Product School

This course covers everything you need to know about Product Management to jumpstart your PM career. 
It covers the absolute fundamentals of a PM role such as writing solid product specs, creating wireframes and interactive prototypes, developing personas, market sizing, A/B testing, metrics, product marketing, etc. But it doesn't just leave you there - they also teach you how to apply for PM jobs, how to position yourself as a PM, and help you prepare for interviews. They can also make intros to the companies they work with.

The best part is that it isn't all theory - you get to apply everything you learn every week to your own side project, and the instructors provide VERY DETAILED, brutally honest feedback to help you learn and improve over the course of 8 weeks.

The instructors teaching this course are SOLID. They are product managers by profession so they use real life examples to explain PM concepts, have relevant silicon valley PM experience, have exceptional teaching styles, and are very keen to help you excel in the course. TIP: With this course, you get as much as you put in to it. If you passively attend classes and leave the homework assignments incomplete, you will not learn very much. So take notes actively, apply everything you've learnt, ask tons of questions and give it all you've got!

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I took the 8-week Product Management for Engineers weekend course and found it extremely beneficial. Both Hamid and Carlos are very energetic, experienced and encouraging and this helped me push myself outside the comfort zone and chase what I'm really passionate about! We got to learn about a number of tools that I can immediately start using without requiring coding experience such as Balsalmiq, Invision, Roadmunk.  We got to interact with guest speakers with an entrepreneurship drive who took on risky products, and the lessons they learnt along the way. I really enjoyed learning about many of the 'soft' skills needed to be a great PM, this is something that you don't get to experience by reading a PM book or from a typical theory class. While working on a side project, I got to learn about key ingredients required to build a new feature or product, including how to be extremely focused and prioritize on key features, how to ship an MVP out quickly, track metrics, then rinse-n-repeat. All in all, it's one of the best courses I've taken and I'm already recommending it to my friends and family.

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Product School is a great place to learn about product management, be a better PM, and get a job as a PM. First, Product School helps students with finding a PM job. Secondly, the class sizes are small, which means more hands-on mentorship from the instructors and mentors. Third, the selection process for the courses creates a great environment -- the students are highly-motivated and are high-achievers which fills the classroom with an unmatched energy. 

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I attended Product School in early 2015, and it was one of the best decisions I made to advance my career. I was reluctant to make this decision but there was something about the curriculum that caught my eye. It covered several aspects of Product Management in which I was inexperienced at. I met Carlos in one of the meetups hosted at The Vault. He is a lanky guy with a thick accent. I made my first mistake by judging this book by its cover. I was questioning his abilities as a teacher without even giving him a chance. I was wrong. I am glad he proved me wrong. There were several reputed professionals who took over various aspects of the class, but Carlos turned out to be better at teaching than anyone else. Carlos is a young, confident and experienced entrepreneur, making an impact in this industry with his unique methods of teaching. Anyone looking to hone their PM skills should give Product School a shot, its worth it. Read less

I highly recommend taking this class if you are transitioning to Product Management or brushing up on the latest Product trends. It offers a very practical and experiential learning approach that really prepares you for real-world challenges. The instructors come from a variety of backgrounds in large and small startups, so you get the best of both worlds and learn to apply techniques from people who run top products and are entrepreneurs themselves. Carlos and Hamid have a rare gift for teaching and are very enthusiastic about each topic. Their class is super engaging and they keep the students inspired to learn and work on their own projects. I took the class from 6:30-9:30 pm after work, and it was so exciting and intense that I would come out invigorated rather than tired! Carlos and Hamid are also extremely dedicated to the needs of the students and go beyond what's expected to offer you the tools to succeed. We got free access to commonly used online tools, they provided reading lists, lists of blogs & experts to follow, and recommended sites to continue learning about product management. They also invited a variety of experts to give talks and encouraged us to attend hackathons and conferences. Product School also offers a wide network with immense value. Carlos and Hamid are great mentors and are always happy to introduce you to new opportunities. They made themselves available throughout the program and afterwards; it's been a year since I took the class and I still continue to receive support from them! Many of my classmates have now started their own companies or started working as Product Managers shortly after finishing the class. Read less

I found Product School on MeetUp, and my first reaction was “wow, they’re doing that in North Beach in SF??!!”  It was just what was on my mind, so I went to the free intro night and started thinking. It was like having cold water thrown in my face- all this practical info explained in a very street-smart, passionate way by Carlos.  I was impressed by his intensity and accomplishments, but also his honesty. “NO, it is not easy transitioning to a PM. You have to do many things and learn many things.” So I jumped in.

