The story of a skillsetter graduate: from entrepreneur to product manager
Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2025 10:10 am
Product Manager's Picks: The Best Articles from skillsetter
Product management
There are those who are still just googling "How to become a product manager?". There are those who got their first job as a product manager and understand the processes. And then there are us — skillsetter.
Our blog has accumulated a lot of articles about product management and careers in IT. To make it easier for you to navigate them, we have created navigation.
what's inside the article
And if you know very little about this profession, then take a look at the article Product Manager: Who is it, What does it do, and How to become one . There you will learn about job tasks, salary, and career growth. This will help you understand whether product management appeals to you.
What a product manager needs to know: pumping up hard skills
Here we teach how to create push notifications, loyalty programs and onboarding, analyze audiences and competitors, and work with hypotheses.
How to calculate the unit economics of a startup idea in 6 steps - an example of calculating the economics of a subscription app if there is no project yet. We teach you to find benchmarks and calculate Lifetime, ROMI and CAC. Inside is a ROMI calculator.
How to calculate the Unit Economy of a mobile app: a comprehensive guide - we build a tree of metrics and figure out how indicators affect each other. For each metric, we give not only a formula, but also advice on optimization.
Calculating unit economics is an important skill for a product manager
How to actually calculate the cost of attracting customers: a detailed guide to CAC - we figure out how to calculate CAC for different business models, what factors influence this indicator and how to reduce it.
How to formulate a data-driven hypothesis in 5 steps: using the example of an RPG game — in five steps we will go from finding a problem to five data-driven hypotheses for a real product. Inside is a template for systematizing hypotheses.
How to Prioritize Hypotheses Using an RPG Game as an Example: 3 Proven Frameworks — We analyze ICE Score, RICE Score, and Lean Prioritization Canvas and teach you how to choose the right framework. Inside — a template for prioritizing hypotheses.
User onboarding: why it is needed, what types there are and how to do it — we analyze five popular types of onboarding: swipes, letters, product tours, user cases and engaging onboarding. We give a guide to choosing and developing onboarding for your product.
Push notifications: what are they, why are they needed, how to do them — we tell you what kinds of push notifications there are and how to build a strategy so that people click on notifications. We give many examples of good and bad push notifications. At the end — a filled-in table template for the strategy.
push notification sending strategy
How to analyze your target audience in 4 steps: using Revolut as an example , we talk about seven personality psychotypes, teach you how to form hypotheses for your target audience, conduct an in-depth interview (with a guide with questions inside) and turn the results into Personas.
How to define positioning so that people want to buy a product — we will learn how to find emotional value and convey it to the target audience. Using Revolut as an example, we will talk about the key features of the product for which people become clients. Inside is the Marketing Mix template.about the target audience. Using Revolut as an example, we talk about the key features of the product for which people become clients. Inside is the Marketing Mix template.
Competitor Analysis: 9 Unexpected Ways to Find Insights — we tell you what to pay attention to once the basic competitor analysis is done. The list includes referral programs, user activation methods, and audience barriers. from the competitor is completed. The list includes referral programs, user activation methods and audience barriers.
How to avoid becoming a product waiter: the Lean Startup approach — a product manager should be able to filter ideas and only take on proven ones. We teach how to analyze solutions and provide a template for their evaluation.
A big guide to the subscription model: when it is needed and how to work at each stagehow to work at each stage - we figure out which products need a subscription, what difficulties you may encounter during implementation and how to work with users. We teach you how to reduce Churn Rate and reasonably increase the check. what difficulties can be encountered during implementation and how to work with users. We teach how to reduce Churn Rate and reasonably increase the check. deliberately increase the check.
funnel - five main stages in working with the audience
Problem Solving: how to solve the problem of losing clients — we tell you how to find and study the problem, prioritize ideas, implement the solution and analyze the results. Inside — a checklist for solving problems.
Loyalty program: when is it needed, what types there are and how to create one — we give many examples of loyalty programs of famous brands and consider the mechanics of receiving rewards. You will also find a guide to developing a program: from competitor analysis to testing.
Promoting apps on Google Play and the App Store: we'll get to the basics — you'll learn what ASO is, how it differs from SEO, and which products should be promoted in stores. We'll tell you how the Google Play and App Store algorithms differ, and where to start optimizing your app. Inside, there's a selection of useful materials and a promo code for a Pro plan in App Follow.
ASO promotion is a useful skill for a product manager
What is UX design and how to understand it — we tell you why it is important for a product manager to know UX, be able to test prototypes and give feedback to a designer. Inside — a selection of useful resources.
