📣 Announcing a new Lewis C. Lin book: The Product Manager Interview

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My newest book, The Product Manager Interview, is now available!

It's an incredible book.

It reveals the newest, most advanced thinking on how to prepare for product management (PM) interviews including:

• NEW! 30-Day Facebook PM Interview Preparation Plan including product sense, execution & leadership questions
• 30-Day Google PM Interview Preparation Plan
• 36-Day Amazon PM Interview Preparation Plan

Don't miss out.

This is perfect for PM candidates who are looking for step-by-step guidance on how to prepare for specific companies, complete with practice problems and sample answers.

It also includes one of the most anticipated sections: a reference sheet of nearly 100 assumptions you should know for estimation and analytical questions including facts from the:

• Smartphone Industry
• Online Advertising
• eCommerce
• Enterprise Software
• Social Networks

Lastly, since it is the third edition (previously known as PM Interview Questions), I've made thousands of changes, including major overhauls, revisions, and in some cases complete rewrites of the 164 sample answers in the book.

With all the time invested, I'm proud to say that you will not find a more detailed product management interview prep book on the market.

Conquer those interviews,

Lewis C. Lin 🦊

P.S. I've also re-released my salary negotiation book under a new, more descriptive title, 71 Brilliant Salary Negotiation Email Samples. Check it out!

Sample Answer from The Product Manager Interview

Facebook Product Manager Interview Cheat Sheet (PM or RPM) 👥

Some big news last week: Facebook (FB) announced that they're now accepting applications for their 2018 RPM program. There's a reason why aspiring PMs are buzzing about this: FB is one of the most coveted employers today. Here's more context from my latest book, Secrets of the Product Manager Interview: 

Being a Facebook employee is like graduating from Harvard. That is,  joining Facebook will offer a network of movers and shakers that you’ll find valuable throughout your career, trailing Google’s by just a tad.

How to Prepare for Facebook PM Interviews

Whether you're interviewing for Facebook, as part of the RPM program or as an industry hire, we've created a beautiful cheat sheet that covers all three areas of the FB PM interview:

1. Product Sense
2. Execution
3. Leadership

How FB evaluates PM candidates is different from Google or Amazon. I suggest that candidates get familiar with these three areas, anticipate the appropriate case questions, and create a Facebook-specific preparation plan.

Execution Questions are the Most Mysterious...and Hard to Prepare For 

Execution questions are the most mysterious question type. It's not a surprise that failing the execution interview is the reason why many do not get the job offer.

One may think "execution" refers to one's ability to get things done, like a project manager would. However, that's not FB's intent. 

When assessing a candidate's "execution" skills, what FB really means is testing one's "executive decision making." And FB evaluates a candidate's executive decision making skills through six categories of rare and peculiar questions that revolve around metrics, ROI estimation, and root cause analysis.
 

Lewis' Exclusive Teaching Note on FB Execution Questions

A few months ago, I penned a teaching note that:

• Details the six different "execution question" categories
• Shares my secrets on how to approach each one
• Recommends relevant practice problems

A small group of former clients and students have seen this teaching note. 

But I'm prepared to share it again.

If you're interested in receiving my teaching note on FB execution and metric questions, sign up here before September 1st, and I'll send it to you shortly after.

UPDATE: You can sign-up for the Facebook execution notes here.

How to Download the Facebook PM Interview Cheat Sheet

If I had a Facebook PM interview, and I could only bring one cheat sheet...this would be it.

Print out the high-resolution version of this cheat sheet, available in both JPG and PDF.

Cheers,

Lewis C. Lin