My perspective: unlike many of the students who come here, I have not been working as a sftwr developer in the web/mob/SaaS space. These are the ideal target for this class. I am a general hw/sftwr engineer who has a lot of experience doing mrktg/biz dev , so my perspective might be different. But since I want to be in that space as a PM, it seemed like a pretty good fit. I was sure it would be useful.

• It is fun, fast and furious: There are guest speakers who really know their stuff. Impressive people who are really doing it, have recently gained their success through hard work. It is nothing like a UC extension course. I didn’t do a lot of cost comparison, but it seems like a good deal compared to general assembly.
• You will get so many pointers and links to interesting resources. I wanted to read everything, but it isn’t possible.
• Be prepared for really direct feedback. Like “that answers sucks”. Not easy to hear this stuff, but that is what I paid for.
• Carlos is a good presenter and his feedback and the practice presentation sessions were good.
• The side project takes some real time, more than I expected. If you want to get more out of the course, invest time early and try to take some PTO so you can get ahead of the curve on this.
• You get free access to web/mob prototype tools like Balsamic, Justinmind, Invision.
• Learning about growth hacking and advertising/retargeting and the acquisition to revenue market cycle.
• The resume feedback sessions were really good, and the mock interviews were damn good. I have never seen anything like this. We met people from Linked-In and other smaller companies.
• At the end we met a few companies that have a relationship with product school, and we had little short discussions with them on the last day of class, which they call product day
• You can connect with the guest instructors and Carlos and other people through the meetups that follow and continue after the class
• In keeping with Agile thinking, the course will be evolving and changing quickly. So the course you take will be a bit different (and probably better) that what I took

You are sure to learn a lot and have fun. But to land a job afterwards takes a lot of work during the course and tons of work afterwards.   I’m happy I took the course.

 

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It's incredible what the team at Product School have put together. The material they teach you here is the most relevant and top notch information you can get. They key is the real-world experience of the instructors and the high quality and interest of the students that get accepted into the program.

You really get what you put into Product School, and if you are not giving it your all to understand the material and do your homework, you will have a hard time in this program. If Product School sees that you are not able to make the cut, they will remove you from the program. This has happened to multiple people in my time here, so bring your 200%!

Furthermore, I was pleasantly shocked by the level of support Product School gives its graduates after finishing. They are continuously sharing interesting job offer and other recruiting events. The team network is incredibly strong, with contacts at every major tech company in the Bay area.

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Product School provides an environment where I've been able to grow and work with some the greatest product managers I've ever met. As Product School continues to grow, they will probably have to work hard to keep such a great high bar for students and instructors. 

Product School takes feedback from its students every week. As such the curriculum and logistics of studying there are constantly being tweaked. This means that each cohort should be getting a slightly improved experience from the last. I certainly think that's true.   Having said that, I would certainly recommend the program to any of my friends who wanted to break into product management. By far the most innovative and effective educational experience I've come across. Read less

I just finished the 8-week Product Management course at Product School and have only the best things to say about the course and the CEO/instructor Carlos!

I believe this course is useful for two categories of people - those who are new to product management (even if they have interacted with PMs before) and those who are looking to start their own companies but do not have a product manager in the founding team.

It really is a hands-on course that takes you through a live project (that you conceptualize and develop) - to get the most out of the course, you should be prepared to put in significant effort. The effort is certainly worth it! By the end, you will have a very good idea of whether a PM career is for you, how to handle a PM job and how to go about getting a PM job. For those who wish to pursue their live project further, there is plenty of great info on how to quickly validate the idea and take it to market.

Carlos' energy is unbelievable - and very contagious! As other reviewers have already pointed out, his connections in the startup scene, and his willingness to go out of his way to help you can make a big difference.

The course is a great way to start along the road to becoming a PM. You do get to find out a lot of "inside info" that you would not otherwise come across. You also get to try out many of the tools that PMs would need to be familiar with - including design tools and A/B testing tools. Again, what you take away is proportional to your own interest and effort!

Overall, I would certainly recommend the course as an effective introduction to Product Management.

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I took the 8-week part-time Product Management course at Product School. It was a very good investment in my career. I was a QA Engineer and I wanted to become a Product Manager. I would not have been able to do this without taking this course. Well, technically maybe I could, but I don’t think I would have known what I was doing without this experience. It has been invaluable to me.

