@@rohitkochar9022 We didn’t have mechanisms in place that would allow us to deploy as frequently as we would have liked to., because of the cost any deployment would incur. Manual deployments used to take anywhere from 6-8 hours every time and results are not in team’s favor if someone else runs the deployment.
Hi Aravind! this was a great interview, could you please expand on what you mentioned at the end ? Providing a nugget to the interview? I did not understand it clearly
Thank you for the video. I enjoyed the post interview feedback from you and the points you mentioned you missed more than the interview itself. being in the DevOps and CI/CD world, questions were coming to my mind that you answered in the feedback :) being a TPM position, I would have talked about some technology or tool I used, you havent mentioned a single thing about it. also I would have broken down my success into chunks rather than saying 6-8 weeks of deployment was improved to a single day(dev/test deployment automated first...production deployment automated in next few months...post deployment test suite added as a cream to the cake). what do you think about this ? thanks again.
This is hands down the best real life project description I've ever heard. Very detailed, precise, transparent, nothing left unturned. Almost sounds like i am the one who was managing the project.
Great interview, Aravind! Going into an interview next week with a mostly behavioral focus and was drawing a blank (hard to remember when you have reached mid-level mgmt). This really helped structure my thoughts. All the best to you at AWS!
Great interview, I could clearly see his abundance of knowledge in the domain and the metrics he used were great, I failed my first interview loop at Amazon may be because I couldn’t quantify the dev work that I did or gave different answers than what was expected. This is very helpful
Hey Steven, great video! Just some feedback for you. You should have interrupted Aravind in between and asked him to go deep into the technicalities of the ACTIONS HE took to fasten the release management. For eg: what exactly you did to automate the code deployment? Did you prepare some procedures or used an existing third party tool? TPM interviews go really deep into the T (technical) part and that is where it makes or breaks the candidate's possibility to get the job! Apart from this, you are doing a great job! Good luck and thank you!
Really thanks Aravind to share your information. Great talkings - and I understand that this is a true story. (Most of the people tell make-up stories !!) I am also a technical Project Manager and have very similar issues
Great question. Answers were detailed and well handled by the candidate, but it’s far from reality. It’s simply deployment’s that take days to weeks lacks of other processes not the playbook execution times. Automating playbooks speeds up things as there is no question about it. Overall answers were not convincing as per real projects and how they get executed. It also shows there is a huge gap between candidate project environment and the new company, not sure how that will be assessed by interviewer
Thank you for this. But I felt the this answer was way too long, very vague at certain aspects. It would have been good if you had given another specific example of Project or ownership you managed
Great feedback, Madhur! As you can imagine, this is a public forum and I am not allowed to share company specifc information readily because we abide by NDAs. In the interview setting, I was able to share a lot more details and by still abiding to the NDAs I signed at my old workplace. Does that answer your concern?
I loved how he framed his response to the first question, but to improve on it more technical details could have been included in the specifics of how and what was implemented. Without these it comes across as a general case study.
Honestly speaking, is this level of technical depth the correct level? I personally feel it didn't go into technical details at all and I am currently preparing for interviews. Would love to hear the thought!
would love to know more about the nugget part of the interview, when should you bring it up, what book did that process come from, where can i learn more about books and leadership and how to ace interviews?
@@praveensg No, I didn’t use the platform. You will find the platforms useful if you need to practice and improve your interviewing experience. Good luck with your interview!
Amazing video! I have my TPM interview with Amazon the coming week. Any tips to succeed? Also, I am so excited that you did share the STAR methodology so aptly.
@@chops386 Unusual question. :-) I'm guessing you asking Stephen about his setup, as he looks pretty sharp. If you were asking me the same question, I own a Apple 4K www.apple.com/shop/product/HMUC2ZM/A/logitech-4k-pro-magnetic-webcam-for-pro-display-xdr. Hope that helps!
How much time does it anyway take to automate deployment process via Gearset and managing Azure DevOps for branching. Hardly a weeks time. So, the answer for the 1st question was not really a challenge. And deployment is part of the project that is defined initially when Project Plan is being documented. So, not sold.
This is great. Will you be creating more Program Management interview videos? Just my thoughts, After completing/answering the question, briefly explain how the PM framework was used for that question. I was able to catch the STAR method use but was not sure about the PM framework.
