What Degree Do You Need to Become a Product Manager?

There is no set degree path to becoming a Product Manager. Since it is a relatively new career path, Product Managers come from varying education and experience backgrounds; some Product Managers have degrees, and some do not.

When hiring for product management roles, most hiring managers report that degrees and certifications are most commonly used as a filter. Degrees and certifications can help get your resume considered, but hiring decisions in product management are more skills- and experience-focused. In product management, first-hand experience is more prized than formal education. 

What is a Product Manager?

A Product Manager manages a specific product, including physical products, software programs, and other digital products. Product Managers are often called the “CEO of a product,” and manage its design, development, and appeal to customers. 

Product Managers need a strong combination of business skills, design skills, and tech skills. 

Because Product Managers oversee all the parts of a product, they are required to have three core skill sets: coding, user-driven design, and project management. Product Managers often work with development teams, marketing teams, design teams, stakeholders, and users to ensure the success of a product. 

Product Managers provide the “what” and “why” behind a business’s products, using research and user-driven design principles. 

Do I Need a Degree to Become a Product Manager?

Product management is growing fast, but it is still a relatively new career field. There is no set educational path to becoming a Product Manager like there is for a Lawyer or Doctor. To become a Product Manager, you’ll need the right skills. Product management is a skill-based field, meaning that skills are prioritized over formal education. Industry reports indicate that certificates and certifications are more highly sought than degrees. 

The most common degrees held by Product Managers are in business, management, information technology, and computer science. Bachelor’s degree programs in product management are not very common. However, there is a small list of colleges and schools that offer undergraduate degrees in Product Management, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Texas at Austin, and Carnegie Mellon. The Fashion Institute at the State University of New York (SUNY) offers a Bachelor’s degree in product management for the fashion industry. 

Common Degrees for Product Managers

Research common degrees for Product Managers to have earned and create a bulleted list of 4-10 of the most common ones. Emphasize that these are common degrees that Product Managers have but that not all Product Managers have one of these degrees. 

According to surveys, around 70 percent of Product Managers have a bachelor’s degree. Since degree programs in product management are relatively new, most working Product Managers have degrees in other subjects. Here are some of the most common degrees held by Product Managers. 

• Business Administration: Business Administration majors combine general education requirements with business training.

• Management: Understanding project management is one of the core skill sets of a Product Manager. Having a degree in management can be a great head start to launching a career in product management. 

• Marketing: Designing a great product won’t matter if no one knows about it. Marketing is a key skill for a Product Manager and many of them come from a marketing background. 

• Finance: resource management and budgeting are essential skills for a Product Manager. Having a strong education in economics and finance could be a great stepping block to becoming a Product Manager. 

• Information Systems: A hybrid between business and computer science, majoring in Information Systems trains you to use technology to solve business problems. Because of this, it can be a great degree choice for aspiring Product Managers. 

Tips for Starting a Product Manager Career Without a Degree

If you’re interested in becoming a Product Manager but don’t have a degree, don’t worry. You will just have a slightly different career path than someone who already has a degree. According to surveys, around 70 percent of Product Managers have a bachelor’s degree. While it is common, it is not required. 

If you want to become a Product Manager without a degree, you’ll need to focus on developing the three core product management skill sets: coding, design, and project management. You’ll need training in all three to start a career as a Product Manager. 

You’ll also want to seek out certificate programs in these skill sets to lend extra credibility to your Product Manager resume. For example, Noble Desktop offers certificate programs in key product management skills, such as UX Design and Software Engineering, in which graduates earn a New York State Licensed Certificate. 

Learn the Skills to Become a Product Manager at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop offers business, design, and coding classes live online and in-person classes at their state-of-the-art campus in Midtown Manhattan. Training at Noble Desktop offers aspiring Product Managers a huge head start since they specialize in the three core job skills: coding, user-driven design, and project management. 

All of Noble Desktop’s courses are taught by expert instructors, have guaranteed small class sizes, and feature a “free retake” option, meaning you can “retake” any course for free for up to one year to continue developing your skills. Noble Desktop uses a unique approach to career training: their expert instructors teach a “micro-lecture” and then immediately guide students through applying what they’ve learned through real-world, hands-on projects. This unique approach guarantees that you’ll learn the skills you need to launch a new career as a Product Manager. 

Hiring managers report that certificates and certifications move a resume to the top of the pile. Noble Desktop offers certificate programs in the three core skill sets: software engineering, user-driven design (UX), and project management. Earning certificates in these core skill sets can help you launch a new career as a Product Manager. 

Noble Desktop’s Software Engineering Certificate provides the technical experience needed by a Product Manager. This certificate program is divided into two parts: front end development (what you see) and back end development (how it works). In the first part, expert instructors guide students through coding in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. In the second part, expert instructors guide students through the fundamentals of coding in Python, Django, and querying with SQL. Professional Product Managers often recommend learning SQL as an additional skill. This certificate program will give you a head start. Graduates earn a New York State Licensed Certificate in Software Engineering, which is shareable on LinkedIn. 

Product Managers are advocates for the user: they know how to use research and data to make sure the product meets the user’s needs. To do this, you’ll need skills in user experience (UX) design. Noble Desktop’s UX & UI Design Certificate provides comprehensive training in user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design. Students are guided through hands-on, real-world projects to learn user-driven design principles, user research, product prototype building, creating product case studies, and visual designs. This certificate program also trains students in using Figma and Sketch for design and prototyping. Graduates earn a New York State Licensed Certificate in UX & UI design, which is verifiable and shareable on Linkedin. 

Project management is a very hot career path on its own and one of the core skill sets of becoming a Product Manager. You might think of a Product Manager as handling the “what” and “why” and project management as handling the “how” and “when.” Noble Desktop’s Project Management Bootcamp project management courses are taught by PMP-certified Project Managers. Students are guided through real-world projects to develop skills in the Project Life Cycle, project management terminology, project selection and scheduling, resource management, risk management, and Agile Frameworks. 

If you’d like to read more about becoming a Product Manager, you might check out this Product Management Learn Hub. Combing these certificates on your resume is a fantastic way to launch a new career as a Product Manager. 

Key Takeaways

• You can receive comprehensive training to become a Product Manager through an in-person or live online course with Noble Desktop.