It’s an experience I will never forget. In the heart of the beautiful city of Cape Town, I started this six-week journey. I was unaware of the immense possbilities of opportunities it held for me. I knew I was going to meet new people, learn new skills, and gain a new perspective. But, what I didn’t know was that it would have such a significant impact on me. 

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At iXperience, I was introduced to new ways of learning and new environments of working. The Product Management course lessons weren’t mere presentations but a representation of the real world.

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The content was taught by individuals, like our head teacher Johann van Tonder, who weren’t just teaching enthusiasts, but also successful Product Managers in the real world. In fact, Johann is an author, and the COO of a company that specializes in conversion rate improvements. Therefore, every concept in the class was tied to an example which was either derived from their collection of personal experiences, or drawn from the dynamic world around us.

iXperience Cape Town – Sunset cruising

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The classroom workshops, and I say workshops because we were always learning by practising, were followed by a remarkable work experience.

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I worked at FibreAssist Cape Town as a Product Manager on their Part-Time Pays project. Part-Time Pays is a startup dedicated to connect students looking for part time jobs with jobs around the community on a single platform. However, when we joined the project that had yet to launch. As such, we were given the company’s early stage MVP, with the task to identify bugs and improve UX.

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It was remarkable because I not only got to work on a digital platform idea similar to an idea I had envisioned in the workshops, but also pursue it with likeminded passionate young entrepreneurs who had a very urbanized and productive style of working.

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As we added to the Problem-Solution document, company developers made changes on the fly which gave us an opportunity to work directly with specialists within the company. In addition to solving issues, we created mockups for missing pages and new features on the platform.

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It was incredibly rewarding to take an MVP with countless bugs and problems, to an MVP that is now close close to launch.

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Product Management Class – iXperience Cape Town 2019

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Outside the classroom and the workplace, I got to explore Cape Town with students from all across the globe. The city is beautiful – it is a picture postcard perfect destination. There is ocean on one side and a beautiful range of mountains on the other. You can see it all from as you hike up to the top of the Lion’s Head – one of our favorite activities. However, what made this city even more beautiful and memorable for me was the iX community.

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As someone rightly said, “It is not just about where you travel, it’s about who you experience your travel with”. 

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These words fall short to explain how amazing iX was for me. But, here’s to the days that turned into weeks with friends that turned into family!