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At a glance
- Before: Full-stack developer at Titan and TransUnion for over four years
- Now: Associate Product Manager at TVS Credit
- Program: NextLeap Product Manager Fellowship, studied alongside a full-time job
- What made the difference: A daily peer study group and a PRD prepared before interviews
- Biggest lesson: "Once you know the question properly, half of the problem is solved."
"I started questioning that is this right, that where I am being as a developer." Danush spent over four years building software at Titan and TransUnion, and started wondering where ideas originate. His move from full-stack developer to product manager took a fellowship, a nightly study group and some early interview mistakes. He shared the lessons on the NextLeap Alumni Podcast.
How did Danush go from full-stack developer to product manager?
By watching how products get built and wanting to be closer to the idea. In 2020, while at Titan, offline stores were shutting during Covid and Titan was building up its e-commerce business. Danush interacted with senior people and learned how a product goes from 0 to 1, 1 to 10 and 10 to 100. "The scale up is something massive."
He loved development, he says, but he felt he should be where the idea originates. The inspiration came in 2020, and he acted in 2022, when he researched options while at TransUnion and joined the NextLeap fellowship. He says many competitors existed, but NextLeap stood out for its standard.
How did he study product management alongside a full-time job?
By following the weekly timetable. Danush says the Product Manager Fellowship has structured classes and assignments, so you do not have to work out what to study. If you give it one quality hour a day, he says, you can keep a good pace.
How did he build a network in a cohort of 350?
By finding a small group that shared his mindset. Danush was in cohort 26, which had 350 participants in a common pool. NextLeap put people into pods of 10 to 15 to work through case studies and problem solving. Within that, he found a group of five to ten people.
They met every night from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m., because some of them worked during the day. Each person prepared a question, and the group practised RCAs, guesstimates and metrics questions together. "When you are with the like-minded people obviously you will learn a lot."
How did the fellowship prepare him for real interviews?
Through a graded project and mock interviews with working product managers. Danush says the course runs for three months. In the third month there is an assignment that you must clear with a score above 80 percent. After that, fellows practise for about five weeks with peers on design thinking, RCA and guesstimates, and then face product managers from companies such as Google, Microsoft, Lenskart and Flipkart.
The interviewers were kind and told him what to say and what not to say. Fellows get three opportunities, and clearing them, he says, sends your confidence "skyrocketing."
What mistakes do candidates make in PM interviews?
Danush names three from his own early interviews at companies including Adobe and Samsung.
- Jumping straight into solutions. If the question is to design a refrigerator for kids, do not start listing heights and features. Ask questions first and lay the foundation before building the first floor.
- Overthinking and overengineering. Some questions were quite easy, but overthinking burned time and brought on nervousness.
- Leaning on AI too much. He avoided ChatGPT and similar tools while learning. Before an interview, he asks an AI to act as the interviewer of that company, ask him the most difficult question and be ruthless. He does not want to make it a second brain.
How should a product manager use AI?
To learn and to practise, not to think for you. Danush works on a project at TVS Credit that relates directly to AI, so he uses it. But he says there is a risk of hallucination, and that you cannot depend on it. He also says a personalisation setting can make it answer more directly instead of sugar-coating.
How do you prepare for a PM interview in two days?
Write a PRD for one of the company's products. Danush says that with one or two days before the next interview, he did more than read the company profile. He picked a random product of the company, such as a fintech product, and wrote a PRD from top to bottom.
- Define the user persona, the problem and the pain points.
- Apply prioritisation techniques and a framework from the course.
- State the impact and the metric strategy.
- Add user research where you can. He did not have time for user interviews, but he did secondary research.
Then, after the introduction, he told the interviewer he had used the two days to write a PRD and asked if he could share it. He says no interviewer turns this down. That pitch can use up 15 minutes of a one-hour interview, and if the first impression is strong, the rest tends to go in your favour. He says two to three fellow fellows cracked interviews with the same idea.
Which skills matter most for a developer moving into product?
First, problem solving. Danush gets messages from developers who do not want to code and see product as a safer place. It is not, he says: "Coding is something problem solving." The same problem solving continues in product, on a whiteboard, with a huge set of people.
Second, communication. "The more clarity which you bring in the room, the better the problem is getting solved." Third, writing a clear PRD that sales, marketing, development and analytics can act on. You sit in the middle of all of them, and he says an AI-written document will be irrelevant to what you had in mind.
The more clarity which you bring in the room, the better the problem is getting solved.
Watch the full conversation
Danush shared his story on the NextLeap Podcast.
Start your own switch
Danush's switch came from a nightly study group, mock interviews with working product managers and a habit of preparing a PRD before each interview. If you are a developer considering the same move, the NextLeap Product Manager Fellowship offers a structured timetable, a cohort and mentors from the industry.
Frequently asked questions
How does a full-stack developer become a product manager?
Danush says to learn the product function in a structured way, find peers to practise with, and treat problem solving as the common thread between coding and product. He studied while working full time, using one quality hour a day, a nightly study group and mock interviews with product managers from companies like Google and Flipkart.
What mistakes do candidates make in PM interviews?
Danush lists jumping into solutions before asking questions, overthinking easy questions, and depending too much on AI. He gives the example of designing a refrigerator for kids: ask questions and build the foundation before proposing features. He also warns that overengineering and nervousness burn interview time.
How should a product manager use AI?
Danush uses AI to learn and to practise, for example asking it to act as the company's interviewer and ask the hardest question. He cautions against making it a second brain, since it can hallucinate. He also says to check the personalisation settings, which can make the answers more direct instead of flattering.
How do you prepare for a PM interview in two days?
Danush picks one product of the company and writes a PRD from top to bottom, with a persona, problem, pain points, prioritisation, impact and metrics. He offers to share it after the introduction. He says this can take up 15 minutes of the interview and create a strong first impression.