IMHO, with the advent of Agile, MVP and Lean Startup - PMing is a skill that you acquire, not a framework to follow. Having said that, we still account for intent, constraints, risks, scope and timing side of things as PMI (www.pmi.org/learning/library/understanding-program-management-competence-framework-7800) recommends.
Thanks for the question, it is useful. However the “candidate answer “ was all over the place , and sounded pretentious when he tried to quote some other person.I felt it did not fit the natural flow of the answer.
First to comment! Thanks a lot for your videos! They're always super informative and there are always a bunch of take aways from each video! #bettereveryday
For behavioral questions such as this, I tend to rush my answers and not provide elaborate details. What are some tips to slow down and come up with a detailed yet crisp response.?
Hi monday34! Being familiar with the different types of behavioral questions and preparing some stories to answer them will help a lot. Additionally, getting someone to practice your interviews with before the actual interview is invaluable. Exponent provides such resources and more! Feel free to check out our site: www.tryexponent.com/ All the best!
I have this habit of looking at somewhere else too when i speak. Usually even when Im facing the interviewer my eye balls are to the floor where the interviewer is because that is usually my video call setting.
I am a non Mba,CSM,CSPO having 11 years of experience and have Project Management,BA,Salesforce CRM Consulting experience with Big4 Firms like Deloitte,EY,PwC ~ 7.5 Years As of now i am targetting PMP in 2025 Q1.What else can i add for Big Tech Giants ??
Hey MrSayandeep, are you asking about what other experiences to add in your resume/CV to maximize your chances with big tech? If so, we've got big tech recruiters to help with that at www.tryexponent.com/resume
I am sorry I understand the release management process was streamlined and made effective. But I still do not understand why was it taking 3-4 weeks to deploy the project?
Rohit - We didn’t have mechanisms in place that would allow us to deploy as frequently as we would have liked to., because of the cost any deployment would incur. Manual deployments used to take anywhere from 6-8 hours every time and results are not in team’s favor if someone else runs the deployment.
Thanks for the feedback, Uzi. Sincerely appreciate it! I would love to hear your thoughts on what you would recommend would have been a better answer. "Clear and Short" is a little ambigious for me, and I would love to learn and be better for next time.
@@khasibhatla I think Aaravind had to withhold specifics due to confidentiality clauses that’s why answers seem generalized. Obviously he can’t disclose specifics
@uzi - if this was a 'job interview', I'd agree with you to keep it short ( ~2min max); but agreed could be more concise....especially the his response to the first question on 'status quo'.
Thanks for having me Stephen, and I am glad I could be of some help! 🙂
Hi Aravind, amazing interview! Loved it. Can you explain me why was earlier release management process was taking 3 weeks to deploy?
@@rohitkochar9022 We didn’t have mechanisms in place that would allow us to deploy as frequently as we would have liked to., because of the cost any deployment would incur. Manual deployments used to take anywhere from 6-8 hours every time and results are not in team’s favor if someone else runs the deployment.
Thanks again!
Hi Aravind! this was a great interview, could you please expand on what you mentioned at the end ? Providing a nugget to the interview? I did not understand it clearly
Thank you for the video. I enjoyed the post interview feedback from you and the points you mentioned you missed more than the interview itself. being in the DevOps and CI/CD world, questions were coming to my mind that you answered in the feedback :) being a TPM position, I would have talked about some technology or tool I used, you havent mentioned a single thing about it. also I would have broken down my success into chunks rather than saying 6-8 weeks of deployment was improved to a single day(dev/test deployment automated first...production deployment automated in next few months...post deployment test suite added as a cream to the cake). what do you think about this ? thanks again.
This is hands down the best real life project description I've ever heard. Very detailed, precise, transparent, nothing left unturned. Almost sounds like i am the one who was managing the project.
Great Video. Helped me to get an offer with Amazon as Technical Program Manager at Dublin office. Keep it up. Cheers!
How was your system design round ? was it too deep
Great interview, Aravind! Going into an interview next week with a mostly behavioral focus and was drawing a blank (hard to remember when you have reached mid-level mgmt). This really helped structure my thoughts. All the best to you at AWS!
9:01 Ownership answer starts here.
