Google's highly competitive APM program was the key to jump-starting my career. Here's what it was like and how much I make as a product manager.

• Arjun Lalwani is a former associate product manager at Google. 
• He said the APM program is so competitive that landing an interview is like hitting a gold mine.
• Arjun said that he took big risks in his interviews to make himself stand out.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Arjun Lalwani, a 26-year-old product manager at YouTube. Insider has verified his income with documentation. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I was a software engineer intern at Microsoft during college. While I was building a product, I got curious about the "why" behind it. So I talked with my product manager who walked me through the whole road map and explained why we were doing something and how this would all lead to the big picture.