Below is my subjective opinion on the process and learning outcomes at the sensational (in narrow circles) Product University. Honest review a month after the training.
What we were promised
Having tried myself in web development, testing and managing a small product, I realized that somewhere between a manager, a web analyst and a marketer, you need to dig deeper. Therefore, when I saw the picture described by the creators of PU, I was inspired by the opportunity to feel like a product.
- Short cut to a new job. An opportunity to learn and demonstrate our skills and ability to learn, so appreciated these days by potential employers who promise to watch us while we study on the online platform.
- Free training with payment after employment. The opportunity to get on “free” education, for which you will have to pay only after employment or promotion. The cost is 50% of the first salary.
- 8 weeks online without interruption from work. Daily training, which would take 1-2 hours a day and would allow you to combine it with your current work or study.
- Portfolio preparation. The opportunity to complete several projects as part of the training and create a portfolio based on them, demonstrating our knowledge.
There are many advertisements for this course. In the blogs of the founders themselves, in various product chats and telegram channels, and much more. I also received personal recommendations from my friends and I decided. Trying is not torture.
How We Learned
I applied for the “Product Management” program, but I was offered to go through “Product Sales”, or choose a paid training option, which is provided, for example, if your current employer pays for you. Having studied the program of both directions, I saw that the first half of the training completely coincides, product analytics is given there, but soft skills will simply help me to improve my b2b sales skills. And I made up my mind.
We were kept in strict limits. After the start, we were offered to complete tasks daily and turn them in on strictly established deadlines, 24 hours to complete the task. There were no benefits - weekends, trips, holidays, illness. We must find 1-2 hours a day or take paid training. I spun as much as I could, I even had to choose a plane instead of a train, because the trip took longer than a day and I could not meet the deadline.
As for the training itself, every day a small theoretical basis is given in the form of a text or a short video (which is publicly available) and a practical task for the case you are working on during the sprint. It took me more than 1-2 hours to study, since the theory had to be studied independently. But that wasn't what bothered me.
There was no control or verification behind us. Whoever understood the task, he did it that way. And you never know if you were moving in the right direction, unless a sympathetic fellow student with a lot of experience gave you honest feedback. Chat battles flared up over the interpretation of the wording of tasks, I tortured my friends but did not find the right answer to whether I was thinking and acting correctly.
It would also be very interesting to know how the calculations and theoretical ideas for portfolio projects correspond to the truth. That is, what the project turns out to be in practice and whether it will bring the declared 100 rubles, or will not get out of 000. But we are not destined to find out. We either worked on a virtual case, or on a real one, which the companies gave on “and so it will do.”
In the second half of the training, we began to break into mini-groups and work out tasks in them. On the one hand, I was able to improve my soft skills and convince in what I almost believed myself, namely, in my ideal calculations. On the other hand, calling up people who, like me, are looking for these unfortunate hours in their busy schedule is not the most pleasant pleasure. I was lucky that everyone at work reacted positively to the fact that in the middle of the day I began to “sell someone a casino and buy prostheses for my hospital.”
What we got
I repeat that this is just my subjective opinion on the entire training program, supported by some feedback in educational self-organized chats.
- Short cut to a new job. It seems that employers really were there and made offers to some specialists. Only now, not for beginners who have practically no experience in this area, but for advanced guys with “experience in sales - 5 years and 3 years in marketing”. It is likely that they would have found a job even without this training.
- Free training with payment after employment. It all depends on you. If you find the opportunity to complete tasks every day, then you do not fly out of training. If you do not find it, then after signing the contract you are in any case obliged to fulfill the conditions. That is, it does not matter whether you took knowledge and opportunities or not. You were given all the conditions and the rules of the game were prescribed.
- 8 weeks online without interruption from work. I studied at night, during the day, on a train, on an airplane, at a conference, on the street and in many other places and how. It's like a third job that you will have to pay for, you will find training materials on the Internet, and the feedback will be from guys like you.
- Portfolio preparation. I confess, we guessed that in 8 weeks to do 4 projects, spending 1-2 hours a day on it ... Well, that's it. Projects are unrealistic, not confirmed by any data and not verified in practice. Such a portfolio for employers does not say anything and does not carry anything. But for the fact that they forced me to make a business card site, thank you. Without them, I put it off for a long time.
What employers say
Studying at Product University is cool, meaningful and status. But only until the time when we were told “look for cases from real employers”. At this moment, the product managers of many “delicious” IT companies, such as SkyEng, Mail.ru, Yandex, etc., were inundated with offers from green inexperienced guys who hope to get into the company without experience. It is quite logical that when 10 people write a day with the phrases “Hello. I'm from PU! Give me a case and I'll make it for free”, not the best opinion about the students begins to take shape.
Therefore, if at first everyone looked at you with admiring glances, believing that you were great and could be proud of your “origin”, then at one major conference, when several products got together and I had the imprudence to ask how they feel about Product University, they restrainedly expressed everything that they think about it.
Here are examples of negative reviews
In contrast, many remained supportive
Сonclusion
My expectations were not met. Knowledge is superficial, cases are unfinished, employers are not loyal. I was given information about what the product can do and what he needs to know, but I could not understand how successful/failed my work was due to the lack of feedback.
There is also a positive side. Having learned to study anytime and anywhere, I keep this pace to this day. Every day I can allocate and allocate a few hours for self-study. In addition, “what” to dig - I know.
I sincerely hope that the organizers will take into account these wishes and, above all, add this incredibly welcome feedback!
Source: habr.com