A/B testing: what it is, why it is needed and how to conduct it — we tell you in which cases an A/B test is needed and when it is better to find an alternative. We give a step-by-step guide for conducting testing. At the end — a selection of tools for setting up A/B tests.
Amplitude: How to understand product analytics from scratch - we study a tool for analyzing product metrics, build graphs and formulate hypotheses for solving the problem.
Guide to the best skillsetter articles
Our blog already has over 150 articles about product growth and careers in IT. For easy navigation, we have combined them into thematic collections.
Select a collection
How to grow in your profession: pumping up your soft skillsii: pumping up soft skillsillas
A product manager communicates with people a lot. In his work, it is useful to be able to resolve conflicts, give feedback, manage a team, and set goals - both for himself and for others. It is useful to be able to resolve conflicts, give feedback, manage a team, and set goals - both for yourself and for others. set goals - both for yourself and for others.
5 Feedback Mistakes: Examples from an Experienced ManagerNedzhera — we explain how to ask for and give feedback, give bad and good examples of communication. Inside — a selection of useful articles and books on this topic.and books on this topic.
Delegating tasks: why do it, how to do it correctly and what gets in the way - we tell you why the inability to delegate is dangerous and what tasks can be delegated to colleagues. Inside is a template of employee competencies that will help you choose the right performers for tasks.and what tasks can be delegated to colleagues. Inside is a template of employee competencies that will help you choose the right performers for tasks.dacha.
5 ways to resolve conflicts in a team — we explain why conflicts arise and consider real situations using examples from the lives of product teams. We teach how to show boundaries, name emotions, reveal the goals of manipulation and explain the consequences.
How to Set Goals to Achieve Them: A Comprehensive Guide to OKRs — an article on how to formulate an ambitious goal, choose the metrics that need to be achieved to achieve it, and build a plan. Inside — a template for OKR design.
how to set a goal
How to Manage a Team: 10 Tips from an Experienced Product Manager — examples and anti-examples of dialogues in which we give advice on how to create an atmosphere in a team, motivate employees to take responsibility, and announce that someone has been fired.
10 mistakes in development management: advice from an experienced project manager — we analyze real situations, each accompanied by a good and bad example. We provide a template for distributing the team's time in a sprint.
Free course on product management
In 3 days you will learn to think like a product and cope more successfully with tasks at work and in life
Start learning for free
Useful resources, tools and templates
Here you will find what to read and listen to in order to improve as a specialist. We have also collected useful templates, resources and free tools that will be useful for a product manager.
What to read, watch and listen to for a product manager: 179 resources — books, blogs, speeches, podcasts and Telegram channels. Each material is accompanied by a description. The resources are mainly in English, but the channels are Russian-language.
104 resources on UX/UI: everything about research, design, testing and design — the structure is the same as the previous article, but this time there are more Russian-language materials: Telegram channels, blogs, podcasts, a book and videos. At the end there is a bonus section with a game and a test.
67 free resources with statistics for market analysis and trends - consulting and analytical companies, blogs, databases, media and even Reddit. Each resource is accompanied by a link to useful research or material.
30 free tools for product managers — services for analytics, research, prototyping, and organizing teamwork. We've added guides and highlighted the limitations of free plans..
50 must-have templates in IT: for analysis, strategy, communication and management — templates for working with hypotheses, brand positioning, calculating unit economics, working with tone of voice and content. As a bonus — a CV and a table for systematizing vacancies. branding, calculating unit economics, working with tone of voice and content. As a bonus - a CV and a table for systematizing vacancies.
templates for working in IT
100 best Telegram channels about marketing, product growth and careers in ITproducts and careers in IT — channels that will help you find a suitable vacancy, build a career and learn about the experience of those who have achieved success in product or project management, marketing or business. whether in project management, marketing or business.
How to get an offer: all about interviews, portfolios and testsall about interviews, portfolios and testsportfolio and tests
This section contains materials on how to prepare a portfolio, tell about yourself in a resume and interest a recruiter, even if you are a newbie in the field. We also tell you how to behave during an interview and give test tasks.
Where to go to work: types of IT companies - we talk about the pros and cons of a startup, scale-up, corporation, agency and freelance work.
stages of company development
How to Make Your Own Pet Project — This article consists of two blocks. The first one is a case study of creating a real Pet Project — the Capoeira Daily app. The second one gives a step-by-step guide to creating your own project that you can show to your employer.
Product manager test tasks simulator — test tasks from WhatsApp, Zoom, Airbnb and 27 other well-known IT companies. From easy to difficult. You can watch and evaluate the answers of other product managers.
