How 5 teams designed, built, and launched 0 to 1 products by collaborating cross-functionally to gain real-world and industry experience
Want to join us for the next Product Accelerator cohort? Attend our Q&A session and learn more 👈
🎁 What will you find in this blog today?
What did we accomplish as a community in 2022?
A recap of Fall 2022 cohort pitch day and product demos
Application deadlines
The Fall 2022 Cohort just wrapped up last Friday, October 28th. This was an opportunity to see the magic that happens when people from all over the world across different backgrounds and experiences come together to learn, grow, and launch products without any prior experience.
🚀 What did we accomplish as a community in 2022?
Our mission at PMDojo from day one has been to make product careers more equal, accessible, diverse, and inclusive. We all know the biggest barrier for anyone looking to transition into a tech or product role is the classic "chicken and egg problem". You need the experience to get the role, BUT you need the role to build experience. We do this by creating opportunities for people across the world to learn and gain real-world and industry experience in a product role so that they can accelerate their careers.
PMDojo is a learning community designed for:
Professionals looking to pivot into product roles
Early career transitioners
UX Researchers, UX Designers, or Software developers who want to reskill & gain real-world experience
Experienced product professionals looking to gain end-to-end experience or switch domains
Builders, side hustlers, or bootstrapped entrepreneurs
We support people from diverse backgrounds, experiences, and learning abilities (including neurodiverse).
🫶 What did we accomplish as a community in 2022?
We are incredibly proud of everything that our community has achieved in such a short time. Of course, this would not have been possible without the incredible support of our mentors, alumni, fellows, and industry partners.
We launched our FREE Community:
We are incredibly proud to handcraft a community to empower people globally to not just succeed in a product career but thrive. This is why we offer the following benefits that are ✨100% FREE ✨ to our community members via our bi-weekly newsletter:
🚀 Save your spots to PMDojo exclusive events before they are open publicly. Each of our events has limited spots to create a safe space
🚀 Get priority access to office hours for free with Industry Leaders
🚀 Get exclusive access to the latest jobs
🚀 Join networking sessions with community members
🚀 Curated tips and advice from Sr. leaders in the industry
🚀 Connect with like-minded people to work on side projects
PS: We are getting ready to host speakers like Marty Cagan in the coming weeks. So if you would like to join us, please do not forget to sign up.
We improved the different learning tracks in the Product Accelerator programs:
We believe everyone learns differently and each of our learning goals is different. This is why we avoid a cookie-cutter approach to upskilling as it is really not effective. In PMDojo, we have the following 3 unique learning tracks to support and empower our community members:
Lite Track: Build a compelling portfolio where you dig deep into problem discovery to build a compelling portfolio in 6 weeks. Ideal for students and early career transitioners looking to build a portfolio in Product Management, UX Design or UX Research. You don't have to wait for a cohort and can join at any time. Check out the application details here.
Core Track: Pitch a problem idea and collaborate as a cross-functional team to ideate, design, build and launch a live product in 10 weeks. Ideal for those looking to get experience in Product Management, UX Design, UX Research, or Software Development. This is a cohort-based program and we also have a few need and merit-based scholarships that can pay up to 15% of the program fees. You can see the application deadlines here.
Industry Track: Get matched up with a real company and cross-functional team to ideate, design, build and launch a live product in 10 weeks. Ideal for those looking to get experience in Product Management, UX Design, UX Research, or Software Development. This is a cohort-based program. You can see the application deadlines here.
We got featured in the media for our work:
Our work is getting recognized in the industry and we were recently featured in a number of media publications.
A recap of Fall 2022 cohort pitch day
We had 23 Product Fellows from different backgrounds and walks of life in the Fall 2022 cohort. All of them had one thing in common: they were hungry to stand out in their career, learn in an immersive way and gain real-world experience to either grow or transition into product roles. Some had completed formal courses or certifications in the past, but they wanted to fill the following gaps:
Lack of direct experience in product roles
Limited confidence and self-doubt
Community and tribe to champion them
Effective networking that doesn't rely on "cold" messages
Rejections from interviews or not receiving interviews at all
The feeling is surreal and the energy is palpable every time a new feature or product launches in the market. The same excitement can be seen on our end-of-cohort Pitch Day. 🥳. Many people from around the world joined us, which left us even more inspired. Launching a product in the real world gives you skills and confidence unlike any other. This is not the same as working on "fake projects", doing case studies, or some fun side projects. The stakes are high. The learnings from one of the teams signify the extent of the learning and growth that happened over the last 10 weeks.
PS: Are you a recruiter or a Hiring Manager? Reach out if you want to be connected with any of our Fellows or Alumni. There is ZERO cost to companies who want to hire from PMDojo.
We had 5 different product teams, each of which was diverse and cross-functional from around the world such as India, Kenya, Canada, Israel, and the US. Let us look at key highlights from each of the team demos and pitches:
SkillsCompass (Core Track) is a web app that helps job-seekers map their transferable skills to in-demand tech roles, learn about tech careers, and identify development areas needed for their target roles.
Funware (Industry Track) is a web app that helps team leads improve remote ideation and collaboration within their teams by leveraging the science of fun in a virtual workshop setting. This team was matched up with a company called Funworks.
You Matter (Industry Track) is a web app that helps working professionals take charge of their well-being through journaling. This team was matched up with an AI-based mental health company called Emotewell.
Humanz Mediate (Industry Track) is a web app that helps clients of a company called Humanz Mediate brainstorm ideas to help them during dispute resolution aka the mediation process.
Heritage Education (Industry Track) is a web app that helps language learners receive feedback from language teachers after they have taken a 4-week intermediate course learning a particular language.
Each of our Fellows' journeys blew us away. 💫 Being able to see the growth in just 10 weeks is amazing. Their different perspectives encouraged divergent thinking, collaboration, and out-of-the-box creativity, which led to the launch of their first real products in just 10 weeks! 🚀
We already have a number of Fellows from this cohort who either have transitioned into a product role or actively interviewing. We can't wait to share some success stories in the coming weeks. 🔥🔥🔥
Information about PMDojo Applications
PMDojo offers incredible opportunities that have the power to change the trajectory of people's lives. 🤩🎉 We are really excited to welcome our new Fellows who are joining us in PMDojo.
You can join us in either of the 3 learning tracks in PMDojo. While the Core and Industry Tracks are cohort-based programs, our Lite Track can be started at any time. So hurry up and send in your application now! It is a great time to skill up when companies will have new budgets in 2023 for new hiring.
If you or someone you know wants to get real-world product experience in an immersive way, join PMDojo or share this with them. 🔥
Applications are closing for our upcoming cohort. We still have a few spots left.
➡️ Send in your application here: https://bit.ly/37AzaJ3
➡️ Join us for our next Q&A Session to learn more: https://bit.ly/3uJn2xG
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