Contributor: Shivani Tripathi (Foster, ‘22)
After finishing the first year of his MBA program at Foster School of Business, Sarodik Samaddar (Foster, ‘21) spent his summer as a Senior Product Manager – Technical intern at Amazon. During the first year of his MBA program, Sarodik focused on experiential learning opportunities and chose electives that would help him capitalize on his MBA internship while learning the ropes of Product Management. In this interview, Sarodik shared his in-detail approach to landing a PM internship at Amazon and advice for the upcoming MBA interns.
Shivani: Tell us about your pre-MBA background and why you chose UW Foster?
Before my MBA, I had worked mostly in Technology Consulting for almost 5 years. I had worked in firms such as PwC and Sapient Consulting in devising and strategizing B2B and B2C technological solutions and building clients’ digital capabilities. In these roles, I was deeply involved in the Product delivery process from customer research and ideation to product launch and monitoring. Thus, I would say I had built up the foundations of some of the product skills and I wanted to take that to the next level through my MBA.
In terms of selecting a b-school, I had done my share of research to find a school that would meet my needs. I decided to go ahead with Foster because
- Amongst the top B-schools, Foster had a small class cohort and a highly supportive student community which really appealed to me.
- The curriculum at Foster had just the right mix – core business skills, leadership development opportunities and experiential learning opportunities.
- I wanted a b-school that had strong ties to the tech community and could provide me avenues and opportunities for a career in the product after my MBA.
- I had worked with clients in the PNW before and the location aspect appealed to me greatly
- In short, Foster provided me with the right ROI prospects and growth opportunities after my MBA and was, in the end, the obvious choice for me.
Shivani: What motivated you to join Amazon as a Sr. Product Manager – Technical Products intern?
Amazon is the kind of brand that professionals in our generation have always wanted to be associated with. For me, it was no different. However, I did not have a clear idea of what the Sr PMT role at Amazon would entail. That’s when I decided to reach out to PMTs at Amazon both from Foster and outside of it. I even had the opportunity to engage with PMTs through alumni meet sessions organized by Foster. Listening to their stories and the kind of work that they did on a daily basis really appealed to me. This was work for which I had the foundational experiences required and work that I would enjoy doing while simultaneously positively impacting many customers. The alignment of my experiences and goals with the responsibilities of the PMT is what motivated me to seek out this role. During my work during the internship, those thoughts were affirmed as I got the opportunity to engage in the exact same kind of challenges and I enjoyed the experience thoroughly.
Shivani: How did the first-year MBA experience help you during the internship?
The courses and experiential learning opportunities during my First Year were of great use to me during my internship. First of all, the classes in Finance and Marketing provided me with the cross-functional know-how that I would use on a daily basis to interact with different teams within my org. My Applied Strategy project gave me the opportunity to explore strategic avenues for a business problem and create strategic roadmaps for products. This experience came in handy when I was working on my own product during the internship. A few of the electives, especially Consumer Insights, was of paramount utility to me. Researching customer needs and the overall product market is something that a Product Manager is expected to frequently engage in and the tools and methodologies I learnt from this class were of direct utility to me. Finally, working within diverse teams at Foster paved the way for me successfully navigating the competing demands of different stakeholders during my internship.
Shivani: How did you prepare for the internship recruitment process?
I had tried to be as methodical as I could during my preparation. This preparation had three key aspects
- Research – I tried to gather as much relevant information as I could about the PMT role before I applied. This included talking to Foster alums and industry professionals to understand the dynamics of the role, the challenges therein and the ways to succeed in that role. Gaining this foundational knowledge, allowed me to pinpoint the aspects of my experiences that were relevant to the role and that helped me craft my stories better.
- Story/Narrative creation – I put in quite a bit of work in crafting my stories. I started with identifying the sum of experiences that I had gathered over my career and then breaking those experiences up into distinct narratives. Once I had these story points in place, I tried to associate these stories with common questions asked during the behavioural interview phase. Once I had made that association, I then meticulously elaborated these stories out into a STAR (or sometimes RSTAR) format, specifying the key talking points in each step and writing them out. I was also attentive to address specific follow-ups that may be asked for each question so as not to be caught off-guard.
- Mock interview preparation – It was not only enough to have compiled your stories. The aspect of the behavioural interview is not to judge your stories themselves but you as the person. So I engaged in mock interviews with our advisors in the Career Management Office. I made it a point to perform at least two mocks a week. I also made sure that I did interviews with multiple CM coaches so as not to be restricted in terms of feedback. Finally, it was incorporating the feedback and incrementally improving myself that was the most important aspect of the exercise. I kept detailed notes on feedback and asked coaches to be aware of these during the subsequent interview session. Apart from CM, I also did quite a few interviews with my peers and second years, so as to benefit from their interview experiences.
Shivani: What were some key challenges in interning virtually?
I would say that none of us was really prepared to engage in a virtual internship at the time that COVID-19 was at its peak in the US. Thus, we had to adapt and learn on the fly. It required some amount of flexibility to change our viewpoints and conceptions and we had t do the same during the internship itself. That being said, a few challenges that I personally faced were as follows
- The aspect of building a sense of community over a virtual medium was somewhat challenging. I was working with different cross-functional stakeholders in my internship and not being able to talk up to them and engage in impromptu conversations was a missed opportunity for me.
- I was also challenged in not being able to assess the strategic contribution of my work in the overall context of Amazon Alexa. These ideas are gained by again talking to different stakeholders (and sometimes even customers) and the virtual experience deprived of that opportunity.
Shivani: What’s your advice to the 2021 MBA PM summer interns?
There is very little I can say that you already haven’t heard from some other credible source. But there are a few pointers I would like to mention.
- Be flexible. Do not go into your internship with a fixed mindset of only willing to learn certain things and being inclined to disregard other responsibilities. Remember, the internship is a huge learning experience and you should be ready to absorb multiple responsibilities/opportunities that this role affords you. Hence, adopt that growth mindset.
- Be proactive. Especially within a Product Manager role, your work is not only to build/develop your product but also to create the strategic roadmap for it. Always keep on asking yourself “What next?” and keep on searching for solutions that will delight your customers even more.
- Act professionally. You should not consider the internship to be a 3-month short-term gig. Rather act as if you are a full-blown employee at the company you are interning in. Adopt the mindset of leaders and colleagues within the company and display traits that are at the core of the vision and mission of the company. You will see it becomes easy for you to integrate and work alongside everybody.
- Have fun. At the end of the day, make sure to make your internship as pleasingly memorable as you can make it. Make new friends, learn new skills, adopt new challenges and wear new hats. Be sure to come out stronger professionally and happier personally after your internship.