 

After researching the various schools in San Francisco that teach Product Management, I selected Product School because they were professional, passionate, and reasonably priced. What I got was more than I even expected. The course was life-changing, they provide tons of connections, and they are constantly providing perks, discounts on professional tools, and opportunities for networking and job openings. Carlos, the CEO, is very passionate. You can’t listen to him talk without feeling excited and motivated. For me, this had a huge impact and I now feel that I can really do my future dream, which is to start my own startup with my husband (an unintended side effect). Since CEO's are essentially their own Product Managers at early startups. I learned so much from this course and it gave me a lot of confidence about my decision to become a Product Manager.

 

Some things I loved about the course:

• The course is part-time so you can take it while working a full-time job or going to school

• There are week nights or weekend classes (I took the week nights)

• The course is just 8 weeks, so it is packed full of information but I liked that I could be finished and start on my next step sooner

• It’s very hands on, meaning that you will be creating your own product

• You will also work with others in your class and build a great network of other Product Managers

• It’s very cost effective, compared to other Product Management courses

• Product School actually takes the time to mentor you, help with your resume, and public speaking skills

• They help you in the job search process, in every step, throughout the course and after

• Food was provided, so that you didn’t have to worry about making time for it between work and class

• My favorite class was the day we had resume reviews and mock interviews because this feedback was excellent and so helpful

• Carlos’ connections are amazing. Everyone who was brought in for class was extremely knowledgeable. Although Carlos taught our class himself, he also brought in a Senior Recruiter from LinkedIn, and other Product Managers from top companies and local startups.

• Several of my classmates got PM jobs before class was even over

• The school has weekly Meetup events, which once a student, you can attend for free for life

I think that this course is the best Product Management school around, and I would recommend it to anyone coming from a technical background who is thinking about becoming a Product Manager or is already a PM and wants to become a better one.

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This review is for the 16 week coding & product management course. I just finished my entire 16 week course. Casey, Hamid and Carlos were my instructor and they are one of the best instructors you could get for this course. I did come from a non-technical background so I am impressed with the course and myself to be able to have a good understanding of product management at the completion of the course.

The best part about the course is the instructors and what is amazing the energy, passion and keenness they share to teach this course. Carlos and Hamid are available at any time of the day to guide and answer questions. What I really like is how I met other students who are in the same boat as I am and being able to share experience and frustation even after the class.

Highly recommended for people for are looking for career change in the field of PM. Great stepping stone.

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This review is for the 14 week coding & product management course. I finished the 6 week coding course and it was INTENSE. Jason was my instructor and he has a very caring soul. I came from a non-technical background so I was very impressed with the course and myself to be able to have a very good understanding of coding at the completion of the course. Jason is able to take a complex concept and break it down into very manageable pieces. 

I am currently in week 1 of the PM portion of the course and I have to say I LOVE Carlos' teaching style.  It is very obvious within 10 minutes of the course that you can tell he has the passion for teaching this subject. Carlos is not only a very knowledgable instructor but he is also very caring as well. He definitely has your back throughout the whole program and you can sense that on day 1.

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I took the 8-week Product Management course at Product School and have very positive feedback for anyone looking to take the course.  When I took the course I was Technical Director at Realsec, Inc and wasn’t really looking for a new job but I wanted to improve my Product Management skills. I was doing my job but I couldn’t help to feel that I wasn’t performing at 100%. The course greatly exceeded my expectations mostly because I wasn’t looking for a technical training or tons of literature on the subject of Product Management (I can google that myself.) I was more interested in all the other (soft) skills required to become a great PM, I also really liked how everyone in class had a technical background. 

After the course, I co-Founded Twister Labs, the company behind GoProover.com, a platform that helps people improve their lives while overcoming fun challenges in a variety of fields, no matter what their goals are.

This is definitely not a traditional course where you are overwhelmed with piles of mostly pointless literature. It is instead a course where you learn best practices for any aspiring PM from actual PMs. It’s not the kind of course where the instructor tells you exactly what to do in every situation, but a course where you get guidelines, general rules and tricks that you only obtain through years of experience. It’s a very practical course, plenty of group activities.

About the course itself, here are some facts:

- The network that you have access to is really amazing. In my class (I took the Weekend course) there were engineers from Google, Cisco, Symantec, PwC and Microsoft among other companies. At least half of the class drove every weekend all the way from Silicon Valley to San Francisco just for the course and we all made it to the end. No dropouts.

