Product School

I took the Product School product management course in the spring of 2018 in NYC. I would definitely recommend this class to anyone new to a PM role, or trying to make the transition into a PM role.

I’m a failed startup founder now moving into a PM job. The product management experience I had building and launching my own product gave me insight into product strategy, but I was working mostly through intuition and on the fly. This class was a great place to get a more formal education on product management. It provided frameworks and a methodical approach to product. It can be very hard to break into product management and this class is a great resource on top of everything else one can do to prepare and build confidence for a PM job.

I chose my Product School course specifically for the instructor, Brian Crofts, and I was not disappointed. What a great teacher. He had experience launching new products for a hugely successful company famous for it’s product culture, was the head of product at a startup in NYC, and is now the CPO of his own startup. Besides his experience, his passion and personality added a lot to the class.

The class is a mix of lecture and workshop. I wish it was more focused on the workshop exercises. The book for the course is useful and well-written so more class time could have been spent on building skills through practice. Communication is a huge part of product management, especially because as a PM you don’t have much control, but you have a lot of influence. Performing at a high level around others and demonstrating leadership has been an extremely important part of my interviewing and finding a PM job. There is an opportunity to focus on these things in class during exercises, but there could have been more.

Overall, this class if a great resource to get educated in an area that many people don’t have a lot of visibility into. Product jobs are competitive and rigorous, and product school can you help you get a leg up.

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I highly recommend the 8-week Product Management program for anyone looking to pursue a career in Product Management.

It was a comprehensive course that enhanced my product thinking despite being in the digital product development and management space. I attended this program for 2 reasons:

1. Intellectually Curiosity: I have an insatiable thirst for knowledge and always looking for ways to develop more innovative customer-centric products and solutions.
2. Networking: I recently started a non-profit organization for women in product management with the aim of creating a community of digital leaders in Toronto. Attending this program allowed me to learn from industry veterans, who shared best practices and nuggets of wisdom selflessly and willingly.

Best of all, the supportive network of successful PM professional that graduated from Product School means that I have an alumni that I could constantly brainstorm ideas, seek information and advice from.

If you are an aspiring PM or just looking for opportunities to fine-tune your PM skill set, I would highly recommend you to take this course. It will be worth every single penny invested because you will learn from THE BEST in the industry.

 

 

 

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Background
I attended Product School's Toronto cohort from March to May 2018. I am a Chartered Professional Accountant and am seeking a transition into product management. Throughout my online research, and speaking with alumni, I found this course to be the best for my situation because of the following reasons. 

The Program
Product School offers an 8 week, intensive, workshop based program from 9 to 3pm every Saturday. It teaches the latest concepts of product management and their application in the real world. Each class had a specific focus, and a corresponding case study which reinforced those concepts. Throughout the 8 weeks, I was very engaged and my passion for product management grew tremendously. I found the topics and activities to be very appropriate for someone with my non-tech background. Ultimately, I think a lot of the success of this program had to do with the gentleman who led the class, and the diversity of the classmates. 

The Instructor
I was very fortunate to be taught by Michael Kitchen, a Product Management professional with 15+ years of experience in telecommunication, digital and technology products. There was no question about Mike's technical knowledge in product management. However, it was the way he taught and the way he shared his passion with the class that really made Product School a life-changing experience for me. 

Throughout the course, Mike's teaching continued to evolve. At first, I thought he was pretty good, in terms of sharing his knowledge and helping the class understand the application of PM concepts. In the third week, Mike upped his game and completely changed the way the class was taught. There were many more group activities, class participation, impromptu speeches, and many more that put student the student into real-life scenarios. This was phenomenal because he incorporated visual, auditory and experiential learning into the curriculum, which gave me the foundation and confidence to apply these product management concepts in my career. 

The Classmates
I had the best classmates. Some were already Product Managers and somewhere looking to get in the field. All of us shared the same passions, for innovation, creativity, technology and the pursuit of greatness. I am so happy to say that I have built life-long friendships due to the time I spent in this program. 

