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, where I help people land their dream job. Check out this article where we compare Product School vs General Assembly.
- Similarities and differences between Product School vs General Assembly
- Courses offered on Product School vs General Assembly
- Prices for Product School vs General Assembly
- Ratings and reviews of Product School vs General Assembly
- Alternatives to Product School vs General Assembly
- How do Product School vs General Assembly compare to Pathrise?
Similarities and differences between Product School and General Assembly
Product School and General Assembly are both tech bootcamps with courses in product management and other subjects.
Similarities
- In non-COVID times, people can take their classes online, as well as onsite in San Francisco, New York City, Seattle, and other cities.
- Both bootcamps provide part-time and full-time programs.
- In addition, students receive weekly mentorship and career support from their instructors.
- Product School & General Assembly have programs for current and aspiring product managers.
Differences
- Product School only offers courses in product management.
- But, General Assembly has tracks in software engineering, UX design, data science, and digital marketing as well as product management.
- The courses offered by Product School prepare people for certifications, including the Product Manager Certificate (PMC), Product Leader Certificate (PLC), and Product Executive Certificate (PEC).
- Besides their immersive bootcamps, General Assembly offers part-time and one-day courses on topics such as user research, Agile & Scrum, design thinking, and visual note-taking for creative thinkers.
- Finally, General Assembly students are able to finance their bootcamp tuition through loans or an ISA, whereas Product School students can make interest-free monthly installments.
Courses offered by Product School and General Assembly
Both Product School and General Assembly offer courses for product managers that teach the following topics:
- Agile
- Scrum
- A/B testing
- Customer surveys
- Project management
- Wireframing
- Prototyping
In addition to their product management offerings, General Assembly has courses in a number of other subjects, including:
- Software engineering
- UX design
- Data science
- Digital Marketing
- Web development fundamentals
- Excel
- SQL
- Python for data science
Prices for Product School and General Assembly
At Product School, the PMC, PLC, and PEC programs cost $4199, $6999, and $9999 respectively. Moreover, students can pay upfront, or make interest-free monthly payments for up to 36 months.
Full tuition for General Assembly’s full-time bootcamps is $16,450. Students who pay upfront get a $450 bootcamp. Part-time courses cost $4,050 and students can choose to pay this upfront (with a $250 discount) or with loans. Discounts and scholarships are also available. Through our partnership with general assembly, you can get access to a series of exclusive program offerings, including $1500 off any of their bootcamps or short-courses. If you’re interested in launching a career in tech, schedule a call with the GA Admissions team and ask them for the free workshops, events and discounts.
General Assembly offers a wide variety of payment options. Probably their highest profile option is the “income share loan” (ISL) — this option allows full-time bootcamp students to pay once they land a job. Made possible via Edaid, students pay only $500 upfront. Then they pay nothing until they land a job paying at least $40,000.
A simpler option might be paying installments. General Assembly allows students to divide tuition into two, three, or four easy payments while in the program. Interest free loans are available as well via Climb. Students can choose to start paying immediately (over 18 or 24 months), or pay 12 months later over 36 months with $500 down payment. Students can also take out interest loans through Ascent, Climb, or Meritize. Students who pay via loans can choose to repay immediately, defer payments, or choose an interest-only option. Interest rates range from 6.5-15%, with terms from 3-5 years. While Launch Academy invites some of their hundred hiring partners to free networking events, General Assembly connects students with 19,000+ hiring partners including top tech companies like Facebook, Microsoft, and Google.
Ratings and reviews of Product School and General Assembly
In general, online reviews of Product School are positive. People felt that the curriculum was well organized and had no problem finding PM roles after graduation. But, others were disappointed with how expensive the program was, with quite a few reviewers pointing out that Coursera and Udemy have cheaper options that cover the same material.
Like most Product School grads, many General Assembly grads are working in roles that relate to what they studied in their bootcamp. While some viewed the bootcamp favorably, others struggled to keep up with the pace of the curriculum. Many students feel that the program is best suited for motivated self-starters who are willing to work hard and learn everything they can.
