Upraised Product Management CAP Program Reality

Summary : Pros:

1. Structured Learning: Well-organized curriculum.
2. Mentor Interactions: Weekly mentorship during PRD preparation.
3. Mock Interviews: Six mock interviews with current PMs, which aid in improving interview readiness.

Cons:

1. No Job Guarantee: Despite claims, securing a PM job isn't assured.
2. Placement Issues:

• No exclusive hiring partnerships with companies.
• Placement strategy involves sending bulk emails to recruiters, not curated job opportunities.
• Placements mostly benefited earlier cohorts during favorable hiring seasons.

Detailed Version - TLDR :

I was part of the Upraised Product Management Program CAP a few months back. The program is around 4 months long. Now, they seem to have two programs - one for freshers and one for experienced. The fee was around 2L back then.

I was an experienced professional as a PM mostly in B2B and not in startups. My main reason for joining the program was to get interview calls from good companies and to have good prep for the interviews.

Few things that they don’t tell before you join the program :

• They will make you sign an agreement which tells:
• They can get you max. of 6 interview calls from companies.
• If you are selected in any of these interviews, they will not get you any interviews after that.
• Even if you don’t like the company you are selected for, it’s done.
• You will have 6 mock interviews from PMs from different companies. You will have to get “Yes, I will hire” feedback from 3 of such interviews. If you don’t get you will not be proceeded to placements They will refund around 70k if they don't get a job even after completing the program. So, they don’t have a downside. They will get at least 1L from every person even if they don’t deliver what they promised - a PM job.

This is my experience with the program.

One of the main USPs of the program is to get a PM job. But, the reality is totally different. They charged around 2L then.

Pros : The program is quite structured. Weekly Interaction with Mentors during PRD preparation is good. To have the 6 mock interviews with current PMs is good. This helps in interview prep.

Cons : There is no guarantee of getting a job even after you excel in the program. Their USP of getting a PM job is farce.

Placement Process: Once you complete the learning program achieving all the milestones, you will be eligible for placement. They do a review of your resume and have a tool which can help to prepare Resume in standard format.

They don’t have any exclusive partnerships with companies to hire. They have some tools where they send bulk emails to recruiters. That’s all. They will ask you to send automated emails to companies. In the home page, they have a status of 4 folks who were working in different companies who are part of their PM program. They got their first PM job in the peak 2020-21-22 season where companies hired left right and center. None of them from recent cohorts. You can check for yourselves.

This was the structure then.

General advice for PMs :

PM is a high stress job with lots of accountability. There are very very few PM opportunities in the market.

Please work as a developer, QA, analyst or any other role and see what a PM does. Then decide if you want to be a PM.

If you think you can do strategy as a PM, you will be heartbroken. You will be just asked to ship features in the initial years.