The answer isn’t straight forward as you may have hoped. If you ask us here at Product Gym, the honest answer is, it depends. Determining if a Product Manager Bootcamp, or any other Bootcamp for that matter, is suitable for you, boils down to a few questions that you should answer before signing on the dotted line.
For instance, Why do you want to be a Product Manager? you may only be in a phase in your life where you’re reaching out in multiple directions to see what catches your interest. While the role of a Product Manager may be the perfect position for you, there might be different types of jobs out there that might be more interesting to you.
However, if you are confident that you want to get into one of the hottest professions in the tech industry, this article will help narrow down what you should look out for when selecting a Product Manager Bootcamp.
Product Manager Bootcamps: Placement Rate
If you’re browsing through the various Product Manager Bootcamps, the number one thing you’re trying to determine is their ability to land you a position in a company as a Product Manager. However, placement rates can be tricky since several variables need to be considered before placing too much faith in a single statistic.
For example:
- Does the Bootcamp only have previous attendees with overlapping Product Manager experience, or do they accept applicants who have never worked as Product Managers before?
- Do they accept new enrollments if you have a tech background or are coming from a tech company?
- While no company has a 100% placement rate, even if they did, what kind of people are they taking on, and how many of those people are they taking on in a year?
It’s easy for a company to manufacture a high placement rate if they only enroll five software engineers for every course. So, is there a way to validate the placement rate?
Product Manager Bootcamp Reviews
The first step toward confirming a Bootcamps placement rate claim is to scour the reviews. There are numerous sites that you can peruse to get a sense of a company. However, the most credible one for the product management sector is SwitchUp, essentially the Bootcamp equivalent of Yelp.
If you want a clearer picture of what a Product Management Bootcamp can offer, you’ll want to choose one with several reviews with quality comments. Still, in a similar vein to placement rate, you have to view reviews with a skeptical eye because, unfortunate as it is, reviews can be fabricated.
If that’s the case, how can you qualify reviews? The next step to furher vet a Product Manager Bootcamp is to dig into a company’s testimonials.
Member Testimonials
Testimonials can shed light on a company that may be hiding facts behind a shroud of marketing. Having former students and members come forward and expound on how the program helped secure them a position as a Product Manager speaks volumes. Not only are they validating the credibility of the program, but they’re also taking time out of their day and, potentially, risking their reputation to support the course openly.
This layer of transparency is due to the fact that it’s very difficult to manufacture fake testimonials. Even with the help of actors or artificial intelligence, it would require an exorbitant amount of time and resources to replicate a live zoom interview.
Bootcamp Coaches
The next stage of vetting a Product Manager Bootcamp is to evaluate its coaches. You want a company whose coaches are offering you not only the skills to land a Product Manager role but are also coming from a place similar to the one you’re in right now.
While a Product Manager that’s coming out of Facebook with a computer science degree from Stanford and an MBA from Wharton would be able to teach you the necessary skills to be a Product Manager, they likely never had the same challenges that you face in making this transition. They can tecah you what to do on the job, but not necessarily how to get the job in the frst place or develop your skillset for the job.
To that end, if they got laid off or fired tonight, they wouldn’t even be executing the same strategy as you would if you found yourself in the same situation. A better scenario for you would be to have coaches that were able to secure top positions through taking a similar program you hope to at one point in their career.
Ongoing Support
One of the most critical factors to contemplate is the amount of support you’ll receive once the course comes to a close. The majority of Bootcamps will provide you with the necessary material to perform the duties of a Product Manager throughout the course’s lifecycle. However, once it’s over, you’re left to your own devices, regardless of whether you secured a job or not.
One of the most glaring issues with this setup is that many of the programs don’t include job-hunting skills until the end, meaning you can fully utilize the coaches at your disposal when it matters most.
Why Product Gym is the Best Choice for You
At Product Gym, we understand what it takes to make a successful and worthwhile course. We don’t consider ourselves a Bootcamp because there isn’t a fixed start date and a set end date. We are, at the end of the day, a lifetime membership organization that’s helping you on this journey of becoming a Product Manager.
We’ve worked hard to earn the spot as the highest and most reviewed Product Manager program, and we’re extremely proud to say that our product team has more testimonials than any other competitor.
While our high ranking is due to several factors, we like to believe that one of the main contributors is because our former members are our senior members. Meaning, they’ve actually taken this program before landing a job as a Product Manager and have decided to come back and volunteer their time to help you on your journey.
If you still have questions about Bootcamps, Product Gym, or anything related to product management, give us a call. Our career coaches are offering free 30 minute coaching sessions. Schedule yours here — we’d love to hear from you.