The Verdict 
Product School was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. As an accountant, this program expanded my horizons beyond what I thought I was capable. It taught me the skills I needed to secure a transition. It provided great mentorship through Mike's teachings and wisdom. It helped me build and expand my product management network. I would recommend this program to anyone looking to learn more about product management or interested in making a career switch. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about the Product School program.

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Dr. Joel Palathinkal’s class was extremely valuable towards advancing my knowledge and understanding of product management in the software and technology space.

Dr. Joel regularly shares his years of real world experiences in product management, and makes the lifecycle of product management extremely relatable. Regardless of your background, I am currently in account management, this course provides the basic building blocks+Dr. Joel’s years of experience, and creates a valuable learning experience for anyone looking to get in product management or just looking for something new to learn.

I would highly recommend this course to anyone interested. Especially Dr. Joel’s class. Looking forward to taking my new skill sets and applying them towards my current role.

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I took Product School's Product Management intensive in Santa Monica and could not have been more impressed with the caliber of curriculum, instruction, and resources. At the conclusion of the 8-week program, I walked away with a mastery of the core principles, frameworks, and tools needed to be an effective PM. The exercises, group work, and projects were invaluable.   Much of the credit goes to our instructor, Rich Headley, a talented and passionate instructor with deep insights into both the technical and intangible elements of being a good PM. Apart from being a dynamic, engaging classroom leader, Rich excels at the delivery of keen, perceptive feedback that enables true growth and learning.   I highly recommend Product School to aspiring PMs, or anyone looking to gain a deeper understanding of product management. Read less

Loved every minute of Product School Austin. My teacher is a Sr. Product Manager at Charles Schwab and a master at teaching us real & practical lessons to apply at work the very next day.

Towards the end of the course, you have to present on a final project. I did my project based on the product I currently manage. Since it was a real project for my own product, I had to present it to the CEO a few days before the final representation day. My teacher stayed with me until 11 pm to ensure that my slides and I were ready to present. Great teacher & class. Highly recommended.

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PS is a great place to begin learning about PM. 
Sudha was my instructor and Sudha provides diverse and relevant examples to trigger thinking about concepts on PM. She went above and beyond to help me on preparing for the final presentation. I also received help for pursuing careers outside of my past experience. 
Sudha's has this great ability to think through product discovery part of PM, in turn making us think about applying most relevant product ideas to problem at hand. This is a great ability to have for PM.

Favorite experience is the complete and comprehensive attention payed to preparation of individual company project presentations and an opportunity to learn from others on PM experiences. 

I believe PS brand must be continuously improved to get into top league. Personally there is a lot of potential for PS to leverage and improve and be the go to place for product management education.

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Great PM course if you are interested to build products that can improve customer experience. (Sudha Vetri) The instructor was highly educated and experienced, took her time to get to know the class students.
She constantly empathized the skills  that are highly required for a successful product manager role.
I would highly encourage the professionals who are interested to pursue PM as a career to take up this course.

Thank you Sudha for sharing your PM experience and Industry expectations from product managers. Course content is truly tailored to bring the students  up to speed on  skills required for playing a successful product manager

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Took the Product Software Management T / TR course w/ Ryan Black. It was recommended I take this course from a few colleagues as my day to day job started to show early signs of the product development lifecycle, and that it would be beneficial for me to learn the framework. The class does just that and follows the process from ideation to launch, and takes a deep dive into the various stakeholders involved, and terminology needed to get your job done. After the class, and reflecting on the 8 weeks, it really forces you to become self aware and recognize where your strengths and weaknesses lie, which is exactly what I was looking for. Curriculum and in class activities were both solid, but the credibility behind those lies with our instructor's execution. The execution is what allowed the class to immerse themselves in real world situations, rather than just deal in hypotheticals. If you're looking to learn if the role is right for you, highly recommend the course. If you're looking to learn if the role is right, and determine what your next course of action is to get there, sign up to Ryan's class.

