Hi, I’m Sam! I have been a product manager for years. Now I work as an industry mentor for the product, strategy, and operations track at Pathrise. I help people land their dream job through workshops and 1-on-1 mentoring. Check out my review of Dorm.
- What does Dorm do?
- Who is Dorm for?
- What does Dorm cost?
- Ratings and reviews of Dorm
- Alternatives to Dorm
- How does Dorm compare to Pathrise?
What does Dorm do?
Dorm is a new online bootcamp to help students launch a career that they love. They offer 6-month part-time courses to help people become a product manager, startup employee, startup founder, or social media influencer in any area of interest. Their 50+ courses are created and led by industry experts like the Head of Product at Typeform and the Director of Product at Letgo. Popular influencers on Facebook and YouTube also have classes on the platform. These industry experts meet 1-on-1 with students as they build their job search profiles, company, product, or personal brand.
The program is part-time and lasts for 6 months. First, students choose from 6 main tracks: tech founder, lifestyle entrepreneur, startup employee, YouTuber, Twitch streamer, or podcaster. However, Dorm’s 50+ mentors have experience in a wide variety of tech skills such as product management, marketing, sales, and ops. This means students seeking to land a startup job can choose a specific field that fits their skill set and interests. Anything from product development to growth marketing is possible.
Courses are largely video-based and self-paced. Students meet with their mentors as they complete recorded lessons on theory, practical assignments, projects, informative articles, and real-life actionable tasks related to their job search or company growth. In addition to their mentors, students get access to a community of their fellow students for further support and networking. A native iOS app is also available for flexible learning with a sleek gamified look.
As an income share agreement (ISA) based program, students pay nothing until they start earning money in their new dream career. Once a student’s income hits $41,000, they pay a percentage of their new salary each month to cover tuition. Students can also choose to pay upfront for a discount.
Who is Dorm for?
People who want to land a job at a startup could benefit from Dorm. As a remote mentoring-based program, Dorm is a good option for people seeking flexible self-paced learning. The income share agreement (ISA) makes the program ideal for people who want to turn their risky idea into a side income or even venture capital.
What does Dorm cost? How much work is involved?
Full upfront tuition is $9,000. However, the course offers an ISA so students pay nothing until they land a tech job, raise venture capital, or monetize their passion. Once students start making more than $41,000, they pay a percentage of their income each month.
To apply, students fill out a brief online form. Successful candidates move on to a final interview. While no prior experience is required, a student’s skill set influences the track and mentor they choose. Dorm also sends candidates study material to prepare for the final interview.
Ratings and reviews
As a new program, Dorm does not have many online reviews. However, Dunce Deals was impressed with their business model and described their expanded startup and influencer courses as “my favorite pivot ever.” The program also hosts positive testimonials on their own website.
Alternatives to Dorm
If you decide not to participate in Dorm, there are a number of alternative bootcamps and online resources for people who want to land a job as a product manager or startup employee.
- Another bootcamp designed to get grads a startup job is Tradecraft. Students choose from 4 tracks: product design, growth marketing, sales, and engineering. While the courses include mentoring and real-life assignments like Dorm, the program is much more intense, requiring 60+ hours of work each week.
- Similarly, InternStreet is an online tech bootcamp with tracks in marketing and product design that helps grads land entry-level jobs.
- Students looking to break into tech sales at a startup can check out Flockjay. Like Dorm, they also offer an income share agreement so students don’t pay until they land a job. Learn more about Flockjay in our review.
- Similarly, Always Hired teaches the practical skills needed to land a tech job. They also offer an ISA, so students pay nothing until they’re hired.
- Another remote program with an ISA is Thinkful. They have 6-month online, part-time courses in product management as well as other tech topics. Their curriculum includes live classes, projects, and 1-on-1 mentoring.
- With free and paid options, Simplilearn and Skillshare are online learning resources with courses in digital marketing, product design, engineering, and more.
- People looking for a hands-on program with mentoring can check out Udacity. Their platform offers both free and paid self-paced courses in topics like product management. Students in their “nanodegree” programs work with technical mentors and career mentors as they build polished product management projects. Find out if Udacity is right for you in our review.
More alternatives
- The popular bootcamp General Assembly teaches full-time, part-time, and 1-day courses on a variety of tech topics including product management and marketing. Their program features 19,000+ hiring partners, hands-on projects, and a 91.4% job placement rate. Read more about General Assembly in our review.
- BrainStation is also a bootcamp with product management tracks. Students build projects, participate in professional development, and get access to over a thousand hiring partners like Google and Facebook.
- The product management bootcamp Product School teaches full-time and part-time courses with weekly mentoring. Grads can get access to career services and even formal certificates to help them land a job.
- Similarly, Product Academia offers full-time and part-time PM courses with formal certificates for grads. Their focus is on helping women launch new careers as product managers.
- Product managers with a few years of experience can check out Product Faculty. Their part-time online bootcamp helps students accelerate their careers. Students get access to their Slack community, 1-on-1 career mentorship, and even advanced product management (APM)(R) certificates that they can add to their resumes upon graduation.
- A product management community with 150,000+ members, Mind the Product offers workshops and networking events to help aspiring product managers launch their careers.
Even more alternatives
- The product management association Product Gym offers training, job support, and networking opportunities for aspiring product managers. Classes are flexible and can be taken remotely.
- You can also check out Bubble no-code bootcamps to learn how to make products without coding. Learn more about Bubble in our review.
- Students seeking university courses can check out Coursera. This online learning platform hosts both free and paid courses on topics like product management and marketing taught by professors at accredited universities.
- Another affordable platform for university learning is edX. They offer both free and paid courses from top universities like Harvard and MIT, plus big tech companies like Microsoft. Students can choose to learn the fundamentals or dive deeper into specific topics, like Agile systems for product management. Learn more about edX in our review.
How does Dorm compare to Pathrise?
Dorm is a tech bootcamp for people who want to launch a career as a product manager, startup employee, startup CEO, or social media influencer. While they help with the job search, their focus is preparing students for new roles by teaching them essential and practical skills.
Pathrise is a full service organization that helps people land their dream job in tech. Our mentors have experience on both sides of the hiring table so they know what works and what doesn’t in the job search. They work 1-on-1 with program fellows on every step of the job search including resume and LinkedIn optimization, portfolio building, technical and behavioral interview skills, and much more. We have already helped 1,000 students and professionals land their dream jobs, usually in just 3-5 months.
Like Dorm, our program is flexible and comes with an ISA. We never require upfront payments or deposits. Fellows in our program only have 2-4 hours of group sessions per week and 1-on-1 sessions that can be scheduled as needed.
Pathrise is a career accelerator that helps people land their dream job in tech through 1-on-1 mentorship. If you are interested in working with any of our mentors to get help with your technical and behavioral interviews or any other part of the job search, join Pathrise.
Apply today.
