former instructors, I figured this was the best course for me.
Overall, I definitely recommend the course for people looking to understand and demystify Product Management. My instructor was Joel Palathinkal and, perhaps I am bias since I didn't have any other instructor but, he really made the class worth the money. For one, spending your Saturdays for 6 hours to learn outside of work is not an easy task but Joel's energy really made it alot easier. He also had the foresight to ask us for a course review in the middle of the class, instead of at the end. This was incredibly helpful because we shifted from theoretical and conceptual discussions, to much more pointed lectures on specific workflows and tools used by Joel in his workplace. His knowledge in the PM space also comes clear during potential interview questions that some of the students have received. He also makes himself avaliable during all sorts of hours during the day to ask him questions and get feedback. He also brought in guest speakers and made the content much more digestible in real-world application.
The only feedback for improvement I have is for the curriculum itself. I think that it has to be edited to fit the needs of the NYC market where most students don't necessarily come from a technical background. Had Joel not shifted the direction of the class midway, I'm not sure how satisfied I would have been with the course. We focused on specific case studies, features, etc that the curriculum or book didn't go into depth about. I also wished that there were more technical discussions on frameworks and specific languages best used in varied cases.
Otherwise, the course equips you with the knowledge and confidence you need to either deconstruct a product or feature or transition into a PM role. Definitely recommend the course and definitely recommend Joel
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J C
Great intro to PM
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I took the weekend class from Dec to Feb 2017 in NYC. I started looking into product management courses and after comparing a few, decided to go with Product School based on their curriculum and a great experience with Brad, whom I interacted with during the initial consultation. I was debating between two instructors/cohorts within Product School and Brad gave me insight on the instructors' styles and strengths. After I started the course, I was happy with my decision and choice of instructor.
The course was taught by Joel Palathinkal, and Brad was right about him bringing energy and life to class. His enthusiasm made the 6 hour weekend class easy. The parts I found most valuable about the class was the "What would Joel do?" discussions. Our class often asked him what he would do in certain scenarios, or how he would answer various interview questions. His answers adds an extra dimension to what we would've come up with ourselves. Joel also made himself available outside of class and followed up with us individually to see if we had further questions.
We also had the opportunity to meet Carlos, the founder in our class one day, and boy does he have a lot of energy! From the way he talks you can tell that he truly has a passion for product management and how to make the knowledge and tools more accessible to people. It's great to be part of a community that is open to share their experiences as well as offer help when you need it.
As for the curriculum itself, it is an intro class and gives you an high level understanding of what product management is like and the terminology used in the industry. It's a course for people with various backgrounds so there's a mix of hard skills and soft skills. As I already work in a position that works with multi-functional teams, I wish more deeper-level hard skills were covered in class. Others who are more specialized may find the discussions on soft skills (which there was a good portion of in each class) new and useful.
Overall, I'd recommend this course.
TL;DR: Intro to PM course taught by great instructor who is knowledgeable about the subject and open to share all his experiences and insights. Best for those who are not currently working in product management. You will be part of a community that is active and passionate about what they do.
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Frances Coronel
Great Instructor but...
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I attended the Saturday cohort in NYC from October to December 2016. While I really enjoyed being with a great set of peers, I felt some parts of the curriculum were lacking and not in-depth enough. The lecture slides are also not exactly pleasing to the eye sometimes and can come off as tacky.
Thankfully, I had a brilliant instructor who was very down to earth and was able to relate all of the lectures back to his personal experiences as a product manager. He was very real and straightforward when it came to feedback and advice which I can really appreciate.
What I feel good paying 3K for was the people I was surrounded with who all had interesting backgrounds and a desire to work more in product and also my instructor whose personal anecdotes and knowledge were far more valuable than what the curriculum had to offer. As usual, it really comes down to the people.
If there was a way to just get in a room with my instructor spewing out all he knows with some cool people surrounding me, I probably would have paid for that versus what he was paid to teach formally.
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Joe F.
Great experience, great instructor
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I was a student at Product School NYC during the summer of 2016. I learned a ton, and not only from the instructor but from the other students as well as the guests that were brought in to help teach, share their experiences, and provide feedback on our projects/resumes/etc.
I would highly recommend Product School to anyone who has at least a couple years of work experience, but has never worked directly in a product management role. My classmates came from all backgrounds, but everyone had relevant work/professional/life experiences that give them a different perspective on the PM role.
The course provided an overview of every aspect of a software PM's job, and introduced me to the tasks, the terminology, the software that a PM needs to be familiar with.