Alternatives to Product School and General Assembly
If you decide not to enroll in Product School or General Assembly, there are quite a few bootcamps and online resources with courses in similar topics:
- If you are interested in taking classes through an online learning platform, check out Springboard or Udacity, both of which offer courses in a variety of topics. Discover how Springboard and Udacity can help you advance your current tech skills in our program reviews.
- Similarly, Coursera, Pluralsight, Simplilearn, and Udemy are online learning tools, with courses in product management, programming, and other topics.
- edX is one of the largest online learning platforms. They have courses from top universities like Harvard and MIT as well as big tech companies like Microsoft. Learn more about edX in our review.
- GrowthX Academy is an online bootcamp, with programs for people who are interested in growth marketing and UX design, as well as sales and business development.
- Those looking to advance their product management skills and network with a community of peers can check out membership and classes at Product Gym.
- Similarly, product managers with some experience can check out the community and courses on Mind the Product, ProductHood, Product Innovation Educators, and Silicon Valley Product Group.
- Students can also check out Thinkful and Knowledge Officer, which have courses in product management, marketing, and more.
- Similarly, Product Hall and Blackblot are product management bootcamps with live courses and 1-on-1 mentoring opportunities.
More alternatives
- Aspiring UX designers and software engineers can check out Kenzie Academy, a full-time tech bootcamp that offers in-person and online courses. Learn more about Kenzie Academy in our review.
- If you’re interested in taking an online product design bootcamp that is self-guided or instructor led, consider DesignerUp. Read about DesignerUp in our program review.
- Another option for aspiring designers is Designlab, an online bootcamp that teaches the necessary skills to land a job as an entry-level UX designer. See if Designlab meets your needs by reading our program review.
- Women who are looking to return to the workforce as PMs can take courses at Product Academia.
- Likewise, women, GNC people, and trans people can check out CodeOp, which has courses in web dev, data, and product management.
- Similarly, aspiring product managers can also check out Product Faculty, Product Management Studio, and Product Manager HQ. They offer part-time and full-time bootcamps to help people learn the skills to land a job in product management.
- Another option is 280 Group, which has onsite and online courses in product management.
- Likewise, aspiring product managers might like One Week PM. Created by Product Manager HQ, both programs teach product management fundamentals and include networking with aspiring and current PMs.
- You can also consider Linky Product, which has self-paced courses and a bootcamp.
How do Product School and General Assembly compare to Pathrise?
Product School and General Assembly are tech bootcamps that teach people the necessary skills to land a job as a product manager. General Assembly also offers courses for aspiring UX designers, software engineers, digital marketers, and data scientists.
While Product School and General Assembly teach courses for people with no tech experience, fellows in the Pathrise program should already have a background in their field of interest so that they can participate fully in our industry workshops, pair programming sessions, and 1-on-1s, which prepare students for the questions they will see in their technical interviews.
We require fellows to have technical skills, but we don’t necessarily require them to have job experience. You may benefit from completing a program like General Assembly first, then joining Pathrise to get placed at a job. To help you get the skills you need to join our program, we offer $1500 off any General Assembly bootcamps or short-courses, as well as other exclusive offerings to get you up to speed. Schedule a call with the GA Admissions team and ask them for the free workshops, events and discounts.
A full service organization, Pathrise helps people land the best job possible. Our mentors have years of experience on both sides of the hiring table and provide 1-on-1 guidance on every component of the job search, including resume & portfolio building, cold emailing & reverse recruiting strategies, behavioral interview preparation, salary negotiation, and more. Fellows learn lifelong skills that will benefit them in future job searches as well.
Pathrise is a career accelerator that works with students and professionals 1-on-1 so they can land their dream job in tech. If you are interested in working with any of our mentors to optimize your job search, become a Pathrise fellow.
Apply today.