How to describe cases in a portfolio to pass the selection - we tell you where to draw up cases and how to formulate a case using the STAR framework. We consider each step using examples from our courses.
example of portfolio in product manager resume
Product Test - you will be tested with ten questions about product functions, metrics, user interviews and push notifications. The average result is 3 points, try to get more.
How to get an interview without experience in a new profession - how to make a recruiter pay attention to your resume. Inside, tips on how to describe motivation, demonstrate expertise and present experience through the prism of a new profession.
How to win at each stage of the selection process for a company — practical advice on how to pass the resume screening, test assignment, interview with a recruiter and product manager. We also tell you how to determine your career vector.
Projective interview questions: what they ask and how to answer - we tell you what fears an employer may have and how to overcome them. We explain how to prepare for non-standard questions and answer them correctly.
direct and projective questions
How to pass an interview: life tips from an HR specialist - we tell you what to read before the interview, how to prepare answers to questions and how to behave during the interview. We also explain how to ask for feedback after the interview to benefit from it.
Bonus
I am a product manager: three stories of a successful career path in IT - experienced specialists Nadezhda Butsaeva, Nikita Artemchuk and Vladimir Merkushev tell how they came to the profession and grew to their current positions and large-scale tasks.
Read the best articles on product management
Your email →
Subscribe
Once a week we will send a fresh digest to your email. We are read by 25,000 people
How to become a product manager: experience of skillsetter graduates
Here are some stories from our graduates. They shared their experience of job searching and gave some advice to those who are yet to do so.
How to get an offer from an IT company and create your own product: a product manager case — Igor turned a training case into a real product. This helped him get an offer five months after starting training.
pet project product
— after 5 years in business, Ilya wanted something new. And after training, he israel email list managed to get an offer after three weeks of active searching. Ilya told how it happened.
The story of a skillsetter graduate: from a student to a junior product manager — Maxim started creating his first small products while still at university, and then realized that he was doing product management. After completing the course, he responded to 33 vacancies, completed 4 test tasks, passed 3 interviews and received an offer.
Let's sum it up
If you're thinking about working in product management or are already in the field, you probably have a lot of questions. At times like these, it's important to have a friend nearby who can give you clear and practical advice.
The skillsetter blog is that friend. We team up with experts to pass on their knowledge and share working tools and templates. All so that you can immediately apply them in practice and achieve your goals.
Product management
There are those who are still just googling "How to become a product manager?". There are those who got their first job as a product manager and understand the processes. And then there are us — skillsetter.
Our blog has accumulated a lot of articles about product management and careers in IT. To make it easier for you to navigate them, we have created navigation.
what's inside the article
And if you know very little about this profession, then take a look at the article Product Manager: Who is it, What does it do, and How to become one . There you will learn about job tasks, salary, and career growth. This will help you understand whether product management appeals to you.
What a product manager needs to know: pumping up hard skills
Here we teach how to create push notifications, loyalty programs and onboarding, analyze audiences and competitors, and work with hypotheses.
How to calculate the unit economics of a startup idea in 6 steps - an example of calculating the economics of a subscription app if there is no project yet. We teach you to find benchmarks and calculate Lifetime, ROMI and CAC. Inside is a ROMI calculator.
How to calculate the Unit Economy of a mobile app: a comprehensive guide - we build a tree of metrics and figure out how indicators affect each other. For each metric, we give not only a formula, but also advice on optimization.
Calculating unit economics is an important skill for a product manager
How to actually calculate the cost of attracting customers: a detailed guide to CAC - we figure out how to calculate CAC for different business models, what factors influence this indicator and how to reduce it.
How to formulate a data-driven hypothesis in 5 steps: using the example of an RPG game — in five steps we will go from finding a problem to five data-driven hypotheses for a real product. Inside is a template for systematizing hypotheses.
How to Prioritize Hypotheses Using an RPG Game as an Example: 3 Proven Frameworks — We analyze ICE Score, RICE Score, and Lean Prioritization Canvas and teach you how to choose the right framework. Inside — a template for prioritizing hypotheses.
User onboarding: why it is needed, what types there are and how to do it — we analyze five popular types of onboarding: swipes, letters, product tours, user cases and engaging onboarding. We give a guide to choosing and developing onboarding for your product.
Push notifications: what are they, why are they needed, how to do them — we tell you what kinds of push notifications there are and how to build a strategy so that people click on notifications. We give many examples of good and bad push notifications. At the end — a filled-in table template for the strategy.
push notification sending strategy
How to analyze your target audience in 4 steps: using Revolut as an example , we talk about seven personality psychotypes, teach you how to form hypotheses for your target audience, conduct an in-depth interview (with a guide with questions inside) and turn the results into Personas.
