The Biggest Challenge for PMs: The Technical Interview

A lot of PMs struggle with the technical interview round.

This is by far the most common rating I observed internally.

Here’s the 3 rubric areas and what’s going on:

Rubric Area 1 — How you work with engineers

It’s a timeless PM skill. Do you know how to work with engineers?

Interviewers usually zone in on:

• Do you roll-up your sleeves or are you hands-off?
• Do you understand an engineer’s workflow and process?
• Are you able to specify features in the required detail?

Some people test this with case studiess too, but almost everyone tests this with behavioural questions.

Most PMs do alright on this section.

Rubric Area 2 — Depth of your technical knowledge

The second thing that interviewers look at is: what is the edge of your knowledge? Where does your technical knowledge end?

It’s all about understanding:

• Do you know what takes a long time and what is complex?
• Can you get technical?
• Can you have conversations with engineers about technical concepts
• Will you ask dumb questions to engineering or will you be conversant?

This is where a high number of PMs perform way worse than they think. The bar for a great response is like a software engineer (SWE).

Rubric Area 3 — How you bridge technical concepts with the user

Interviewers want to make sure you understood the technical concepts of how products are built: APIs, Databases, the internet’s infrastructure, frontend and backend.

The goal is to make sure you understand how those technicalities will influence the product experience for the users.

So expect them to test:

• Can you bridge how the technical complexities will affect the product experience?
• Can you understand technical concepts that enable you to make a strategic decision?
• Can you simplify technical concepts to cross-functional partners and leadership?

Most PMs do well here.

It’s the depth of technical knowledge where people fail.

Use this guide to understand how to not fail in such interviews.