The ultimate guide to program manager interviews. Developed by FAANG engineers, this course offers strategies and practice with real-world questions to get interview-ready in just a few hours.

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Program managers are vital to the success of any organization, but their role varies from one organization to another. Now, you imagine the complexity and variation in the interview process and it can become overwhelming. This process is getting more competitive over time as more people are getting interested in it.

To help candidates with that, we have designed a course to crack interviews at top companies of the world: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Google, and Netflix. This course will accelerate your journey to prepare for a Technical Program Manager and Program Manager role.

Not only this, but we will also cover what hiring managers should look for in an ideal candidate.

Ace the FAANG Program Manager Interview for Beginners

Netflix has a culture of collaboration among individuals.  It fosters growth, and TPM plays a huge role in leading cross-functional efforts and influencing their team without authority. They also work on defining the roadmap and help in executing them.




# Variations of PMs in Netflix


There are a lot of variations in (T)PM roles at Netflix. As we discussed in the previous lesson, it boils down to the team and organization. Most of the positions come in the Software and Studio pool because this is the core business for Netflix.

There may not be as many  Program Manager roles in Netflix because this company is not as huge as Amazon or Google. From the TPM role, you can advance your career either into management like manager/director, or you can become a senior TPM as well. Senior TPM handles complex programs with a massive scope. Some TPM may switch their career to other roles like engineering managers or Product Managers.



From a growth perspective, the TPM role in Netflix has enough opportunities. First, let us understand various types of TPM roles in Netflix.

## Studio TPMs

Netflix has many studio partners, and it needs a lot of software to work with them.  Studio TPM works as a point of contact for the vendor and engineering team to get things done and ship out the products. They are also responsible for building the central strategy for these software and their roadmap. 
Studio TPM works as a leader to get the best out of the vendor that boosts the growth of Netflix.

## Security TPMs
Security TPM  owns the security initiatives taken in the organization. Their impact is massive and works with stakeholders that span throughout the organization to improve security.  They also set the vision and strategic goals to improve security and make Netflix secure. This role is getting more important over time due to the importance of security in the world and emerging cyberattacks.

## Game TPMs

Game TPMs drive the execution of some big launches and releases across Netflix. They leverage the insights and experience from this work to improve the underlying technologies, architecture, and operations. Also, they play a significant role in translating the user experience needs to the engineering architecture by working cross-functionally.

## Localization TPMs

Localization TPMs are responsible for localization and workflow for different regional streams.  They also work with cross-functional and matrixed teams throughout Netflix to advocate for our global members, generate insights, initiate programs, and drive international experience and localization decisions related to content.



# Interview process

The whole process takes around four to eight weeks on average. These are the detailed steps for the interview.

## Resume & referrals
We need to make sure that our CV/resume reflects the minimum qualifications in the job description. It is also good to get referrals so companies can hear what previous managers think of.

## Phone screen with a recruiter
The HR recruiter wants to verify that we know what the role is like and why we want it. We should expect to be asked typical behavioral and resume questions like, "Tell me about yourself," "Why Netflix?," or "Tell me about your current day-to-day as a Technical Program Manager."


## Phone screen: one or two interviews
There will be either one or two 45 minutes phone rounds with Hiring Manager. They want to verify if we are worth inviting for an onsite interview. Hence, the format for this round is the same as onsite.

## Onsite interview 
It is the core of the interview where we will have around five rounds where each round is 45 minutes each. Usually, there are no Leetcode style programming questions in the interview, but there is a system design round.

# Interview format

In the TPMs interview, Netflix requires a balance between Technical and Program Management skills. Overall, the evaluation is quite challenging and covers a variety of topics. But the proper preparation is essential to cracking this interview.


There are five rounds of onsite-interview after the phone screening.

## Technical round

This round focuses on system design and architecture, where we have to design the system from scratch after gathering the requirements. All these big companies have a massive user base, so scalability is significant while designing the systems.


## Technical project retrospective

In this round, the interviewer may give us a choice to deep dive into any of our past projects. It is the round where the interviewer would like to see our technical knowledge of the one-time project and how well we contributed. They may ask us cross-questions related to technical tradeoffs or resource planning etc.


## Program management
This round relies on our project management principles. The interview would like to know how well we manage stakeholders and executive the progress efficiently. Mostly, the interviewer phrases the questions hypothetically.

Interviewers want to know that we have handled projects with clear deliverables and defined start and stop points. The key to managing these programs is to structure the work, organize deliverables,  and motivate cross-functional teams. When the program is underway, we need to execute its component tasks, track and report progress, and make tradeoffs as conditions change.


## Behavioral

They will ask us behavioral questions to understand how we solve problems, work out what is important, and demonstrate our ability to reason from an initial set of information to logical conclusions. Also, we should be able to demonstrate our ability to handle ambiguity when problem solving.


## Leadership


This round focuses on how we guided teams in the past. As a TPM, we'll need to steer the program and have influence without absolute authority. The interviewer would like to see how we lead the plan and resolve conflicts when they arise.

# Tips

- Netflix has a polish culture. If you are looking to switch companies, you should consider Netflix in your list. They incentivize their employees nicely and have a consistent way for everyone. 

- If you observe, you are not getting paid enough as per the market. You can consult HR, and they look into it. They call out that few roles are more critical than others and get paid more. You can always switch roles and change teams to get paid more.

- Netflix doesn't have a forced curve or stack ranking. This culture avoids teams stab each other and running behind the stack ranking.


Explore the format of the Netflix interview for the (T)PM role in this lesson.

Before Getting Started

Introduction to TPM and PM

Interview Structure for FAANG

Learn about Project Management

Crack the Behavioral Interview (Soft Skills)

Technical Judgement (System Design for TPM)

Further Reading

Conclusion

Netflix Interview

Variations