Great interview, I could clearly see his abundance of knowledge in the domain and the metrics he used were great, I failed my first interview loop at Amazon may be because I couldn’t quantify the dev work that I did or gave different answers than what was expected. This is very helpful
Don't leave your career to chance. Sign up for Exponent's technical program manager course today: bit.ly/3tT1d1a
Hey Steven, great video! Just some feedback for you. You should have interrupted Aravind in between and asked him to go deep into the technicalities of the ACTIONS HE took to fasten the release management. For eg: what exactly you did to automate the code deployment? Did you prepare some procedures or used an existing third party tool? TPM interviews go really deep into the T (technical) part and that is where it makes or breaks the candidate's possibility to get the job! Apart from this, you are doing a great job! Good luck and thank you!
+1
Agree. Also, not every MBA grad is a rockstar. Fillers and no depth is what I got from the video.
Perfect! Please share more TPM interviews indeed. Thanks!
We're glad you enjoyed it!
Really thanks Aravind to share your information. Great talkings - and I understand that this is a true story. (Most of the people tell make-up stories !!) I am also a technical Project Manager and have very similar issues
Thank you both Steve and Arvind ! Really helped me understand the concept of status quo and prepare my response for Amazon interview
Great question. Answers were detailed and well handled by the candidate, but it’s far from reality. It’s simply deployment’s that take days to weeks lacks of other processes not the playbook execution times. Automating playbooks speeds up things as there is no question about it. Overall answers were not convincing as per real projects and how they get executed.
It also shows there is a huge gap between candidate project environment and the new company, not sure how that will be assessed by interviewer
Thank you for this. But I felt the this answer was way too long, very vague at certain aspects. It would have been good if you had given another specific example of Project or ownership you managed
Great feedback, Madhur! As you can imagine, this is a public forum and I am not allowed to share company specifc information readily because we abide by NDAs. In the interview setting, I was able to share a lot more details and by still abiding to the NDAs I signed at my old workplace. Does that answer your concern?
6 weeks of deployment never seen that happening in past 16 yrs..
Can you also please cover interviews for non-technical Program Manager and also for User/UX Researchers. Thanks!
I loved how he framed his response to the first question, but to improve on it more technical details could have been included in the specifics of how and what was implemented. Without these it comes across as a general case study.
Hey AlanHaarhoff, thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Honestly speaking, is this level of technical depth the correct level? I personally feel it didn't go into technical details at all and I am currently preparing for interviews. Would love to hear the thought!
would love to know more about the nugget part of the interview, when should you bring it up, what book did that process come from, where can i learn more about books and leadership and how to ace interviews?
Hi , check the nugget format out at stellarpeers.com/frameworks/storytelling/.
@@khasibhatla Did you use this platform? Would you recommend?
@@praveensg No, I didn’t use the platform. You will find the platforms useful if you need to practice and improve your interviewing experience. Good luck with your interview!
Amazing video! I have my TPM interview with Amazon the coming week. Any tips to succeed? Also, I am so excited that you did share the STAR methodology so aptly.
good interview. I was hoping the interviewee explained the details of the process best explain why it was successful.
Wonderful video! Great questions and very much suitable nswers,helped in learning a lot on how to answer such questions. Thanks steve and arvind! :)
Love the high-quality production of the new videos!
Thanks!
Agreed! May I ask what webcam / setup you have?
@@chops386 Unusual question. :-)
I'm guessing you asking Stephen about his setup, as he looks pretty sharp.
If you were asking me the same question, I own a Apple 4K www.apple.com/shop/product/HMUC2ZM/A/logitech-4k-pro-magnetic-webcam-for-pro-display-xdr. Hope that helps!
Giving yourself a rating as low as 2.5/5 (13:00), wouldn't it have a bad impact on the interview, and reduce your chance of passing?
How much time does it anyway take to automate deployment process via Gearset and managing Azure DevOps for branching. Hardly a weeks time. So, the answer for the 1st question was not really a challenge. And deployment is part of the project that is defined initially when Project Plan is being documented. So, not sold.
This is great. Will you be creating more Program Management interview videos? Just my thoughts, After completing/answering the question, briefly explain how the PM framework was used for that question. I was able to catch the STAR method use but was not sure about the PM framework.
We have a bunch more videos at tryexponent.com/tpm !