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Juan Acosta
Worth it
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I found out about Product School through one of my mentors. After doing quite a bit of research, analyzing the curriculum, attending a meetup hosted by PS, and reaching out to the CEO, I came to the conclusion that this was he right program for me. I applied and very soon got an interview over the phone. The phone interview was to see if I as a right fit for the program; despite being younger than most of the program applicants, my experience and my future goals aligned very well with the curriculum and program mission. My goal in attending Product School was to apply a methodology to the product I am building as well as be prepared for any future career opportunities or endevours. Product School went beyond my expectations. In my opinion, the price of the program is far below its actual value.
I attended the Saturday cohort taught by Ben Shanken, Product Manager at Lyft. Ben is an amazing instructor with amazing talent and evident passion for product. I now consider Ben one of my great mentors and hope to continue learning from him. Ben related the Product School curriculum to all of his past product experience. This is where Product School excels above their competitors - relating methodology to actual real life product management; theory is nice, but when you introduce people, teams, and unique problems, this is where theory falls apart. I learned more from Ben’s experiences than I have ever learned in all the PM books I have read. Thanks to Ben and the PS team I feel a lot more confident in tackling real company problems in the future.
Throughout the program I was also able to learn from Carlos, the CEO. I also joined in on a few courses of the week cohort. This allowed me to meet different product managers with different backgrounds and unique experiences. The Slack community of product managers is also available to me and one that I will continue to tap into for support, knowledge, and mentorship. I am big on having mentors and PS has expanded my network of mentors tremendously.
The curriculum covered everything from customer interviews, to metrics, to thigs like public speaking and team communication. It re-inforced a lot of the things I have read on my own and taught me some new tools and techniques to apply to my product carreer. Product Management methodology is so new and it is such a niche carreer that it is sometimes vey difficult to find all of the information you need all in one place - PS succeeds at this too. The past few years I have done Product Management for several companies without the title or standarized methodology, PS helped me consolidate my experiences in order to advance my carreer opportunities. I now feel extremely confident of my skills as a PM thanks to Ben and the PS curriculum.
Overall, Product School has been an amazing and very rewarding experience. My classmates are now people I can reach out to for support. I will forever be thankful for the program, curriculum, staff, and mentors; I highly recommend the program for anyone wanting to begin or accelerate their product management journey.
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John K.
Product School--NYC
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I took the Product School class in New York, taught by Rayyan. Each week, we tackled a different aspect of product management, from scrum/working with developers to product marketing. The discussions were engaging, and I met a lot of great classmates. For me, the best part of the class was learning about common tools product managers use (Marvel, Sketch, etc.) and then using them in my course project. Pretty cool!
The team at Product School puts on great extracurricular events and has a strong network in NYC that you become a part of after you complete the program. -
Peter Ng
Your journey as Product Manager starts here!
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Product School is not only for people who want to transition to be Product Managers, but also for experienced product manager to reinforce their skill sets and advance their careers.
I signed up for the Summer weekend cohort started in mid-June 2016 in its new Silicon Valley location. The reason I signed up for Product School was to learn the latest tools and skills for a Product Manager. I have been in Product Management in the past 5-6 years in an enterprise cloud company. I had taken Pragmatic Marketing many years ago; but that's more focus on outbound PM skill set. And I wanted to focus more on product design as a product manager. That's why I like the curriculum of Product School to complement what I already learned.
My instructor, Alok, was very knowledgeable about the consumer and enterprise software space as a PM. He was very supportive and helpful throughout the class. The material and the exercise were very good and useful. I think the money was well spent on this class and I highly recommend this training to anyone who wants to be Product Managers.
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Dan Clark
Solid foundation in Product Management
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I highly recommend Product School to those interested in furthering their product management skills. Product School will provide you with a solid foundation in product management within 8 weeks. Like others have said, the course is demanding, and you get out of it what you put into it.
I attended the evening course in San Francisco. My class was professionally diverse, consisting of current product managers and those aspiring to be one (like me). The class size was small, interactive, and collaborative. The course materials are excellent and our amazing instructor (Michael Rosenthal) shared his real-world experiences and molded to course to the requests and experience levels of the class. The classes consisted of a balance of lecture and practical exercises, combined with project-based homework.
In addition to being there for you during the course, Product School, my instructor, and my classmates have kept in touch to provide support and encouragement since completion. Also, students receive free, lifetime access to a wide variety of Udemy courses, Product School and class-specific Slack channels, and Product School’s weekly seminars.
