Google Engineering Program Manager (TPM) Behavioral Interview: Technical and People Challenges

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Watch our mock Google engineering program manager interview. Kevin Wei (Coinbase PM) asks Christina (Google Engineering Program Manager) a technical program management behavioral interview question.
To see more mock TPM interviews, you can browse our KZbin Playlist: bit.ly/2YwCeQT
- Technical question by Google PM: • Google PM - PM intervi...
- Negotiation tips: • How to Negotiate Your ...
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Chapters -
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:00:40 - Question
00:01:14 - Answer
00:10:13 - Follow-up questions
00:12:22 - Interview analysis

[@tryexponent]

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[@maynardewm]

A couple of suggestions: - Try to keep the answer shorter - As an technical manager, you aren’t just being judged on the content of your answer, but how you deliver it. They need to see your personality and how you can hold people’s attention, how you can make things fun and engaging. Basically, how you can lead and influence people.

[@0DWalker0]

The “we” will likely get you down leveled if interviewing at the Sr+ level, should be a lot more “I”. Of course this is tough to do if you’re currently in a team working towards a goal. It’s best to think as “we”, but in an interview that mindset needs to change.

[@kerenduque9930]

I think her answers were great, she clearly identified tradeoffs and justified choices which is something that a lot of interviewers look for.

[@rajadas6432]

There is no perfect answers. However thumb rule is try to wrap your answers within 180 seconds just to ensure interviewers are engaged for rest of the interview.

[@haepoioaejojaef]

Is it ok to have such a long answer like this? I thought you’re supposed to keep under 5 minutes

[@Nb61777]

No this was way too long… don’t do this in an interview that lasts usually 30 minutes.

[@22vah]

@@Nb61777 most likely the interviewer would interrupt along the way to ask clarifying questions or simply move things along if necessary. The Interviewers are typically well trained and always cognizant of time 👍🏿

[@0DWalker0]

FAANG interviews typically last 45 min - 1 hour. Most of the interview is followup questions, so you do want a robust answer. I think this answer was a bit too long, but better to error towards telling the full story the first time. Discussing specific months is too much detail, her answer could’ve been more streamlined obviously.

[@JG-sq9xg]

Lots of "We did this" and "We did that" in the answer. What specifically did you do to handle the challenges?

[@frankg5223]

Good options explanation

[@darvius]

Folks commenting are brutal 🤣

[@AnuD2]

Thanks for making this video. That was a great story but too lengthy of an answer. User STAR OR CAR style to answer, you need to drive the interview, so keep answers short so it excites the interviewer to learn more. I could break this story to multiple so I could use in different scenarios. But great job Kids!!!

[@tryexponent]

Hey Jai hind! Thanks for watching and taking the time to share your thoughts!

[@ddg170]

A lot of what “we” did, as opposed to “what I “ did

[@oompaloompa6064]

Agree. When you’re already in the team, it’s good to always use “we”, but in an interview there should be more focus on “I”.

[@PaulaAndreaGaviriaMarmolejo]

Respectfully Disagree. As a PM you need to show your collaborative spirit. Your successes or failures are not yours only. Even when it is not your fault, you still have to say "we." Go check the interview with the Google hiring manager where he specifically says the opposite of what you suggest. It definitely depends on the role though.

[@riwnodennyk]

Приємно бачити на каналі україночку! 🇺🇦 Світу потрібно більше українських продуктових та програмних менеджерів! 😍

[@reenarawat18122]

Wat can u answer if you have not faced such situation at all … can we mock it too ??😊

[@MrKanstantsin]

She is obviously reading the whole answer

[@Fellow_Gamer]

Homie on the left looks like he's staring at his food intensely, as it's cooking in the microwave.

[@muhammadsoliman8335]

answer doesn't make sense at all, if I am an interviewer I will feel its a made up situation - how come you fight with timing while resources literally wasted 3 weeks in building custom UI calendar which is used by 3% of users (prediction!!) (could've saved these 3 weeks and deliver product on time which is "short term sacrifice for long term gain"

[@shahbajkhan8045]

Why should be we make structure on experience questions

[@puneeification]

Yeah that sounded cringey and robotic as hell. Maybe Exponent should look into making people sound like actual humans rather than recite interview answer structures by rote?

[@reenarawat18122]

@@puneeification 😅

[@priyankjiet]

it looks like someone else solved the problem and she's trying to take the credit, the answer lacks depth.

[@nanthini222]

I wonder why people want to take notes always even for simple question.. i have seen some people write their own explanation in notepad by sharing the screen to the opposite person.. that doubles the time.. i am seeing such people as short memory people so they are always taking notes instead of processing it directly..

[@yalslaus]

typical program manager answer - put pressure on devs so they look good to upper management haha

[@scumpuppies]

Meal planning? At Warner Brothers/Discovery?

[@sandeep.dwivedi]

Guy got bored and seems sleepy.

[@surajray4336]

she is reading from the side screen.

[@umajaiswal6450]

I have better answers and I never got a Google call for interview 😔😔

[@tryexponent]

Hey umajaiswal6450. Sorry to hear that. Even landing an opportunity to be interviewed at FAANG companies is a huge challenge. To increase your chances, we would recommend beefing up your resume and looking for referrals into the company you want. Once you land a call for interview, you can finally show them what you can do! If you would like help with either, we are happy to help! Visit www.tryexponent.com to find out more.

[@chessmaster856]

Management talk sounds useless. Somebody who is smart and capable will do the work as we keep talking so it does not matter what we talk. And then we say great job or if it does not work say they did not do it. My planning wad flawless

[@Bloodspiller777]

Too many aah's

[@sukritidang]

Too many fillers - "aaahhh" "mmmm" - Interviewers don't really find it endearing.

[@habeebkhan6884]

She is lying. This is totally a made up answer or perhaps something that took place in her project but was done by someone else. She has no idea about what she is talking about

[@lareggiejones6617]

Ug so verbose, yawn