Work day in the life of a Product Manager ‍ my UCLA career talk!

dont you shower??

I enjoyed watching this 🙏🏾

I’ve been looking for a new Full Time job for the last 4 months, secured offers from Amazon, Snowflake and Databricks. I would like to share my thought on the market and hiring process if that would be helpful for you.
Mind you I'm in product so it may be a bit different but sharing anyway so you don't feel crazy. I applied to 7 places, got final rounds to 4 of them and then ultimately got 3 offers. The stats mask the real story. I had a near mental breakdown after getting back-to-back rejections from the first three companies I interviewed for (they were the three rejections). Because it’s an employer market - recruiters think they are the gatekeepers or bouncers to heaven - bias and discrimination are REAL - general role/level requirements have increased by approx. 25% while salaries remained the same or even dropped a bit - massive application amounts per job, simply because 85% of employed professionals are pursuing new jobs too.
A few failure examples:
Meta: I had a full loop for a role where the hiring manager, ENG manager, and architect ALL gave me positive signs, like “looking forward to talking soon”, “this’s the best most unique explanation I’ve ever heard”, “don’t worry, we’ll teach you”. At the same time, on of the program leads asks me bluntly “where are you ORIGINALLY from” -context, our region and countries have an ongoing conflict-. I avoid answering the question though we both know what’s truly behind it. He tells me at the end of the call, that he doesn’t think I’m a good fit for the role -mind you he is NOT the hiring manager-. I tried to ask why but he couldn’t really explain the specific role needs that I don’t have. That was my 2nd interview of the 5!!! I couldn’t tell anyone about this. Bar raiser: didn’t seem interested from the start of the call, acting like a robot, with not even a single smile throughout the call, and jumped into questions, and as I started answering with the STAR model, he kept interrupting me, asking clarifying questions and was obvious he didn’t follow a single word I said. He cut the interview short.
Pinterest: I applied for a position, that’s EXACTLY like what I did in my last role at a very well-known company for 5 years. It fit me like a glove. The recruiter scheduled a call with me, thankfully. Something comes up and missed her call by 15mins. Called back and emailed apologizing but not even a single response to acknowledge me.
Google: contacted by 2 recruiters, then spoke with one of the hiring managers. All 3 ghosted me and not a single response or update. The 2 positions are still up and keep getting reposted.
Walmart: screened for 2 roles, IC and a manager. Both of them, didn’t seem to understand what product I was talking about, and it was obvious they will just mark me as not a fit.
Tldr : There's too much info online but it's chaotic and not helpful. Many resources oversell basic advice or push poor answers as must-reads for FAANG interviews. It's like playing whack-a-mole; you never know what's enough. A lot of it are weak copies of LinkedIn frameworks or long, unnecessary prep times. I applied first principles to streamline this. After real talks with top PMs at Google, Amazon, Meta, and OpenAI, and collaboration with pros from Snowflake, Nvidia, and Netflix, we refined our approach. This helped me to land 3 offers in 2-3 months, even in this market. This will be saving you from the $3000-4000 coaching fees and securing $300k job. Hope it helps. Flagship : Mastering the PM Job Hunt: Your Guide to Landing Dream Roles in Big Tech and Start-ups in 2023 (getlearnworlds.com)
I prepped for EVERY single interview; I signed up with interviews prep service above to ensure my answers style is perfect. I did my homework

Shout out to all Industrial Engineers out there :) I graduated as IE also and worked in the Tech World

Hi, i graduated my bachelors in computers. Im not exactly interested in software but i wanna learn and earn well toooo.. SO am thinking of dng masters in management and get a management consultant job. work for 2-3 yrs so that i get to explore the fields and can decide on smth permanent to work at but am also kinda templted to product management coz of the work, tasks, and ofc the pay. DO u have any suggestions for me?? Like what life happens to pay me good and also not upset me for taking the decision?

I was wondering if you can do a video on how to transition into PM? :)

Thank you so much for the words of encouragement in the small clip you showed. It made me tear up as I started watching your videos when I realized I wanted to pursue being a PM, and now I finally am! Lots of love <3

Pls, can you recommend product management and product marketing courses? Affordable ones pls 🤲🤲🤲🤲

Heads up i have checked colab and went a rabitt hole where i checked all the participants who did the program from their listed demos, and almost 80% of them were not working as PM. I think as a rules of thumb is good to check and vet any program in general to see how they are in reality. I know they are your friends and they sponsor you but the data and facts are different.

Hey Chloe! I also just graduated this spring in industrial engineering in operations research and I am currently looking for jobs. Do u have any advice for new grads?

can you talk about your thoughts on the future of being a PM in the next 10-15 years and how you think the landscape will change ? as a current PM, I see a lot of people crapping on us and how we are not technically inclined. I understand for the most part where this dissatisfaction is coming from. However, would you say that we should be concerned that our roles could be eliminated in which the positions could be consolidated with more technical roles ?