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James
Invaluable Tool for All Aspiring and Current PM's
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In writing this review, I hope people leave with not only a better understanding of the product management landscape, but also discover how effective Product School is at setting up their students for success in a product management role.
I joined Product School's weekday cohort under the tutelage of Greg and haven't looked back since. My product management journey began when I co-founded my company and built our mobile app so I started off knowing a few things about building products. However, it wasn't until I went through my first week with Greg did I realize that Product School could be the game-changer I needed to successfully begin my career in product management.
The on-boarding process was very professional and personable. Jake, the campus director was always there to answer questions, provide updates, and in general guide me through the process. The next step was to have a 1-to-1 with the CEO so that he could have some face-time to determine whether or not I'd be a good fit. Everything went seamlessly and I couldn't be happier with the process. There were a few changes in instructors for the cohort I chose due to scheduling problems but it was completely understandable because these instructors do have full-time jobs and things tend to just pop-up sporadically. In the end, I'm glad things happened the way they did because I couldn't have asked for a better instructor.
Greg knew exactly what he wanted out of each class and from each student. He took the curriculum and personalized it with his own experiences and thoughts. Product School provides a great blend of the necessary theoretical and practical knowledge that product managers need on the job. However, what really sold me was their use of hands-on activities, group work, and projects. We were assigned a final project to build a new product or product feature, and our homework every week accumulated into the necessary steps to develop our final project presentation. I thought this was a great way for us to commit to the program and allow us to manage our project well. Throughout the entire course, Greg was always there not only for questions and advice about our in-class work, but also for networking and interview help outside of class. He connected us with recruiters, gave us tips about approaching other product managers, and helped immensely with interview prep all throughout the course. All in all, I'd have to say that Product School does a great job of finding extremely talented, intelligent, and passionate instructors that genuinely want to see you succeed.
Another great aspect of Product School is their ability to diversify. As a product manager, you'll most likely have to work with engineers, designers, other PM's, etc. My cohort was great because I got to work with professionals of all backgrounds. The diversity provided many perspectives and insights that ultimately created a great environment for us to learn as aspiring product managers.
With all this being said, product management is a very difficult and competitive career to jump into without any prior experience. I won't guarantee that Product School will get you a role instantly upon graduation. What I can say 100% confidently is that Product School will set you up in the best way possible with the technical skills, network, and confidence to succeed as a product manager. Product School truly seems to care for each of their cohorts and it's shown by their ability to foster an ongoing community, their numerous weekly meet-ups/networking events, Jake's follow-up e-mails, and their numerous resources such as their newsletter, and free courses to help sharpen skill-sets and best practices. I can guarantee you that I don't regret my decision of joining and graduating from Product School.
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Jeroen Goddijn
Cohesive curriculum, structured framework, and great networking opportunities for transitioning professionals
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Let me tell you about the time I went to Product School... I signed up for the weekend cohort that started July 9, 2016 on the San Francisco campus.
I doubted between the weekday cohort and the weekend cohort for a while, but finally decided on the weekend cohort for 2 reasons:
1. the better mix of backgrounds of co-students
2. the resume of the instructor (Josh Anon)Now, I am transitioning from a Project Management background to a Product Manager role and was looking for a structured and hands-on way of learning a framework for Product Management. Because I was already doing PM work in my current role, but realized I was not reaching my full potential and that there had to be a better way. And I didn't get disappointed.
Our instructor (Josh Anon) is absolute GOLD when it comes to teaching Product Management. He has a long track record with big name companies, and applies everything he's learned along the way (especially at Pixar), which shines through in his teaching methods.
Josh has completely overhauled/updated the curriculum and used our cohort to beta-test it. Now the curriculum has a better structure and is more cohesive, and as a result it sticks better. For homework you'll read chapters of his soon to be published book "Product Book: How To Be An Awesome Product Manager" as a preparation for class. The lecture materials are very cohesive and consistent with the learnings from the book. I really enjoyed reading the book (it's an easy read), and will read it again soon.
In every class there will be exercises where you apply what you've learned in a group assignment, which really helps to make it 'stick'. AND, this is a great way to get to know your classmates better too. (I would recommend the weekend cohort from a networking perspective too, since you get to spend a 1 hour lunch with your classmates every Saturday).
And you'll work on a Final Project during the first 6 weeks, wherein you go through the entire life-cycle of Product Management, right from distinguishing your customers/personas to creating the best product/market fit, determining the MVP and your launch plan.
