Welcome back to all UW PM Podcast listeners! We're starting this term off with an awesome long chat that your co-host Kasey had with his former manager at SAP, José! José is not only a proud Waterloo CS and Laurier MBA grad, but he also has over 20 years of product management and cross-functional experience under his belt. His extensive journey in technical B2B software while working with sales, engineering, marketing and designers is a must listen and is a prime example of how one's PM career journey can play out throughout their career! In this episode, he'll go over and summarize his years of experience in a way that lets people learn about how product has transformed over the years and the various product-related roles in B2B software, and learn how they can better prepare themselves in this route early in their careers!

UW PM Podcast

José Ramos: Senior Product Manager at SAP

Meet Sung - a Senior Product Manager at Udemy, down in San Francisco. Today, Seeam sits down with Sung to talk more about his journey through the University of Waterloo, the ups and downs of his early co-ops, and the strategies he leveraged to break into product management. He also shares additional insights as to how you can excel within your new PM role - whether that be as a co-op or a new grad. He has tremendous experience leading product across enormous businesses like Groupon and Udemy, so you don't want to miss this episode! 

Sung Hong: Senior Product Manager at Udemy

A final episode for this semester with UW PM features Neil, who's currently an EPM at Apple! Neil's experiences at Apple are rich in content and his knowledge of product management as an intern brings amazing discussions to the table with UW PM's co-host, Kasey. Neil talks about what it takes to land a PM role, as well as the cross-functional and highly applicable experiences he's had that landed his job at Apple.

Neil Sharma: Engineering Program Manager Intern at Apple

In today's episode, Seeam sits down with Adam Thomas, the former Director of Product at Informed.co and a seasoned product author. Here, the two dive deep into Adam's story of how he discovered product management during his earlier years and then soared to become the highly reputable leader he is today. In addition to his journey, he discusses how existing PM's can give back to the community by developing the courage to publish blogs, podcasts, and other pieces to share their passions for product with the world. This is a great episode for any seasoned product managers that are looking to make the next big step to becoming an all-time great leader!

Adam Thomas: Former Director of Product at Informed.co

Kevin is a product manager on the Uber Eat's team and has extensive knowledge in product and engineering, as well as leadership activities back when he was a student at Waterloo. Being a Kleiner Perkins fellow and a founder of Hack the North (Canada's largest hackathon), he bring many great suggestions and expertise to the table. In this episode, Kasey and Kevin chat about Kevin's journey to PM and his advice to aspiring product folks!

Kevin Lau: Product Manager at Uber and Co-Founder of Hack the North

In today's episode, Seeam sits down with Kai Gandhi, the former Co-Founder of the UW PM Team and an Associate Product Manager at Verizon Media, down in San Francisco. Here, we dive deep into Kai's journey co-founding his own startup after graduation, named EPOCH. He discusses different aspects of his journey, from the ups and downs, all the way to how he leveraged his background in product management to help the company succeed. He also comments on his transition into product management, as well as his different internships at companies such as Groupon, which allowed him to reach the place he is today.

Kaivalya Gandhi: Associate Product Manager at Verizon Media

Daivik is a current Waterloo computer engineering student, PM intern at Tesla, former member of UW PM, an accomplished product author, and a podcast host himself. Today, Kasey sits down remotely (amidst the COVID-19 crisis) with Daivik and together they chat about product management responsibilities, PM job search advice for students, applications, and future outlooks and career paths!

Daivik Goel: Product Manager Intern at Tesla and Information Builders and Previous SWE Intern

Meet Jocelyn, a current PM intern at Veeva who also worked at a robotics company called Avidbots and a startup called Avail, all within a PM role. Today, Kasey sits down with Jocelyn (remotely, amidst the COVID-19 crisis) to talk about her co-op experiences, how she obtained her first co-op in PM, and how future and current students can leverage their current network and experiences to obtain their dream PM internship.

Jocelyn Trisic: Product Manager Intern at Veeva Systems, Avidbots and Avail

Mario carries with him years of experience in the product management field, as well as years of experience as a software engineer. Having worked with Veeva for 5 years, Mario is a full-time principle product manager who is a leader in the product management practice at Veeva Systems. Holding a both a degree in software engineering and an MBA, Mario talks about his path to jumping into product from the software side, the benefits of understanding software in product management, and advice to current students and graduates looking to grow into the role!

Mario Fernandopulle: Principal Product Manager at Veeva Systems and Previous Software Engineer

Today, Seeam sits down with Mark Azer, a graduating student at the University of Waterloo and former Product Manager at Datadog, BlackBerry, and SAP. Here, they discuss his transition from software engineering to product management, even covering all kinds of in-between topics such as nailing your first interview. This is a great resource for any students interested in breaking into the field!

Mark Azer: Former Product Manager Intern at Datadog, Blackberry and SAP

Hi everyone! Today Kasey sits down with Karan Jain, a student from the University of Waterloo who is a current product owner at Top Hat! Karan studies chemical engineering and shares his story of how he got into product management, and awesome advice for anyone who wants to pursue the role and nail the interview. In this episode, Kasey and Karan also chat about Karan's different experiences in his internships and the different PM roles they have both encountered, as well as share other general advice on becoming an awesome product manager intern!

Karan Jain: Product Owner Intern at Top Hat

Hello again! Today's episode features former podcast host Nick Yang and the featured guest, Anish Ganesh, who is a current Product Manager at Rangle.io! Rangle.io is a digital transformation consultancy company headquartered in Toronto! In this episode, Nick and Anish discuss both their experiences in product, how Anish got into product management, and tips and advice for anyone looking to get into product management and what the best traits of an ideal PM should be!

Anish Ganesh: Product Manager at Rangle.io

Hey everyone! Meet Ashwinder Cheema, a current product manager Intern at SAP and a former product manager intern at Blackberry Messenger! Ashwinder has a very great internship portfolio under his name including data and project-related gigs at Sun Life Financial and the Canadian Government. He sits down with Kasey Fu, one of the podcast hosts for this series to talk about his experience in his internships, how he got into product, his experiences in both B2B product management and B2C product management, and how other aspiring students can obtain that awesome product internship!

Ashwinder Cheema: Product Manager Intern at SAP

Hey everyone! Meet Prashant Bagga, a former product manager at Microsoft based in Canada. He brings and shares with us years of experience from his past internships, especially his most recent venture in product at Microsoft! He explains how he got into Product, what the role means to him, and how aspiring students can also put the effort to become a product manager at their dream technology company.

Prashant Bagga: Former Product Manager Intern at Microsoft

Hey everyone!  Meet Max Vu, a current student at the University of Waterloo studying a unique combination of biotechnology and economics. Max has worked at several interesting career-changing placements, including a start-up at Velocity called Medella Health, Manulife as a Project Coordinator, and Microsoft as a Product Marketing Manager. This episode will focus mainly on Max's experience in product at Microsoft, his most recent internship.

Max Vu: Former Product Marketing Manager Intern at Microsoft

Learning about product management here at the University of Waterloo.