Best PM Interview Prep Courses
An in-depth breakdown on the top product management books and courses.
Product Management is one of the most coveted roles in the tech-industry. As a result, there’s an abundance of books and courses that people can use when preparing for interviews. Unfortunately, without buying and trying multiple PM resources, it was difficult to determine which resources were the best to spend time & money on because there was no single source of truth that actually reviewed and compared all the main resources against one another.
I’ve spent a few hundred dollars on PM interview resources to date, and it was clear that some resources were better than others. I realize not all of the resources I cover are affordable for everyone. So, in this article I’ll break down the best paid AND the best free PM interview prep resources.
My goal in writing this is to share a consolidated analysis on all the top mainstream PM interview resources, including: Cracking the PM Interview, Decode & Conquer, Exponent, and Product Alliance. I’ll dive into general overviews for each resource, give a brief analysis that compares each of the resources, a scorecard, and then share my final verdict. If you’re an aspiring product manager trying to figure out which resources you want to use, this article will help you choose the best PM interview resource(s) for your individual needs and budget.
1. Cracking The PM Interview + Decode and Conquer
Background:
Cracking the PM interview was written in 2014 by Gayle McDowell and Jackie Bavaro, who’ve combined worked at Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Asana. Decode and Conquer was written in 2013 by Lewis C. Lin, current CEO at Impact Interview and former Product Manager at Microsoft & Google.
Price (Lifetime Access):
- $45 for both books: Cracking the PM Interview & Decode and Conquer
Free Content:
Paid Content:
- Background in Product Management
- Overview of Companies and Types of Interview Questions
- In-Depth Product Design Interview Questions and Answers (CIRCLE Framework)
When to pay & use:
You want to focus on learning about product management, resume building, and getting access to general frameworks & basic practice questions.
In-Depth Analysis:
These two books are the most renowned product management resources and the most affordable out of the bunch. Cracking the PM Interview goes over what product management is, what the interview process looks like, and what sorts of questions you are likely to get (with some example answers).
Although both books’ content feel very outdated, the underlying structure of the questions and answers are still useful to review. Decode and Conquer provides a decent framework (CIRCLES) and examples for product design questions, but the sample answers did feel unnatural and didn’t provide the depth and creativity that other PM courses did.
Overall, both books will give a good overview on product management and a glimpse on how to generally tackle interview questions; however, given everyone reads these books, they alone won’t help you stand out in interviews.
2. Exponent
Background:
Exponent was created in 2017 by Stephen Cognetta, a Stanford GSB student and former Google Associate Product Manager, to primarily help people in their tech careers through videos, personalized coaching, and a vibrant Slack community.
Price (Subscription):
- $79/month or $199/year for ALL courses
Free Content:
- Huge Library of Mock Interview Videos
- Massive Database of Interview Questions
- Overview on interview processes at top tech companies
Paid Content:
- 15+ hours of video content (~10 hours of it is on Youtube) & 5+ hours of written course content
- Unlock the questions and answers to Behavioral, Estimation, Analytical, Product Design and Strategy, and Technical Questions
- Slack community, Peer Mock interviews
When to pay & use:
You want to see a few exclusive mock interviews, view written answers to the interview questions listed on the course site, and access to a Slack community.
In-Depth Analysis:
Exponent has a large amount of sample interview questions and answers ranging from estimation to product design to technical. However, even though Exponent advertises “20+ hours of content,” a sizable portion of that “premium” content is actually available for free on their YouTube channel. After paying $179 to unlock the interview questions behind the paywall, I was disappointed to discover that over three-quarters of the content was in the form of written explanations rather than video ones. Hence, the value-add from this course felt subpar because the answer-quality and written-medium felt all too similar to Cracking the PM Interview + Decode and Conquer — which sell at one-fourth the cost of Exponent.
That being said, Exponent’s free content is definitely some of the best available because their mock interview videos demonstrate what a good interview answer looks like. In addition, this course is unique in that it’s interactive and lets you pause to try and answer guided questions before revealing the actual textual answers. Although personally, I would have preferred more video examples of experienced product managers answering questions. I found more value in answering a question in full by myself first, and then firsthand watching an experienced PM tackle the question.
Overall, although Exponent won’t help massively differentiate you in interviews, they still offer good free content while its paid content will broadly prepare you on how to approach each question type.
3. Product Alliance
Background:
Product Alliance is a collective of Product Managers from top companies including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, and more who are all committed to making product management more accessible and transparent through online courses. Their courses are hosted by Aditya Agashe, the bestselling author of Swipe to Unlock & Product Management’s Sacred Seven.