IMHO, with the advent of Agile, MVP and Lean Startup - PMing is a skill that you acquire, not a framework to follow. Having said that, we still account for intent, constraints, risks, scope and timing side of things as PMI (www.pmi.org/learning/library/understanding-program-management-competence-framework-7800) recommends.
Hi Aravind, could you share a snippet of the 15-second nugget?
Hi Chirag, check the nugget format out at stellarpeers.com/frameworks/storytelling/.
Thanks for the question, it is useful.
However the “candidate answer “ was all over the place , and sounded pretentious when he tried to quote some other person.I felt it did not fit the natural flow of the answer.
Great interview Aravind. I learnt quite a bit
First to comment! Thanks a lot for your videos! They're always super informative and there are always a bunch of take aways from each video! #bettereveryday
Thanks Richard!
Can a product manager become program manager ? What could be the unlearning and challenges ?
It could have been a bit more detailed around what were the challenges..
This is a very helpful discussion and I learned a lot. THank you again.
Is it okay to quote aphorisms like Porter's 5P, Demming's PDCA etc to support one's argument as in this case ?
YES! It gives you an advantage when you take a position.
For behavioral questions such as this, I tend to rush my answers and not provide elaborate details. What are some tips to slow down and come up with a detailed yet crisp response.?
Hi monday34! Being familiar with the different types of behavioral questions and preparing some stories to answer them will help a lot. Additionally, getting someone to practice your interviews with before the actual interview is invaluable.
Exponent provides such resources and more! Feel free to check out our site: www.tryexponent.com/
All the best!
good interview. and feedback section was nice and informative. thanks both
I have this habit of looking at somewhere else too when i speak. Usually even when Im facing the interviewer my eye balls are to the floor where the interviewer is because that is usually my video call setting.
I am a non Mba,CSM,CSPO having 11 years of experience and have Project Management,BA,Salesforce CRM Consulting experience with Big4 Firms like Deloitte,EY,PwC ~ 7.5 Years
As of now i am targetting PMP in 2025 Q1.What else can i add for Big Tech Giants ??
Hey MrSayandeep, are you asking about what other experiences to add in your resume/CV to maximize your chances with big tech? If so, we've got big tech recruiters to help with that at www.tryexponent.com/resume
Really cool and effective questions and responses
What could be the reason for having a 2nd telephone interview instead of a video call interview during the covid period?
I am sorry I understand the release management process was streamlined and made effective. But I still do not understand why was it taking 3-4 weeks to deploy the project?
Rohit - We didn’t have mechanisms in place that would allow us to deploy as frequently as we would have liked to., because of the cost any deployment would incur. Manual deployments used to take anywhere from 6-8 hours every time and results are not in team’s favor if someone else runs the deployment.
Good resource, good format, but answer could have been more concise.
I was going through your paid membership. Do you have more videos like this on the portal?
Yes, we do!
very excellent video, with clear explanation of STAR method.
He's not giving straight forward answers ,what exactly he did to reduce the time for the deployment in release management
"Provide a nugget" this dude really out here telling potential employers he's going to provide them a nugget lmfao
good questions - horrible answers, lost me after 30 secs. VP top bank. you need to be clear and short.
Thanks for the feedback, Uzi. Sincerely appreciate it! I would love to hear your thoughts on what you would recommend would have been a better answer. "Clear and Short" is a little ambigious for me, and I would love to learn and be better for next time.
@@khasibhatla I think Aaravind had to withhold specifics due to confidentiality clauses that’s why answers seem generalized. Obviously he can’t disclose specifics
@uzi - if this was a 'job interview', I'd agree with you to keep it short ( ~2min max); but agreed could be more concise....especially the his response to the first question on 'status quo'.
This guy Aravind got a job because of his communication skills from this video? 💀🤡
The fuck is that thumbnail lol.
Is that Jetha lal ?
Go blue devils 😈
FUQUA!
What a load of crap. The guy is clearly lying.
Clearly, another South Indian fake master... All the experience they actually have is to fake and pass the interviewee
@@Jam.S. what a racist!! please stay wherever u are
Such folks work at Amazon? 😝😝😝
Nothing great.why people are saying good. Ordinary non working personality
This was a really crappy interview.
Feku