Now, I know, a lot of people are saying you can probably learn most of this by searching the internet and reading everything available. And I am sure you can... But do you really want to spend that much time scavenging the internet and just reading (and taking for truth) whatever you can find? And how much do you think will actually stick if you read it without any structure? And are you really going to apply all that knowledge to a real product to really experience the whole process?
I really wanted to learn in an efficient and structured way and believe Product School (and their instructor Josh Anon) has delivered on that. Besides that, the instructor is highly available for any questions or help you need throughout the course and even afterwards. And the instructors will share personal experiences when using examples or to elaborate on any questions the class asks them, which helps you learn too. And I really connected with some of my classmates and we'll try to meet up on a regular basis for drinks or dinner and exchange experiences and learnings.
So, for me it was money well spent and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking to transition into Product Management or wants to learn a structured framework. I do agree that it would be even more awesome if they would go more in-depth into certain topics (i.e. User Research), but that is not feasible within this time-frame and I believe that at most companies this work (i.e. User Research) will be done by experts anyway, so you can learn that from them in your next PM role.
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Faran Najam
Product School, Your Product Management Mentor
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Whether you're a rookie in the tech scene or a seasoned veteran, if you want to get a jumpstart into product management then Product School is for you!
The role of a Product Manager varies from company to company, and even though many of us work with them on a day to day basis, there's still a lot left on the table for understanding what value they bring to the product/organization. My Product School instructor did an amazing job to explain the role of a Product Manager, what tools he/she can use to make decisions, and how they become the perfect advocate for the customer. The lesson plan was maximized to cover the key concepts in 8 weeks time, and homework was given to reinforce the teaching.
Product School does a great job at selecting the best candidates. I am still in touch with all of my classmates, and we are all supporting each other on our paths to become a Product Manager.
Now, this program doesn't guarantee you'll be a Product Manager the second you graduate. Product School is all about providing students with the fundamentals they'll need to begin their product management journey. If you put enough time and effort into fully understanding the teachings, and continue on your education path post-Product School, then you'll walk into your interviews with a major advantage over the competition.
It's been 4 weeks since I completed Product School, and I am getting calls back from companies. It's only a matter of time before my education pays off! -
Daniel Durkin
Ideal for experienced professionals looking to transition into Product roles
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Product School, like any continuing education course, is a significant investment. The return truly depends on the work you're willing to do.
Key Benefits
- Small class size
- Professional instructors who take time to get to know you. JP Park was indispensable to my experience with the program.
- Learn how to "speak the language" necessary to be a working product manager while solving real-world case studies
- Students are more experienced in their career and there's a lot of diversity despite the small size
- Students are vetted by Product School staff, there's a bigger emphasis on "fit" when compared to their competitors
- Lifetime access to expensive online courses on Udemy
Opportunities to improve
- 4 out of 16 classes are focused on job prep/ interviewing skills. While that's a stumbling block for some, I was personally more interested in learning about concepts and solving case studies.
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Avinash Daipule
Great experience
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I took the class in New York, taught by Adam. I having an engineering background, wanted to learn about product Management. This class is designed to give you a hands on experience about each step in the process.
After each class that is being taught, you get to implement it. You get assignment to implement what you learnt and also at end of each class, you get to work with other students in the class on group project. At the end of the course, you need to do a final project, which require you to use all the things that you learnt from class, assignment and group project.
In the final class you also need to give demo on the project you worked on. You get to meet people from the industry and get feedback on mock interviews and your resume.
Finally, Adam was really a good instructor, he was always available for any questions, and used to spends time after the class to explain the concepts and very approachable.
I had fun, while taking the course.
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Jonathan Aquarone
Awesome
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About a year ago we (my team) decided to create a product that is in the NYC real estate field. Through out the months I had to step up my learning until I realized that I was a product manager for my team. Having done a bit of research to see if I can further uplift my learning curve, I ran into Product school and immediately applied.
The Instructor (the instructors are pretty damn good btw!), course work, the staff and class mates were all amazing. The evening weekly classes made it very convenient for me so that I can balance the day work with the school work and not feel overwhelmed. It's safe to say that the product school teachings have significantly helped me to make our product much better and go in the right direction. Although my case was a bit different from everyone else's, the course did also prep the students to better chance their hunt for a product management position. I would sincerely recommend the course to anyone that is passionate in becoming a PM or that love to create products that users will want! Best, - Jon A PM at High Art and Room'Em -
Randall Noval
Product Management Fundamentals
Product School is a solid overview of Product Management and is ideally suited to people who have relevant experience looking to make a transition into Product Management.