Price (Lifetime Access):
- $439 for Course 1 — Breaking into Product Management
- $439 for Course 2 — Hacking the PM Interview
- $439 for Course 3 — Specific Company Deep Dives
- $439 for Course 4 — Flagship Google PM Interview Course
- $439 for Course 5 — Flagship Facebook PM Interview Course
- $439 for Course 6 — Flagship Microsoft PM Interview Course
- $439 for Course 7— Flagship Amazon PM Interview Course
- $529 for ALL 7-Course Bundle (Discounted)
Free Content:
- Sample Library of Interview Questions/Answers from PM instructors
- Ultimate Jobs List
- Latest Product Insight Videos / Latest Strategy Reports
Paid Content:
- 30+ hours of video content & 300+ pages of prep guides
- Course 1 (Breaking into Product): Understanding Product Management and Applying To Roles Effectively
- Course 2 (Hacking the PM Interview): Consolidated examples and frameworks for every type of question (execution, product, etc)
- Course 3 (Specific Company Deep Dives): Company Overview, Product Roadmap, Interview Prep Guides for each top tech company
- Course 4–7 (Company Courses): In-depth analysis on overall company product strategy & tailored advice for Google, FB, MSFT, and Amazon
When to pay & use:
You want to see thorough interview answers from expert PMs, have consolidated frameworks for every type of interview question, and in-depth company specific insights & study guides.
In-Depth Analysis:
Product Alliance’s bundled courses proved really strong on investment despite the somewhat high upfront cost. Their Hacking the PM Interview Course does an excellent job of striking the perfect balance between being concise and thorough. The course offered questions and answers for pretty much every different sort of question imaginable with hardly any redundant content. I appreciated how every interview question had a high quality video answer by an industry PM because it helped me internalize what an exceptional interview answer looks like. Written answers simply aren’t as effective as video answers because you miss the white-boarding, the body language, the question clarification & thinking pauses, the natural flow of an interview, etc.
Although both Product Alliance and Exponent offer video interviews with industry PMs, Product Alliance definitely has a higher quality bar both in terms of interview answers and production quality. This became most apparent when I realized both Product Alliance and Exponent have videos with their instructors answering a nearly identical interview question on “Improving Spotify.” The level of insight for customer journeys and competitor analysis given by the Product Alliance PM was ridiculously thorough while the Exponent response felt a bit handy wavy. This was a theme I noticed across Exponent and Product Alliance in general. Given Product Alliance is focused on solely offering product management courses, it would make sense that their content is stronger.
I also really appreciate that Product Alliance offers lifetime access to their courses with free access to future course updates. For anything over $100, I’d certainly want the resource to be a long-term career investment rather than a subscription good for only one recruiting cycle. However, it’s important to note that $389 is quite expensive for many students. The course is definitely worth the money if you have the financial means, but Product Alliance’s price point seems to be more positioned for MBA candidates or Industry PMs looking to switch companies. It would be great if they could offer their course bundle for $289 to students to make their content more accessible to undergraduate aspiring PMs. At that price point, this course would be a no-brainer for even cash-strapped students as it would effectively be less than $100 per course.
Overall, Product Alliance is an extremely high-quality resource that helps you understand what outstanding answers look like for every type of PM interview question; given the lifetime access, this is a worthwhile career investment.
4. HackingPM
[2022 Updated Note] The course got released for free and appears to be fully cancelled now.
Scorecard
Final Verdict
Cracking the PM Interview + Decode and Conquer are great starting points in preparing for product management interviews. I’d recommend reading those books before buying any premium resource to get a general lay of the land.
In terms of paid resources, the Product Alliance bundled courses is the most helpful and comprehensive resource because it covers every imaginable thing you’d need for interviews. If you are looking to purchase a course, this is the only one worth purchasing because of its lifetime access and actual value-add by helping you stand out in interviews.
In terms of free resources, Exponent’s YouTube and interview question database is the next best way to enhance your preparation because it provides a glimpse on how to answer interview questions. Product Alliance’s Youtube is also a great resource for free mock interview videos, but the vast majority of their content lives behind a paywall.
Hope you enjoyed and got some value from this article. Best of luck in your product management journey! Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below :)
[2022 Updated Note] I was able to secure additional discounts for Product Alliance’s Full Library Access Pass and Exponent’s Full Year Subscription. Please send an email to jaypop778@gmail.com for any questions or if you’d like me to share the discount with you. You can expect a response in less than 8 hours, but likely to be much faster.