My wife is AAPI and I'm indigenous native. We love watching your vids. It helps that I've been a PM for the past 4 years and love to see how other PMs handle it 😂. I have a major data science product release in a week, and always appreciate the candidness and showing that the job is stressful but still fun!

omg those butter biscuits are my faveeee

Great video! It's inspiring to see someone who works full time and creates such create content (and thanks for answering the question if you create content during the work day lol).

Also, how did you like Mistborn book 2?? One of my favorite trilogies

Great video Chloe! How did you get so comfortable with public speaking? You're so well-spoken and smart!

Greetings from Taipei. I enjoy watching your stuff and I’ve been watching since the TikTok quitting video. Thanks for your videos and keep it up.

wow are most of your workdays virtual at home?

as someone who has just started their career in PM, i’d like to listen to your talk!! is there a link/recording to it? love your videos as always :)

I haven't had any fun lately, 😭 so it was fun. You bring me joy!❤🙂I love the kind and generous heartwarming atmosphere that you create, your kind, easygoing, warm vibe. ❤I like the essence how you live on. I need to be true to myself and find a job I am passionate about. I want to find a way to live as who I really am.

anyway your talk at ucla was recorded or if we can also hear it?

Always curious how other product teams work. Does your Product Team meeting replace daily stand ups? In addition?

You sound like a big sis to me! I also watch your videos when I am feeling unmotivated!! Such a great inspiration! ☺

My best friend is a single female living in the Bay Area! Has pretty cool job in forensics too 😊 What are your guy friends’ names? My friend doesn’t do dating apps so I’ve been trying to match her more organically

Glad to see you added Mandarin captions into the video 🥺

I loved the questions the students asked can you post a video of you answering them ? Thanks 😊😊

Hi Chloe! I love your channel, specifally watching how your career progresses and your career advice. I bought your resume templates a few months ago which were super helpful. Everyone go take a look! You mentioned in one of your videos you did some professional development for communication training (specifically geared towards women? ie. speaking "slower and lower"). I haven't been able to find anything like that out there, so I would love to know where you got this training and/or see a video on communication tips at work. :D thanks!

Hey Chloe how many meetings do you have per day usually?

Hey Chloe! this was an insightful video! thank you for posting this! I'm very new to product management (1 year) from a construction background and I am looking around to land another Product Management role to develop my skills in this area. I hope to land one this moneth or next. Cheers!

Can we build a new product management group , be it WhatsApp or telegram . Just a community to share jobs and opportunities 😢

Love the bilingual caption 🎉

our fave internet co-worker now turned matchmaker !! chlo, please update us on this (or not) 😏

feeling so dang inspired, thanks for sharing 💓and yes, tokyo content!

Hi Chloe! As an AAPI woman working in design, I just wanted to say I absolutely adore your videos and find the career advice you give so inspirational and valuable 😊 P.S. I actually work at the agency that hosted the AAPI hot sauce challenge event you attended, and I loved having the chance to see you speak in-person!

you look so pretty❤

loved this video so much, Chloe! The storytelling, editing, filming . . . everything is so high quality and you're an inspiration :))

It was such a treat. Thank you Chloe

I'm so jealous of the extension students that they got to learn from you in such an intimate setting! I'm actually an undergrad at UCLA right now and we never got this special treatment in any of my classes smh 😤😆

Another great video that feels like hanging out with you during a work day! Also loved the encouraging messages from career to daily life :) You rock Chloe!

Love your work days in my life type of videos tbh that's the reason I became a part of your YT it made me feel good yk since there are not creators working in a corporate world yk makes you feel less lonely & boring

Just watching your vids are always so inspiring. I squiggle careered after watching your vids and am now having my first year review as a PM in edtech! And although it can be super stressful sometimes it's the best move I've ever made! Keep up the great content! <3

Hey Chloe! How do you survive on such little sleep?

This was super therapeutic to watch😌 yes to more of us in product😮‍💨🥳

The “how to establish yourself as a leader in a new place” is a great question. I would love to know how you answered. ❤

Thank you for mentioning that you're not a morning person and get up later than others might. It's a small notion, but when every successful person's morning routine is portrayed to involve getting up at 5 am, it's easy to feel bad about yourself when you like to sleep until 9. :) <3

Hope you're enjoying Mistborn book 3!

Babe wake up new Chloe Shih video just dropped

As a fellow AAPI product manager, I’m always happy to get a peek into how others spend their days at work. Those tough meetings that go over time… we know them all too well 😂. Thanks for sharing a glimpse of your day as a PM Chloe! 😊

new awesome vid I would like to write here that I got my jr pm role and was inspired by your videos