If you’re interested in breaking into or growing your career in the product world but unsure where to start, PMDojo should definitely be on your radar.
Founder Bosky Mukherjee created PMDojo to unite two of her passions, namely:
- To make it easier for people without experience to succeed and thrive in a product role, such as in Product Management, UX Design, UX Research, and Software Development; and
- To create more opportunities for learning, mentorship, and career growth for people from different walks of life and learning abilities
Put simply, PMDojo brings forward a learning experience that puts diversity and inclusivity at its core. In fact, PMDojo’s primary offering is the Product Accelerator program, a remote-first apprenticeship-style program that advocates for neurodiverse talent in a bid to bridge the diversity and hiring gap in tech. You can check out their press release here.
There are three different tracks within the program to support you. These are as follows:
- Core Track. This allows you and your team to pitch problem spaces to explore and solve.
- Industry Track. This matches you with a real company where you and your team are challenged to solve a business problem and help a company launch a product.
- Lite Track. Build a compelling portfolio where you dig deep into the problem discovery to stand out in your job search in six weeks.
All three tracks are designed to help you gain experience in product management, UX design, UX research, or software development. They simulate real-world experience and cross-functional collaboration to give fellows the experience, confidence, and skills needed to find success in the product industry. The question is: does the Product Accelerator program work?
According to PMDojo, 92 percent of PMDojo graduates started successful and meaningful careers in the product industry, thanks to its unique learning program designed by hiring managers.
Start your career in product today.Is PMDojo Worth It?
According to PMDojo, over 92 percent of their fellows secured roles in product, where they get to produce real and tangible results. Even more, fellows report up to a three-fold increase in salary and multiple promotions. Beyond the numbers, let’s take a look at how two PMDojo graduates benefited from the program.
Tiffany Lo
Tiffany Lo’s career started in software engineering. She began coding at age 12, attended a coding bootcamp to further her skills, and then found work as a software engineer for a non-profit organization. Having dedicated most of her years to coding, Tiffany decided to change tracks once her son was born. Her new choice of career: product management.
But first, she needed to reskill.
While exploring her reskilling options, she discovered PMDojo. “Talking to Bosky, the Founder of PMDojo on the live chat motivated me. She showed me her real self—a mother, like me, who was trying to make technology diverse,” shared Lo.
“I had been working on curing the imposter syndrome of being the only black female engineer in groups, so I understood what it was like to be in a space where technology was not diverse…As a mom and a woman of color, it was extremely important to be a part of a community like PMDojo.”
Today, Lo works as an Associate Product Manager at Rocket Lawyer.
Her advice for those interested in starting product management careers? “Think about what your strengths are. With that, I recommend exploring all of what product management is and learning what the roles entail.”
Of course, Lo says, enrolling in a course such as PMDojo’s Accelerator program can also give you a big boost.
“As a full-time mother to a 2-year-old with a very supportive husband, I knew I really needed to immerse myself. Watching videos and self-paced learning wasn’t going to give me the impact I needed. So I explored schools that would allow me to show up, learn and rebrand myself by being a part of a real-world process. If this sounds like you or similar, PMDojo’s accelerator program will be a great fit!”
April Canillo
After graduating from college, April Canillo pivoted into UX design and later to product management. To break into the product field, Canillo enrolled in various online courses and programs. But although she was learning the fundamental theories, she noticed the lack of opportunities for her to put her learnings into practice. It wasn’t until she joined a hackathon that she had her lightbulb moment.
“I didn’t think it [was] sustainable to just do hackathons for X amount of time…I needed structure. When I came across PMDojo and took a look at their program and mission statement, it really resonated with me. I decided to just take a chance [and enroll at PMDojo],” Canillo said.
She took part in PMDojo’s Product Accelerator program: Industry Track. And like Lo, Canillo only had good things to say about PMDojo. Although it was intense, she said it had a very unique approach to product management training along with a supportive community. Furthermore, PMDojo challenged her to be creative, accountable, and have empathy. “You really need to show up for your team,” Canillo shared.
“If you’re looking to test the waters and see if you want to pursue product, this is really the route to take.”
The Benefits of Training at PMDojo
PMDojo’s unique program helps fellows do well in the product world due to several reasons.
For one, industry demands strongly influence and inform PMDojo’s training program. Hiring managers design the curriculum to make sure it covers the skills and competencies that employers actually seek.
Hands-on learning and personalized mentorship are weaved into the program, so fellows get ample opportunities to learn based on their unique styles and needs. They collaborate with diverse and cross-functional teams to launch live products in the market, exposing them to real-world situations.
In addition, they learn vital human skills like how to communicate with peers and senior leaders, which is crucial as they join a bigger team in the workplace. PMDojo also supports its community of learners with peer circles and mental health checks and has a thriving community of mentors who keep coming back to offer guidance.
Another unique feature of PMDojo is that its founder and mentors come from diverse backgrounds, which adds to the rich experience of fellows in the program. Both PMDojo founder Bosky Mukherjee and PMDojo mentors have either worked as hiring managers in the past or actively hire in companies at present. They also boast more than 10 years of experience in the field.
One such mentor is Tiffany Kwan, currently a senior product manager for Rain Focus, who believes that PMDojo’s support system gives fellows the right amount of support they need to navigate through a new industry. Speaking from personal experience, Kwan says she made several mistakes when she began working in product.
“I wished there was a community [I could get help from] and ask the right questions,” she said, adding that PMDojo has exactly that. “So, I wanted to be [like] that. I wanted to be part of a community to help the next generation of product managers move forward,” Kwan said.
People she encounters at PMDojo—mentors, alumni, or current cohorts—are always open about sharing their knowledge. This aspect, which she said is unique to the PMDojo community, is another reason why she enjoys being a PMDojo mentor.
Lastly, the PMDojo experience also incorporates full career support, including the following:
- Fellows undergo mock interviews and one-on-one coaching sessions with either the founder Bosky Mukherjee or hiring managers.
- PMDojo showcases product talent to hiring managers.
- Fellows have access to exclusive jobs, thanks to PMDojo’s robust network of partner employers.
- Fellows learn skills to negotiate their offers.
- Alumni continue to have access to lifelong opportunities for learning and networking.
According to PMDojo, many fellows often receive multiple job offers even before graduation.
Start Your Product Career with PMDojo
PMDojo’s Product Accelerator program seeks to fully prepare learners from diverse backgrounds for successful careers in product, with the help of its expert-led curriculum, a wide network of mentors, and career support.
Additionally, lifelong learning opportunities are available to fellows and alumni, 92 percent of whom have secured work in global tech companies such as LinkedIn, Amazon, TikTok, Visa, and many others. Best of all, PMDojo is a global community, which means you can join from anywhere in the world.
Lo and Canillo’s experiences are just a handful of the success stories that testify to PMDojo’s success. If you still want to learn more, you can hear from other alumni who have gone on to create waves in the product industry.
And if you need further convincing, Kwan says: “…Come talk to us, talk to the mentors, talk to the alumni. It’s important to do your due diligence, ask the right questions, and get the right data before you make your decision.”
Ready to start your product career? Join PMDojo today.
About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
