In July of this year, I will be starting my first real full-time job. It’s no longer gonna be an internship that will eventually end in 4 month. So it’s definitely a bit scary. However, what is even more terrifying is the kind of a job that I will be starting. It’s Google Associate Product Manager. Google describes this position like this:
Another popular way for Google to label this job is “an engineer that doesn’t code”. Let me repeat that for you: DOESN’T CODE. Now you know why it’s terrifying, no? After all, I spent past 5 years of my undergrad at the University of Waterloo and 2 years worth of internships learning how to code stuff, and now I’m gonna throw it all away? It sure does sound like it.
Many of you have asked me, why DID I take this job over many other offers such as graphics developer at Pixar and a game developer at Microsoft? Well, it was definitely a difficult decision. In fact, I sometimes look forward to July 12th and think: “Anton, what the hell are you doing?”. Like, what would I be do for 8 to 10 hours during the day, if I’m not developing things? I love to code, so why am I taking a job that doesn’t involve it?
Well, to answer all of these questions, we have to look back to 6 months ago. Back in September of 2009, I was starting my final internship of my undergrad career at Pixar Animation Studios down in Emeryville. A dream job for some, and maybe for me. At least that’s what I thought back then. At that point I was set on specializing in computer graphics and all I wanted to do is work on CG in movies.
I loved working at Pixar. I’ve met dozens of incredibly talented people, who very extremely passionate about what they do. I’ve made a number of good friends. However, there was obviously no guarantee that I will get a full-time offer from Pixar at the end of my internship. Therefore, to be on a safe side I decided to apply for some other jobs. Since, I was very interested in graphics, I applied to Microsoft Game Studios (MGS). Moreover, since I’ve previously interned at Google, I decided to apply there as well.
Google usually comes to the University of Waterloo campus to hire new grads. However, for some stupid reason I missed the deadline to apply for the on-campus interviews, so I had to apply online. First thing I applied for was the regular Software Engineer position (SE). After I submitted my application, the website asked me, if I wanted to apply for any other “new grad” positions. I looked through them, and figured that it’s not gonna hurt for me to apply for the Associate Product Manager (APM). I selected the job and pressed “Apply”. Just like that, I might have changed my life by one click of a mouse.
Two weeks later, I got a response from the Google hiring team. I was asked to have a phone interview. Interestingly enough, it was for the APM position and not the SE. Even though, at that point I was more interested in the SE position, I wasn’t gonna turn them down, so I went for it.
I’m not gonna describe the long-ass process I had to go through until I got the APM offer, since many people online have done it before. It was tedious, but quite life-changing. After all, I even interviewed with Marissa Mayer (Google VP of Products & User Experience). Meanwhile, I also interviewed at MGS for a job as graphics developer for the Forza Motosport team, which was very cool. In the end, I was offered the SE and APM position at Google, and the Pixar and Microsoft jobs. It was the point in my life, when I had to make a really hard choice. Should I abandon my passion in computer graphics, and take a hip job at Google that I know nothing about?
So, what eventually made up my mind was the advice that Marissa Mayer once gave to Jessica Lee, who eventually became a PM of one of the most successful Google products – Google Maps. Jess writes about it on her blog, but I’m gonna quote it here:
I felt like I was in the same position as Jessica back 4 years ago. Therefore, Marissa’s advice definitely applied. So with the fear in my heart, I accepted the APM offer.
This fear is not gone yet. It probably won’t be until I start in July, or maybe until even later. However, certain thing do make me feel better about my decision. For instance, check out this article on News Week about the APMs. Meanwhile, I all I can do is wait for July is hope that my experience will be as great as Jessica’s.
March 13th, 2010 at 1:43 am
Threre is a lot of hype about Google APM, but similar position exist in many other companies. At least my current job in Nokia looks extremely similar. I am an engineer who does not code. Anyway, congrats on getting and choosing this job. I was also interviewed, but unfortunately joined the race too late. Would be interesting to know your thought in a couple of months after you start
March 13th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
Hihi. I have a phone interview with Google next week for the same APM position. Could you give me some tips about the interview? What kind of questions do they ask? How can I best prepare for the interview? Email me! Thank you…
March 13th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
Hi Jenny,
Try reading this guy’s page: it’s very similar to my experience: http://www.ferozeh.com/Interviews/Google/google.php
The actual site might be down now, but you can view the Google’s cached copy.
June 10th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
Hey Anton,
Congrats & thanks for the tips & help you gave me over the phone! All the best @ Google as an APM – I’m sure you’ll do awesome (considering you’re from Canada, went to waterloo & have worked at some great places!!!).
Who knows, maybe one day down the road I’ll meet you there, though I just started working at an awesome job (probably my favourite so far, including my amazing internship @ Microsoft) at Invoke Media driving mobile strategy & iPhone development!!! They created hootsuite.com, which is used by large firms like Disney, ESPN & even the White House, to manage social media!
cheers!
cheers
July 29th, 2010 at 12:39 am
You mentioned that this position is for 2 years, so what do people do after they have completed their 2 years with Google? Are the salaries comparable to that of software engineers?
September 19th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
[...] here, but mostly it’s because things got really busy with my new Google job. As I mentioned before, in July I started as an Associate Product Manager at Google’s Mountain View office. I [...]
September 29th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
My name is David Nachum. I am an Associate Product Manager at Google, in Mountain View, California.
October 4th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
[...] doing a talk this Friday at the University of Waterloo about the life of an Associate Product Manager at Google. Here is the summary of the talk: Every year, Google searches the globe looking for [...]
October 18th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
[...] you are one of the lucky candidates that were selected for on-campus interviews for Google APM program, you are in for a treat. All APM interview candidates are typically offered to attend a [...]
December 8th, 2010 at 2:24 am
Wonderful internet site, thank you I will def get a number of the concepts for my web-site. I’m dependent in South Africa and unique a recruitment internet site. Just a quick query, together with the world recession is any person locating that its harder to place people today and that you can find lees positions? i need to review with our position in SA.
January 3rd, 2011 at 4:51 am
[...] Google will be holding another round of Associate Product Manager events at the University of Waterloo campus. If you are interested in an unusually awesome [...]
May 9th, 2011 at 8:36 pm
Hi!
Firstly, I would like to say that this was a great blog, I really loved the info on it.
I had a question though. Being a Google APM now what books would you recommend I read for mastering design skills and perhaps acing the google interview (although I don’t know if the latter is possible
)
I had an interview with Microsoft on a similar position, a Program Manager. I made it to the final round but I guess my design skills were not good enough even after reading a book on UI design. I was wondering if you knew any books that would help me improve my design skills and possibly other skills for the Google APM interview.
May 9th, 2011 at 9:31 pm
Have a look at this Quora post: http://www.quora.com/Product-Management/What-are-the-best-books-for-Product-Managers
January 31st, 2012 at 3:30 pm
[...] at Google, I have gained a lot of insight and mental encouragement and reassurance from a myriad of sources that shared individual encounters with the interview process. I don’t often see success [...]
February 2nd, 2012 at 12:54 pm
Hey, I am a consultant at one of the big fours (having less than an year experience). I want to move into product management although I am not into a product management right now.Could you please email me back so that I can ask you some questions?
Thanks.
February 24th, 2012 at 11:27 am
can anyone give me some tips and questions asked in telephonic interviewof google APM.what will be the salary and what will be the future prospects. i mean after 2 years what i m gonna do. Actually I am from INDIA and never visited abroad so i need ur help guys. I am currently final year student(2 more months to complete) and got placed in WIPRO as a project ENginerr