Product Experience
Our Mission and Objective
I believe the world could be a better place to live if more people understood where others are coming from. This project idea reflects my passion for building solutions for all students seeking professional opportunities. I am a frequent LinkedIn user and aspiring Product Manager. I developed a solution to address untapped opportunities for LinkedIn’s student experience and maximize the platform’s ability to accelerate young people’s careers. I aim to leverage the features to build a better experience for students on LinkedIn.
Key Pain Points and Proposed Solutions
While designing the solution, I conducted user research with 20 students, creating an affinity Map to reveal the main pain points in the following table. I then developed solutions for each pain point, involving 5 students in usability testing. Find my research plan here and the product spec below!
Compare’s Competitive Advantage
An amalgamation of networks and resources: LinkedIn is a platform that can house all aspects of a student’s professional journey, whereas competitors focus on individual pain points.
Building ahead of competitors with subject matter expertise: Current competitors are startups that lack LinkedIn’s extensive user data and feedback.An existing, growing platform of students: the number of 18-24-year-olds on the platform has almost doubled since 2016, growing 30% more this time than the platform’s overall user base.
Why Improving the Student Experience Should Be a Priority
Direct alignment with LinkedIn’s mission and vision: We’re creating economic opportunity for students and building connections to help them be more productive & successful
The market opportunity: There are 184M 18-24 year-olds on LinkedIn, with ~60% having a WTP of $10/year – 1.1B market that will grow exponentially with the user base
Learnings
Product Manager Learnings:
Dharmik Paramkusham
I genuinely enjoyed my time. It's a valuable program with the right intention and support to make underrepresented communities believe they belong in tech.
I learnt how important it is to dive deep into the problem, be user-centric and mould the product vision according to their feedback.
Designer Learnings:
Designer Learnings:
Jo Sturdivant
- Adapting to an Established Team: Joining the team in week 6 of 8 was challenging, as I had to quickly adapt to existing workflows, dynamics, and goals. This mirrors real-world situations where you often integrate into teams mid-project, and flexibility is essential.
- Work-Blocking for Efficiency: With only two weeks to complete the project, I learned the importance of a structured work-blocking system. This approach allowed me to manage my time effectively and meet deadlines under pressure.
- Making Data-Driven Design Decisions: Unlike my past projects, I had to rely on research conducted by others. This was a valuable experience in using pre-existing data to guide design decisions, helping me focus on the core insights without starting from scratch.
Developer Learnings:
Developer Learnings:
Vanady Beard
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As the back-end developer, I learned how important it is to create efficient and reliable systems that support the entire application. This experience also taught me the importance of optimising the database and ensuring the backend is scalable and easy to maintain.
Developer Learnings:
Stephen Asiedu
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As a back-end developer, I've come to understand the importance of being familiar with various database systems and modules. This knowledge enables me to build diverse applications and maintain versatility in my work. I've also learned that the responsibility for making the right choices rests on my shoulders, guided by my best judgement.
Developer Learnings:
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Developer Learnings:
Maurquise Williams
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- Process of Creating an MVP: Developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) taught me how to focus on delivering core functionalities balancing between essential features and avoiding scope creep.
- Collaboration in a Real-World Tech Setting: This experience taught me how to collaborate efficiently in a fast-paced tech environment, keeping the team aligned and productive, even while working remotely across time zones.
- Sharpening Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills: This experience honed my ability to think critically and solve problems efficiently. By tackling challenges and finding quick solutions, I sharpened my decision-making and troubleshooting skills in a dynamic, real-world setting.
Developer Learnings:
Jeremiah Williams
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All in all this experience was very awesome I learned that in coding with others being transparent is key
Developers Learnings:
Justin Farley
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I learned how important communication is when working with a team. Communication provides understanding, advice, ideas, and much more. While working with the product team, I’ve found that communication keeps everything flowing smoothly. Working with a team also showed me that every member brings something different to the table and we all have to work together in order to align and meet our end goal.