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As someone who already has a full-time job in product management it was difficult to make a decision whether or not I should attend the course. I thought it would be really hard to combine it with my work, and I was definitely questioning the fact if I will learn something new. 

But these doubts were successfully gone after the first class. 

First of all the instructor- our cohort was I want to use the word blessed to have an instructor like Lenworth. Who was nothing but great. He has never left any of our questions unanswered, was always very respectful of everyone’s opinions and taught us not just everything that was included in the syllabus but shared also his own professional , practical experience. 

I would definitely recommend the course to both beginners and also professionals who are lucky to have a job in product management.

As a beginner you cannot think of a better start- you will learn a lot about product management, product cycle and everything you might need during your work. As a professional you will definitely learn how to look at already familiar processes from another angle, expand your network, in the worst case (if you feel like you knew everything already) get a validation that all you have been doing at your job was right. 

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The Data Analytics for Product Managers is a great immersive program, regardless if you are a seasoned PM or if you are looking to learn more about the Product role.  I tool this class in San Francisco.  The course gave me a window into the larger world of data science, covered current topics but also provided me with new skills to develop my own queries. 

 The curriculum and exercises were challenging, but easy to follow and will provide a great reference for future ideas.  We had a great mix of videos, online tools, exercises, discussions which all led up to our final project.  Highly recommend this course if you are managing or developing new KPIs for your product.

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I just finished the 8-week product management course and I have nothing but good things to say. My instructor - Saurabh - was absolutely top-notch. It was really impactful that he is a current PM at a respected tech company. He was able to provide us with insight and perspective that we wouldn't have had access to otherwise. The course material is good, but not exactly ground-breaking. For someone who reads a lot about startups and PM trends, the course served as a good refresher of concepts I had learned outside of the class. Lastly, I really enjoyed networking with my classmates. It was a really diverse group of people, each from different industries and varying levels of work experience. I think these connections will come in handy just as much as the course content. I would highly recommend anyone looking to make the switch to a career in product management to take this course!

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I just finished the 8 week​ Software Product Management course at the Product School in New York City. The course is highly recommended for those who are looking to advance/start their as PM.

I only have good things to say about my instructor Ravi Patel. He brings in with him a a great experience and definitely good knowledge about the subject. He made the class really fun by sharing is daily life experiences and making us work through practical use cases.

The course curriculum and study material was extensive. After completing the course you will have a very good understating of the duties of the PM role and how to steer your way to this career path.

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Product School is a great place to build a solid foundation for a career in product management. As someone new to the discipline, I was interested in expanding my knowledge outside of work. I discovered them through their extremely intriguing weekly Meetups  and I am so glad that I did.

I conducted a lot of research across several institutions with similar courses, and what sold me about Product School was the single-minded focus on product management principles as well as its impressive, enthusiastic community. The course itself is intelligently planned out; the great balance of methodology and case studies really enable you to internalize the process. The readings and course work all lead up to the final project in an elegant, worth while way - one could definitely use this project as a portfolio piece.

My instructor is Dr. Joel Palathinkal. Although I chose my course session based on which would work best for my schedule (Saturdays), I am so thankful that I ended up in Joel's session! Simply put, he knows how to teach this stuff so that you get it and love it. He brings great enthusiasm, fantastic case studies, and helpful supplemental elements to the table in addition to the Product School curriculum. 

Having taken this course, I feel confident in product methodologies as well as my own instincts. If possible, I'm more excited about product management than I was when I began my course. I look forward to continuing to go to their weekly Meetups and the NY conference this summer.

