To get a Product Management job, you need to study for the interview “test.” These are the best product management interview books that will help you get prepared. Product management interviews are disconnected from what you do on the job you still need to “test” in. Like studying for the GMATs, to get into school. Do you need to know how to calculate the legs of a triangle for school? Who knows, but you’ll need to know to enter. These books will show you what you need for the PM interview.
PM Interview Success Is All In The Prep
Interviews do nothing to tell if you’re a good Product Manager. Great product managers fail interviews without an interview framework or scenario prep. Conversely, bad product managers can get the job if they prepare well. It’s a sad fact that interviewing process has come to this. You shouldn’t need an interview book to prep if you’ve been doing the job for 10+ years.
Even if you can BS well, you will still be caught off guard by the frameworks they expect you to use. The moral of the story is that you need to prep for this interview format to get the job. Check out this Blind post where an experienced product manager couldn’t pass the interviews but got multiple offers after prep.
Engineers study leetcode, but product managers need to study for “product sense.” Sometimes people study for months before a PM interview.
Product Management Interview Books
Here are some product management interview books to help with these interviews. These books will cover what you need to pass the interviews, not how to do product management. The recommended books each tackle a different aspect of the interview and process.
1. Cracking the PM Interview Book
Cracking the PM Interview is one of the best interview books. It is a staple for studying product management interviews. It’s the OG and recommended by everyone as a must-read. If you’re going to read one book on product management interviews, cracking the pm interview is it.
Why this book is good for product management interviews
This book is awesome because it covers specific tech companies’ end-to-end job-searching processes for product managers. It’s quite comprehensive and covers everything from defining a PM, resume writing, and gaining job experience to actual interview responses. It will get you familiar with the product management recruiting process at large companies like Google, Meta, and startups.
What interview questions this book will help with
- How do I write my resume if I’m transitioning from another field?
- How to create a product management job “pitch.”
- Behavioral Interview questions (strengths & weaknesses)
Free Alternative to Cracking the PM Interview
Most of us don’t want to pay for resources. The author has posted a good summary on her youtube channel that covers a lot of the material.
2. Decode and Conquer
Decode and conquer is another staple product management interview book. Cracking the PM interview explains the entire interview process; Decode and Conquer dives into the product sense case study questions. The book is the originator of the famous “CIRCLES” framework method product sense questions.
Why this book is good
This book will prepare you for the product design questions. Decode And Conquer lays out the framework to answer product design questions. This book teaches you to answer them and gives specific examples of questions with full answers.
What interview questions this book will help with
- What is your favorite product, and why?
- You’re the CEO of Meta. How would you design a travel product?
- What metrics would you track for Spotify?
Free Alternative to Decode and Conquer
Check out Lewis Lin’s youtube to learn the basic frameworks covered in the books.
3. The Product Manager Interview: 164 Actual Questions and Answers
This book is from the same author as Decode and Conquer. “The Product Manager Interview” is not the book you want to use when starting your prep. This book is meant to give you more practice when you have a good grasp of answering product interview questions. It’s like a brain dump of sample interview questions and answers.
Why this interview book is good
This book is great because it solves the question of what companies ask during PM Interviews. It is No frills, just 164 questions, and full detailed answers. This book may be the PM equivalent of leet code. It will get you further practice with the product management interview questions at large companies like Google, Meta, and startups.
What interview questions this book will help with
- How much does an Uber driver make in a day?
- How would you redesign the Meta news feed?
- Design a better Starbucks
Additional Interview Practice
For additional interview questions practice, check out our 99 interview questions. Once you have a good understanding of the questions, the next step is to do mock interviews. Join our own Discord channel for anonymous mock pairing, or check out the master list of product management books and videos for more resources.