- The instructors and guest speakers were all experienced professional in their own fields and work for some of the best companies in their area. For example: 

- Carlos, taught most of the course. He has co-founded at least 3 companies related to education. One of them got into 500Startups and won the best startup prize at Startup Chile. He was also an instructor at General Assembly. 

- AB Testing was taught by a Product Manager at Optimizely 

- Online Marketing was taught by a Product Manager at ReTargeter

- Our resume was personally reviewed by a Senior Recruiter at Linkedin

- We did mockup interviews with recruiters from at least 3 companies looking for PMs at that time

- The Demo Day was hosted by Riviera Partners (recruiting firm in SoMa) and they invited several companies looking to hire PMs

- We were asked to provide a few names of companies that we’d like to work for and the Product School team helped with personal introductions to these companies

- We all got our resumes reviewed by Hired.com and were offered to publish them in their site

- We got access to a platform called PerkHub where you find hundreds of discounts and free versions of apps like JustInMind or Balsamiq (Prototyping)

- You get access to the weekly meetups where Product School brings experts in different fields to discuss hot-topics in the Product Management area. I absolutely recommend this meetups, not only for the guest speakers that are always relevant (Founder of Do.com, Nir Eyal author of Hooked, etc), but for the networking.

- We receive every week - even after the course is over- the PM ToolKit, an email with job offers, news, tools and other resources to keep us up to date in the trends in Product Management. 

Summarizing, this is probably the best Product Management course you can take in the Bay Area and, at a very reasonable price for a 8-weeks course. It’s even cheap if you think of all the perks included in the tuition. Only the resume review and mock up interviews would cost hundreds of dollars. Not to mention the privileged treatment in some hiring processes at selected companies. 

I would recommend this course to any engineer looking to transition from Engineering into a Product Management roll.

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It was a great experience overall. The course included latest methodologies and practical techniques. The instructor was super supportive throughout the course. I was a part of product management course. It was well segmented in terms of module and the exercises in between classes was very useful. Read less

Recently finished up my Product Management Certificate course and had a great experience with our instructor Shilpa Vir. I didn't have a technical background and was able to learn a lot and gain many valuable skills in the class with Shilpa's instruction and through our productive discussions. The group homework and assignments were nicely tailored to teach me main PM skills and examples our instructor provided have been very helpful to understand the topic even if you have not worked in tech companies before. Learned a lot over the last two month in our class and working on landing my first PM job. Read less

I got what I was looking for with the Product School Certification. I am so glad I took the Class with Instructor Shilpa Vir as her feedback is always honest and objective. She is able to be quick on her feet and is clearly highly experienced, which makes her reasoning when solving a problem extremely insightful. She made sure everyone felt heard and followed through with extra office hours. The Students in the class were very supportive as well and we learned a lot from each other. Highly recommend it if anyone is looking to shift careers or go more in depth as a PM.  Read less

Just completed the Product Manager certification course.  WOW.  First and foremost - Shilpa the instructor was amazing. Her resume looked impressive which is why I decided to dedicate my Saturday nights for two months for the course. She dished out knowledge and expanded on the course material whenever she felt that she can bring added value.  She held office hours TWICE a week for both European and U.S. timezones and provided deep feedback to all assignments.

It was a privilege and an honor to learn from her.

The course material was also fantastic and immediately applicable. As a student, you can get out of the course as much as you put it.  With reading assignments and homework, you should plan on investing at least 8 hours a week if not more and use all the resources that are added in the class notes.  It's a great tool for both those who are trying to get into product management and those who are looking to round up their skills.  My 19 cohorts included many who will make amazing product managers and will have a great career.  And this is the last great thing about the course: the class.  It was such a fantastic mix of cultures, backgrounds, ages and a vey healthy 50/50 female/male ration, one could not have asked for a better cohort.

Highly recommend.

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My experience with product school was great. Management is very flexible and tailored the course material to cover all aspects of product management.  Our instructor Shilpa Vir came with a strong background in Product Management with many years of industry experience. She is very knowledgeable and gave many practical examples from her own expertise. Under her guidance and with the knowledge we gained in the class, we were able to successfully deliver our final project starting from setting the product goal & Business objective to GTM strategy & Market funneling. Our classes were very interactive, and she encouraged all students to participate in class discussions and share their insights. I would highly recommend Shilpa as instructor to anyone who is interested in taking a course at Product School. Read less