Microsoft Program Manager Overview: Everything You Need to Know From Application to Interview
The Microsoft Interview Process
What is Program Management? At Microsoft, PM stands for Program Manager. This is different from other tech companies, where PM stands for Product Manager. Program Managers do all of the things required of a Product Manager, like
- talking to customers
- conducting competitive analysis and strategy to tackle the market
- crafting a product roadmap
- prioritizing features to build
- working with design & engineering to build the features
- doubling down on the growth as you launch and track success metrics
The main difference between the two roles is that Program Managers will go deeper into the technical requirements when defining the product roadmap and working with design & engineering. There are many products that Microsoft builds that are lower on the technical stack (i.e. hardware products like Surface, operating systems like Windows, and cloud computing systems like Azure), which requires a deeper technical understanding.
What is the PM Interview Process?
The Program Manager interview process at Microsoft typically takes anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks and is outlined below. Check out this resource for more detailed information.
- First Round (Phone): Recruiter screen (20 minutes)
- Second Round (1 Video Call): One 45-minute interview that usually a mix of Product Design and Behavioral questions.
- Final Round (Onsite): Four 45-minute interviews that can be Product Design, Strategy, Behavioral, or Technical.
Advice for breaking into Product Management
Looking back on my journey into product management, it fundamentally comes down to 3 battles.
The First Battle: Actually Getting the Interview
When I first heard about Product Management, I had no idea what PM was or where to start learning about it, let alone how to get an interview for the role. I wasted a lot of time talking to people to slowly piece together information on how to stand out from others, get referrals at tech companies, and perfect my resume to demonstrate my value.
The Second Battle: Excelling at Product Interviews
I quickly realized that PM interviews were really different from software engineering, consulting, and other career tracks that I had experienced in the past. When preparing, I felt overwhelmed by all of the different questions, frameworks, and industry specific knowledge that I was expected to know. There were always curveball questions that threw me off and it was very difficult to structure my responses after I was rattled.
The Third Battle: Being the Right Fit for your Dream Company
I focused on learning the different types of questions and how to tackle them, but in doing so, I never found enough time to research and understand the products, strategic roadmap, financials, and other important facts for all of the companies that I was interviewing at.
In Summary:
This whole process was very hush-hush, and I found that there was nothing existing on the market to walk through this process step-by-step. So, when Product Alliance approached me, I was impressed with their course outlines and how well they understood the pain points that someone breaking into product management would face. Product Alliance offers three core courses that help you regardless of where you are in your PM journey:
Breaking into Product Management
If you are interested in product management but don’t know where to start or aren’t landing interviews, then this course is for you. It will kickstart your career as a PM by helping you:
- Discover unique activities and projects worth pursuing to stand out
- Learn actionable techniques to get referrals at any company
- Understand powerful LinkedIn strategies which will make PM recruiters reach out to you
- Craft the ultimate product resume to demonstrate your value.
Hacking the PM Interview
If you are overwhelmed by all the different questions you may get asked during the product management interview and want to learn from top Product Managers how they answer ANY question thrown their way, then this course is for you. It sheds light on:
- The most commonly asked product questions combined with comprehensive answers
- Frameworks and whiteboarding techniques to structure your responses
- The proven formula for standing out in an interview, as revealed by calibrated product management interviewers
- Strategies to rapidly build rapport with interviewers to make them vouch for you
Specific Company Deep Dives
If you are struggling to research and understand the companies you are interviewing at or want the inside scoop for nearly 2 dozen top companies, then this course is for you. This course includes:
- Exclusive interviews with product managers at each top company
- The most commonly asked PM interview questions for each company — see sample
- Core study guides for each company’s strategic roadmap, financials, and other important facts — see sample
I worked with top Product Managers from Google, Facebook, Amazon, Airbnb, and a dozen more top companies to film the content for these courses and record high quality answers to over 70 product questions that you are likely to get during your actual interview.
My Background: How did I realize I wanted to be a Product Manager
Let me start by telling you a little bit about myself: My name is Aditya Agashe and I have been a PM at Microsoft for over 3 years now. I am the co-author of two bestselling books — the first, Swipe to Unlock, is on understanding technology and business strategy, and the second, Product Management’s Sacred Seven, teaches the core skills and knowledge required to be a world class PM. Several top companies including Google, Facebook, Uber, and more recommend my books as a preparatory read to all their PM interview candidates.
But how did I end up in Product Management?
At Cornell University, I was involved in the entrepreneurship community and one of my first jobs was working sales at a student startup called Speare, which built a news recommendation technology for publishers to improve time spent on their news site.
I was cold calling and emailing news publishers, and as I started talking to more and more people at these publishing companies, I quickly realized that we weren’t building the right product. I started to influence the engineering team to build an analytics dashboard, so that we could measure our success against their existing tools and allow journalists to splice by audience segments. Slowly, I started leading the Product team and was able to onboard 7 large publishers to our platform, like The Wall Street Journal and Boston Globe.
That’s when I first realized what I was truly passionate about: empathizing with a person to understand their biggest pain point, interpreting how they are currently bridging that gap, and developing a solution to fit their needs. I found that studying Computer Science and Business allowed me to keep exploring this interest, learn about technology, and understand how products are built.
How can you build your PM skills? As I starting getting familiar with the PM industry, I applied these skills by working on side projects. A side project is just something that you work on outside of school or work that shows that you can take initiative. When working on these products, try to play the role of a Product Manager — lead the team to build the right set of features for your users. There are plenty of ways to find projects to work on, some examples:
- Working on a startup idea that you and your friends are passionate about
- Joining a club that builds products for local communities
- Leading your group in a class project
- Internships
- Volunteering to improve the technology a nonprofit uses
Having side projects is really helpful for behavioral questions that you will be asked in interviews.
Now, I bring this passion to my work at Microsoft where I am one of the youngest PMs working on the Azure growth team. My team builds hybrid features that help customers adopt cloud technologies and increase our market share. Our work is regularly cited by Satya (our CEO) in earnings calls.
How do you like being a PM at Microsoft? I love being a Program Manager — it’s an amazing feeling getting to help shape products that literally affects people worldwide. Plus, you get to work with some of the most brilliant people in the world and get delicious local food. If you ever visit Microsoft’s Redmond campus, I highly recommend going to In.gredients (gourmet, seasonal 3-course meals for a flat $15 that rotate every three weeks in Building 34).
I am totally not biased because I work here 😊
