👀 Capital One APM: Application to Offer – iykyk

Duke, Summer Camps, & Finding APM

Hi there 👋 — Who are you and what’s your background?

Hi, I'm Hamilton and I'm from Orlando, Florida! I went to Duke University as an undergrad studying computer science. In college, I was the President of my fraternity and a part of this group called Duke Presidential Ambassadors. Think of us as VIP tour guides. I also did club tennis and a couple of other things.

My original plan was to do software engineering since I really liked coding. But after I did an internship my junior year and only had the opportunity to talk to people for 10 minutes a day, I realized it wasn't for me — I like talking to people too much, haha.

As a result, I looked into some other options and found this thing called product management, and decided to give it a shot. In terms of getting to my current position, though, I’d say I had a bit of an “out of the ordinary” college internship experience. Most people would be doing software engineering and PM internships (I did have one software internship), but I mainly worked at a summer camp. I grew up going there as a kid and as a counselor, and I figured I have my whole life to work, so why not have some fun.

If there's one piece of advice I could give people about internships, I would say it's not the end all be all. Don't take it too seriously and have fun with it if you can. Sometimes you can even learn a lot more in a less professional environment than you can in more professional ones.

Program Structure & Exciting Changes!

For those who are unfamiliar, how is the program structured and run?

It’s your pretty typical two-year program with two, one-year long rotations. For your first rotation you get to fill out a form with your general interests and general knowledge. Then based on your resume and experience, they'll place you on a team. For example, I was a computer science major, so they put me in a fairly technical group.

For the second rotation, there's a process where every manager who has an open slot for a second year in the program gives a short, five minute presentation over several weeks, and you’re able to submit your preferences for your top roles.

The program leads also provided opportunities to give feedback. I was actually a part of one of those focus groups where they asked how we felt about the program and what could be improved. They really listened and are currently implementing some of the changes, so moving forward I'm excited about the direction!

Amazing Culture — Life Comes First

Is there anything the landing page doesn't tell us about the APM program?

While Capital One is a banking company, it’s actually more of a tech company that happens to do banking. They really do operate much more technically than you'd expect for a credit card company.

Another thing that you don't really realize is how great of a culture there is in the company. Everybody is super understanding, and life comes first. For example, you don't necessarily have to move your mouse every 10 minutes or be online from x to y. It’s more about getting your work done and being responsive. I think it’s also interesting just how unique yet similar everybody is, which is really cool. We all come from different backgrounds, but at the heart of it we're all really fun and cool people who love the idea of product management.

Standing Out w/ Unique Experiences

What do you think made you stand out as an applicant and is there a recruitment strategy that nobody is doing right now, but should be?

I think honestly what made me stand out was my leadership experience. I mentioned that I was President of my fraternity – there’s obviously varying opinions on fraternities, but leading 100 People in any organization takes a lot of work, and you learn a lot.

On top of that, I actually think my time at the summer camp helped a lot, and I was able to parlay that really well into direct experiences to use in my interviews. It was a unique experience and didn’t follow the cookie-cutter path and I think they really valued the leadership aspect. At the heart of it, a PM is a leader. You’re interacting with so many different groups and leading tech teams and initiatives, so I think any sort of experience helps.

My cousin was also a PM and APM at Google years before me. He wrote a book on his opinions of how to become an APM, so I'll plug it since I read it and found it very helpful. I would still tell you this if cousin wasn’t the author, but I have to give that caveat. It's called The Product Diploma: Breaking Into Product Management Out of College — a super easy read.

Salary Expectations & Progression

What sort of salary should program participants expect, and what does the salary progression look like once you’ve graduated from the program?

It depends on where you live, but when I first started in Richmond, VA my salary was $80k. Within a month, they gave us a competitive adjustment for the market and it was up to $87k. And then I relocated to DC and it went up again around 10% and I went to like $97k. Every year based on market conditions they're increasing it for each new class, so to make it fair for the older employees they increase the base salary as well.

When I became a senior associate, I got a 10% boost plus another 10% adjustment, so I'm around $120k right now.

Future Plans, MBA & Enjoying the Process

What’s your next play after graduating from this program and how has this program impacted your 5-10 year career plan?

Honestly, I’m still figuring it out. In terms of post graduation in the program, I'm currently waiting to hear back from some grad schools since I applied to get my MBA.

When you finish the program, you have the choice to stay with your second rotation, or you can find a new team. You could also try something else outside of product management if you wanted to since Capital One makes it very accessible to switch around. That being said, I like the team I work on right now – it’s a really great group of people. When the time comes, I’d consider trying something new, but again I’m not totally sure.

Something that could be interesting however would be to do a front end project since I've worked mainly on the back end so far, but I don’t have any specifics in mind.

Hobbies & Travel/Book Recs!

What do you enjoy doing for fun?

I love playing tennis, golf, video games, reading and traveling!

Travel Rec: I studied abroad in Sydney, Australia and took a 10 day trip to New Zealand. Queenstown is probably my favorite city in the world right now. We went skydiving and did some really awesome stuff there. Even though It’s not exactly easy to get to, if you ever find yourself down there, make sure you go to Queenstown – it's truly incredible.

Book Rec: Even though I mentioned the product book earlier, that’s not really the norm for me. I mainly read fantasy fiction books, and my current favorite has to be A Court of Thorns and Roses. If that sort of book is your jam, check it out, you'll probably really love it. If you only read nonfiction and educational books you might not like it, but I’m personally of the opinion that reading should be for enjoyment and not just education!