If I’m thinking about starting my own company in the future, PdP has given me a great simulation on how to build a product for a market.

In order to create a successful project, the key difference is that you’re taking key information from customers and not just designing what you think they need. I think the skills gained during PdP will be incredibly useful in my future career, especially if I’m going for leader positions.

PDP is without a doubt the best course a first-year master’s student at Aalto can take. It does not just prepare you for engineering work. It prepares you for the messiness, the collaboration, and the joy of real product development.

Do it! PdP is one of the most hands-on courses, and you get to work on professional level with industry. It’s a great challenge, and you get a lot of growth as a PM.

I was suprised by the power of teambuilding, bonding in a human way! You get so much better results than just having a sterile, professional setting.

PdP is 3 words? Intimitating. Complex. Exiting!

The most rewarding thing is to get the ideas off the paper, even if they’re crude or ugly—just to test them out as prototypes!

It’s very therapeutic to be in the Labs and do something with your hands.

PDP opened a lot of doors by helping me build valuable connections, friendships, and practical skills that support my future career. This course also helped me explore my professional direction.

PDP is a place where real growth happens through hands-on projects, supportive teammates, and access to incredible tools and resources. It encourages creativity and gives you a safe environment to try new ideas and develop your skills.

Our challenge was to solve some of the most pressing challenges in the world – improve the lives of the most marginalised children in Uganda. The motivation and passion our team had, did not only lead to great results but also provided one of the greatest learning experiences the university can offer – Learning across the 7 nationalities and 9 disciplines.

PdP was 9 months of (mostly) hectic, (always) crazy, but most importantly enjoyable work. As a team we pushed ourselves insanely and even we were amazed at the design outcomes we were able to produce!

The amount of frustration, joy, feeling of accomplishment and confusion makes you realize that in PdP you are not studying for the grades – you are studying for life!

Some of the main reasons that led me to participate in PdP were: long term project with a lot of freedom and flexibility where students make decisions and shape the outcome and final prototype while working in close collaboration with industry.

During PdP, we had the opportunity to try new things and work on challenging tasks, at times it was difficult, but it was very rewarding and emotional when things worked, what I gained from teamwork is unique in PDP.

The idea of cross-disciplinary teamwork has always interested me. Working with engineering students, for example, helped me learn a lot about the technical side of the project. I got the opportunity to work on an IoT Project which is something that I have always wanted to explore and not to forget creating an impact in a space like agriculture is not something you get to do every day.

What kept me going throughout the project, was that Design Factory is this amazing place that you never know who you are going to meet, not only students from different schools but experts that can answer your questions. This place draws so many interesting and cool people that are also highly dedicated, a lot of my other classes don’t offer that.

PdP is an interdisciplinary roller coaster!

In PdP you will learn things that you cannot learn anywhere else. It is not easy, but it might be worth it

PdP gave me a chance of experiencing different cultures in a unique and profound way: by working closely with people of different backgrounds