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After attending several Product School events and meetups in NYC, I said to myself that if the school can bring in good speakers, then it would have good instructors too. I'm thankful these days that I enrolled at the Product Management class with Dr. Joel Palathinkal as the instructor. Thanks to the lectures, case studies, videos, funny and philosophical commentaries, the Saturday classes did not have a dull moment. The class not only gave me a good perspective to be a better product manager, but also inspired me to start thinking of applying it on my personal interests as well.

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I am glad that I chose to take the Product Management class with Ryan at Product School. 

First of all, it was very helpful how he planned the class to be more doing than seeing slides. I like when classes are well planned and when instructors had great timing. Each class, Ryan had with us a brief session of feedback, with that, he was able to adapt to our needs as students and class in general. So, the class was everything we expected and needed. 

Ryan shared everything he knew about everything, I find it very valuable that a person shares his knowledge. He shared all his tools which are incredibly helpful. When someone had a problem, he would shared his experience when solving that specific problem or otherwise his approach solving it. I enjoyed hearing his experiences. Every class, he shared events, books or new products to learn from. Also, he shared people from his networking with me, and he offered to do that with every student. 

With all of that, he was also very helpful during the class but even out of the class, during the week of even when the course was over. And, he gave us awesome feedback. 

I learned a lot from Ryan and I’m glad he’s willing to keep in contact for every matter.

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I am probably a less typical student in that I had over three years experience as a product manager when I signed up for the course. Despite my background I found the class to be very valuable in that it exposes you to the best practices used at companies like Amazon, Google, and Spotify. Also our professor Nima Shafiee who has worked at Microsoft and was at the time the head of product management at Zoc Doc also wove in real world situations to the class which was so valuable. In addition Product School helps you prepare for the PM interview which is really critical in getting a job as a PM.

 

I also found the in class project a great learning experience and is especially valuable for someone who doesn’t have PM experience and is looking to create a portfolio piece. At the beginning of class you pick a company and a feature or product you want to design. You use this product feature and take it from conception to release. At the end of the class you do a presentation using all the skills and knowledge you have gained in the course. Not only is this a great practice but seeing other’s presentations is an awesome learning experience itself.

The product school classes are small - just over 10 students. You form a bound and network with both the professor and the students in the class.

 

The school also provides their text book, free access to Udemy classes, and Slack where you can network with other students and professors. They also have an awesome YouTube channel where almost every day the have a lecture from product managers from top companies.

 

What I think really makes the Product School stand out are their teachers. My teacher, Nima Shafiee, was at the time the director of Zoc Doc and had so much real world experience he brought to the class. Also because the class size is small we really got a one on one time with Nima. He was also able to give us lots of feedback on our assignments which I really appreciated.

 

If you are trying to enter into product management this class is a must. If you have some PM experience I would not shy away from this class - it will only make you a stronger and better PM.

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I had a great experience with the SPM course at Product School. It was a great overview of what it's like to be a PM and the hands-on exercises really helped in cementing all the frameworks and knowledge learned throughout the weeks. I also loved watching all the final presentations and seeing how much everyone learned. Helen Sims was a great instructor, always very helpful and available for questions.

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I completed the Software Product Management Course with Product School and I would recommend it to anyone that is looking to transition to a PM role. Coming from a customer service background with little to no technical experience, Product School was the perfect place to learn the foundations of product management. I chose this school over others such as GA because of the focus and the amount of support that you receive such as the Slack channel and the weekly talks that they organize where you can network with existing PMs. The 8 weeks course had a small class size that included a lot of interactive group work. The instructors are PMs that have worked in the industry and provides as much theory and practical knowledge. My instructor was Nima Shafiee and he was the perfect instructor for me as he was able to provide valuable information to both the student with technical background and those that did not. Having worked in companies such as Microsoft and Zocdoc, he was able to give insights into industry practices. Along with the course materials and learning tools like Trello and Balsamiq, Nima directed us to other resources where we could expand our knowledge of the matter. He was very quick with feedback and was approachable both in class and through the Slack Channel and email. I left the course confident in the knowledge, tools, and resources that I received to become a PM.

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