How to define positioning so that people want to buy a product — we will learn how to find emotional value and convey it to the target audience. Using Revolut as an example, we will talk about the key features of the product for which people become clients. Inside is the Marketing Mix template.about the target audience. Using Revolut as an example, we talk about the key features of the product for which people become clients. Inside is the Marketing Mix template.
Competitor Analysis: 9 Unexpected Ways to Find Insights — we tell you what to pay attention to once the basic competitor analysis is done. The list includes referral programs, user activation methods, and audience barriers. from the competitor is completed. The list includes referral programs, user activation methods and audience barriers.
How to avoid becoming a product waiter: the Lean Startup approach — a product manager should be able to filter ideas and only take on proven ones. We teach how to analyze solutions and provide a template for their evaluation.
A big guide to the subscription model: when it is needed and how to work at each stagehow to work at each stage - we figure out which products need a subscription, what difficulties you may encounter during implementation and how to work with users. We teach you how to reduce Churn Rate and reasonably increase the check. what difficulties can be encountered during implementation and how to work with users. We teach how to reduce Churn Rate and reasonably increase the check. deliberately increase the check.
funnel - five main stages in working with the audience
Problem Solving: how to solve the problem of losing clients — we tell you how to find and study the problem, prioritize ideas, implement the solution and analyze the results. Inside — a checklist for solving problems.
Loyalty program: when is it needed, what types there are and how to create one — we give many examples of loyalty programs of famous brands and consider the mechanics of receiving rewards. You will also find a guide to developing a program: from competitor analysis to testing.
Promoting apps on Google Play and the App Store: we'll get to the basics — you'll learn what ASO is, how it differs from SEO, and which products should be promoted in stores. We'll tell you how the Google Play and App Store algorithms differ, and where to start optimizing your app. Inside, there's a selection of useful materials and a promo code for a Pro plan in App Follow.
ASO promotion is a useful skill for a product manager
What is UX design and how to understand it — we tell you why it is important for a product manager to know UX, be able to test prototypes and give feedback to a designer. Inside — a selection of useful resources.
A/B testing: what it is, why it is needed and how to conduct it — we tell you in which cases an A/B test is needed and when it is better to find an alternative. We give a step-by-step guide for conducting testing. At the end — a selection of tools for setting up A/B tests.
Amplitude: How to understand product analytics from scratch - we study a tool for analyzing product metrics, build graphs and formulate hypotheses for solving the problem.
Guide to the best skillsetter articles
Our blog already has over 150 articles about product growth and careers in IT. For easy navigation, we have combined them into thematic collections.
Select a collection
How to grow in your profession: pumping up your soft skillsii: pumping up soft skillsillas
A product manager communicates with people a lot. In his work, it is useful to be able to resolve conflicts, give feedback, manage a team, and set goals - both for himself and for others. It is useful to be able to resolve conflicts, give feedback, manage a team, and set goals - both for yourself and for others. set goals - both for yourself and for others.
5 Feedback Mistakes: Examples from an Experienced ManagerNedzhera — we explain how to ask for and give feedback, give bad and good examples of communication. Inside — a selection of useful articles and books on this topic.and books on this topic.
Delegating tasks: why do it, how to do it correctly and what gets in the way - we tell you why the inability to delegate is dangerous and what tasks can be delegated to colleagues. Inside is a template of employee competencies that will help you choose the right performers for tasks.and what tasks can be delegated to colleagues. Inside is a template of employee competencies that will help you choose the right performers for tasks.dacha.
5 ways to resolve conflicts in a team — we explain why conflicts arise and consider real situations using examples from the lives of product teams. We teach how to show boundaries, name emotions, reveal the goals of manipulation and explain the consequences.
How to Set Goals to Achieve Them: A Comprehensive Guide to OKRs — an article on how to formulate an ambitious goal, choose the metrics that need to be achieved to achieve it, and build a plan. Inside — a template for OKR design.
how to set a goal
How to Manage a Team: 10 Tips from an Experienced Product Manager — examples and anti-examples of dialogues in which we give advice on how to create an atmosphere in a team, motivate employees to take responsibility, and announce that someone has been fired.
10 mistakes in development management: advice from an experienced project manager — we analyze real situations, each accompanied by a good and bad example. We provide a template for distributing the team's time in a sprint.
Free course on product management
In 3 days you will learn to think like a product and cope more successfully with tasks at work and in life
Start learning for free
Useful resources, tools and templates
Here you will find what to read and listen to in order to improve as a specialist. We have also collected useful templates, resources and free tools that will be useful for a product manager.
