Two of our APMs share their favorite aspects of the Yahoo APM program. Emily, an APM2, shares her perspective having been in the program for a year and Michelle, an APM1, shares her thoughts coming in to the program.
Emily, an APM2 (class of ‘21), shares her thoughts on the resources and opportunities made available through the APM program.
Before joining Verizon Media’s APM program I heard people say that joining one of these programs is like getting paid to go to business school, and after some time at this company, I can definitely confirm that it’s true.
We learn on the job through being on high-impact roles, and we participate in workshops led by professors from Stanford Business School. We receive executive training through our external career coach and internal executive sponsor. Furthermore, during quarterly jamming sessions with our CEO, we learn about the top priorities at the company and in our industry and devise strategies to align our products to our company’s charter.
Through our roles, we’re connected to so many talented people who provide mentorship, advice and feedback from their role’s perspective which allow us to create better, actionable plans and products. We have a hand in ideation, implementation, marketing and verification which allows us to become experts in our work.
If I had to pick one favorite aspect, I would say having face time with the CEO breathes new inspiration and energy into our work. Our CEO can quickly dive to the core of our products and help us examine and troubleshoot from a bird's eye perspective that comes with years of experience.
Because our company keeps its APM cohorts small, I believe that we get more personal attention and all the players in the program, from the APM committee to the CEO, want to see us succeed on our respective projects and paths. It’s super special to have that much attention on career development in a recent grad role and I can already see how it’s paying off for our recent APM alumni.
Michelle, an APM1 (class of ‘22) describes her experience with the mentorship programs offered to APMs.
Coming from a small liberal arts college background, I deeply believe in the value of having a close-knit community, and the sentiment that Quality > Quantity. Although I'm early in my career with the Yahoo APM program, I can already tell that the program does an amazing job of fostering community in every way.
First, the program already has tons of established mentorship programs, such as the:
APM Buddy → APMs who are a class above you, who are there to give you everyday advice, tips & tricks on how to make the most of your APM program, and more
Company Mentor → senior/director-level PMs who have lots of industry experience under their belt, who can help give your additional career guidance
Professional Coach → an external coach that will help you level up your leadership skills, covering topics from presentation to negotiation skills
... just to name a few!
Secondly, the small cohort size (~4-6 APMs each year) inherently lends itself to close connections. I've felt that many of the older APMs have truly invested me as both a person and as an APM, and really feel welcomed into the larger APM Family. This year, the older APMs even designed a "PM 101" training course for our first couple months, which has been amazing! I don't think I would've gotten this same level of time, energy, and attention if I were, for example, one of 50 APMs in the incoming class.
Overall, both the formal and informal channels of mentorship I've received from the program have been truly transformative, and have easily been the best part of the program thus far. I'm so excited for what's next!