Hello UWPM Community!
The UWPM team poured their hearts into making ProdCon 2024 a reality, and what an incredible event it turned out to be! ProdCon was a dynamic day filled with innovative brainstorming, meaningful collaboration, invaluable networking, and thought-provoking discussions about the ever-evolving world of product management. Keep reading to relive the highlights and cherish the memories we created together this weekend!
Table of Contents
ProdCon 2024
New Grad Panel Highlights
Product Opportunities
Tech News
Essential Guide of the Week
Ponder Like a PM
🗓 ProdCon 2024 Recap!
This year, 37 teams took on an exciting challenge, exploring the transformative potential of immersive learning in the banking sector. Dive into the full details of the case below!
Link to Case (here)
Throughout the day, these talented teams worked tirelessly on their presentations, fuelled by delicious pizza and cookies generously provided by our sponsors, Domino’s and Sweet Lou’s. Adding to the excitement, attendees also enjoyed two insightful panel discussions featuring PM industry specialists, who shared invaluable advice on breaking into product management, excelling in the field, and navigating the ever-evolving PM landscape.
Here are this year’s standout winners:
🥇 1st place: Alain Lai, Daisy Tan, Jonathan Wang & Pranav Bedi
🥈 2nd place: Owen Zhang, Pranav Gopinath, Elili Marakathalingasivam & Deekshitha Kannan
🥉 3rd place: Jia Huang, Cristal Lu, Karen Zhang & Michelle Peng
Recap
Every team brought their A-game, crafting brilliant product roadmaps and showcasing incredible talent throughout the competition. A huge congratulations to our finalists, prize winners, and all participants for their outstanding efforts!
This event would not have been possible without the support of our incredible sponsors, the insights shared by our talented panelists, and the dedication of our hardworking UWPM team, who went above and beyond to ensure its success. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributed to making this event truly unforgettable.
We at UWPM are already excited and gearing up for the next ProdCon! Stay tuned, and see you there!
🔈 New Grad Panel Highlights
Our recent new grad panel featured diverse insights from four product managers with unique career paths. Here are the key takeaways:
“A lot of the skills I use in product management, I learned on the job. My STEM education gave me a problem-solving mindset, but don’t let a non-technical background hold you back—so much can be learned through experience.”
— Sarah Shabbir, Product Manager at Dayforce
Sarah highlighted the importance of adaptability in product management. While her background in Systems Design Engineering gave her a strong foundation, she emphasized that many PM skills are gained through hands-on experience. She encouraged students to focus on ownership and networking to secure opportunities.
“Companies value diversity of skills. Coming from a finance and economics background, I focused on bringing unique strengths to my team, like financial modelling and business operations expertise.”
— Craig Deng, Product Manager at Interac
Craig shared how his non-technical background allowed him to complement technical colleagues and bring a fresh perspective. His advice: highlight the unique skills you offer and demonstrate how they can fill gaps in a team’s capabilities.
“Master PM fundamentals early in your career, and only dive into trends like AI if they’re relevant to your role. It’s easy to get caught up in buzzwords, but your foundation matters most.”
— Emily Dong, Technical Product Manager at Bell
Emily discussed the importance of focusing on PM basics and applying them effectively, rather than chasing every new trend. She also shared insights from her work in AI, emphasizing the need to evaluate whether advanced technologies truly solve a problem or just add complexity.
“Having experience in different industries helps you collaborate with designers, developers, marketers, and sales teams. While you can’t know everything, a little knowledge goes a long way.”
— Sara Hosseini, Product Manager at IBM
Sara emphasized the benefits of exploring different industries early in your career. By gaining a wide range of experiences, she believes PMs can better collaborate across disciplines and adapt to various challenges in their roles.
🚨 Product Opportunities :
Still looking for a PM co-op? Look no further, UW PM has got you covered. Here are some wonderful internship opportunities! :
Meta Technical Program Manager Intern, Hardware
Pelmorex Data Product Owner Co-op
MongoDB Product Management Intern
Stay tuned for more! Wishing you a successful application journey!
📰 Tech News:
NVIDIA has nearly doubled revenue due to the powerful AI markets :
NVIDIA’s Q3 earnings soared higher than their expectations while simultaneously delivering a better-than-expected forecast for the current quarter. Revenue continues to escalate, rising at around 94% annually. Some of NVIDIA’s customers like Microsoft, OpenAI and Oracle have already begun to receive NVIDIA’s new next-generation AI chip, “Blackwell”.
Tesla’s new Supercharger hardware will speed up charging :
Tesla’s Supercharger tech has revolutionized the EV world; however, one of its drawbacks has been its maximum charge rating of 250 kW, thus limiting the charging speeds of its fleet. Soon to hit the markets is the “V4” Supercharger cabinet, a robust unit that Tesla claims has limits of 500 kW on cars and 1.2 megawatts on the Tesla Semi. The introduction of this technology will vastly boost charging speeds for the Cybertruck, and will also help other companies like Hyundai, Kia and Porsche.
📙 Essential Guide of the Week:
The Product Book:
How to Become a Great Product Manager by Carlos Gonzalez De Villaumbrosia & Josh Anon
In this edition of the ‘Essential Guide of the Week,’ our authors explore the core practices and concepts every product manager needs to excel.
From understanding your user base and defining product strategy to fostering collaboration with teams, this guide covers it all. Packed with actionable insights and practical advice from seasoned PM industry experts, it’s a treasure trove of knowledge.
Don’t miss out—this book is a must-read for anyone aspiring to break into product management or looking to elevate their PM skills to the next level!
🧑💻: Ponder like a Product Manager!
This year, ProdCon tackled a product roadmap case. In case you want the chance to undergo the product roadmap creation process yourself and understand the various aspects required to ensure the success of your product, feel free to try this sample question out. The TD case is also available for you to experiment with!
This week’s question: You’re a newly minted Product Manager at Google and are working on a new initiative ‘Neighborly’ aimed at helping people within communities find healthcare, schooling and other essential services easily. How would you go about planning a 12-month product roadmap?
This question broadly encapsulates the product creation process, urging you to delve deeper into the different revenue metrics, risk analysis and mitigation, KPIs and more. Unleash your creativity and see what you can come up with!
📌 Join our Discord Community
Want to connect with other students such as yourself interested in Product Management? Join our Discord Community, Invite Link Here: https://discord.gg/Nn9aJu2Z. Use our Discord Community to connect with other students and alumni to learn more about different opportunities in Product, practice mock interviews + resume critiques and more!
👋 Feel free to reach out
Thanks for joining us on this journey! We hope you learned something from this edition of the newsletter. Feel free to drop a line to introduce yourself and reach out if you have any questions.
Until next time,
- UWPM Team