What to read, watch and listen to for a product manager: 179 resources — books, blogs, speeches, podcasts and Telegram channels. Each material is accompanied by a description. The resources are mainly in English, but the channels are Russian-language.
104 resources on UX/UI: everything about research, design, testing and design — the structure is the same as the previous article, but this time there are more Russian-language materials: Telegram channels, blogs, podcasts, a book and videos. At the end there is a bonus section with a game and a test.
67 free resources with statistics for market analysis and trends - consulting and analytical companies, blogs, databases, media and even Reddit. Each resource is accompanied by a link to useful research or material.
30 free tools for product managers — services for analytics, research, prototyping, and organizing teamwork. We've added guides and highlighted the limitations of free plans..
50 must-have templates in IT: for analysis, strategy, communication and management — templates for working with hypotheses, brand positioning, calculating unit economics, working with tone of voice and content. As a bonus — a CV and a table for systematizing vacancies. branding, calculating unit economics, working with tone of voice and content. As a bonus - a CV and a table for systematizing vacancies.
templates for working in IT
100 best Telegram channels about marketing, product growth and careers in ITproducts and careers in IT — channels that will help you find a suitable vacancy, build a career and learn about the experience of those who have achieved success in product or project management, marketing or business. whether in project management, marketing or business.
How to get an offer: all about interviews, portfolios and testsall about interviews, portfolios and testsportfolio and tests
This section contains materials on how to prepare a portfolio, tell about yourself in a resume and interest a recruiter, even if you are a newbie in the field. We also tell you how to behave during an interview and give test tasks.
Where to go to work: types of IT companies - we talk about the pros and cons of a startup, scale-up, corporation, agency and freelance work.
stages of company development
How to Make Your Own Pet Project — This article consists of two blocks. The first one is a case study of creating a real Pet Project — the Capoeira Daily app. The second one gives a step-by-step guide to creating your own project that you can show to your employer.
Product manager test tasks simulator — test tasks from WhatsApp, Zoom, Airbnb and 27 other well-known IT companies. From easy to difficult. You can watch and evaluate the answers of other product managers.
How to describe cases in a portfolio to pass the selection - we tell you where to draw up cases and how to formulate a case using the STAR framework. We consider each step using examples from our courses.
example of portfolio in product manager resume
Product Test - you will be tested with ten questions about product functions, metrics, user interviews and push notifications. The average result is 3 points, try to get more.
How to get an interview without experience in a new profession - how to make a recruiter pay attention to your resume. Inside, tips on how to describe motivation, demonstrate expertise and present experience through the prism of a new profession.
How to win at each stage of the selection process for a company — practical advice on how to pass the resume screening, test assignment, interview with a recruiter and product manager. We also tell you how to determine your career vector.
Projective interview questions: what they ask and how to answer - we tell you what fears an employer may have and how to overcome them. We explain how to prepare for non-standard questions and answer them correctly.
direct and projective questions
How to pass an interview: life tips from an HR specialist - we tell you what to read before the interview, how to prepare answers to questions and how to behave during the interview. We also explain how to ask for feedback after the interview to benefit from it.
Bonus
I am a product manager: three stories of a successful career path in IT - experienced specialists Nadezhda Butsaeva, Nikita Artemchuk and Vladimir Merkushev tell how they came to the profession and grew to their current positions and large-scale tasks.
Read the best articles on product management
Your email →
Subscribe
Once a week we will send a fresh digest to your email. We are read by 25,000 people
How to become a product manager: experience of skillsetter graduates
Here are some stories from our graduates. They shared their experience of job searching and gave some advice to those who are yet to do so.
How to get an offer from an IT company and create your own product: a product manager case — Igor turned a training case into a real product. This helped him get an offer five months after starting training.
pet project product
— after 5 years in business, Ilya wanted something new. And after training, he israel email list managed to get an offer after three weeks of active searching. Ilya told how it happened.
The story of a skillsetter graduate: from a student to a junior product manager — Maxim started creating his first small products while still at university, and then realized that he was doing product management. After completing the course, he responded to 33 vacancies, completed 4 test tasks, passed 3 interviews and received an offer.
Let's sum it up
If you're thinking about working in product management or are already in the field, you probably have a lot of questions. At times like these, it's important to have a friend nearby who can give you clear and practical advice.
The skillsetter blog is that friend. We team up with experts to pass on their knowledge and share working tools and templates. All so that you can immediately apply them in practice and achieve your goals.