Product Manager Requirements

This article will cover the requirements to land a job as a Product Manager. While Product Manager skills and tools will vary between different jobs, this will cover hard requirements across industries.

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.

Education

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. 

Experience

Experience equates time spent working in the field. This can include internships and volunteering in addition to paid work. Entry-level jobs will usually require 0-2 years, while higher-level ones will require more; you can do some research.

There are different job titles associated with the different levels of Product Managers. A newer Product Manager will often have the title of Associate Product Manager. An Associate Product Manager is an entry-level Product Manager who most typically works under a more senior Product Manager. 

The day-to-day work at this level will be very similar to those of a more experienced Product Manager but with some reduced responsibilities. For example, Associate Product Managers do not typically create the product strategy or the product roadmap; they are responsible for assisting a more senior Product Manager in carrying out the tasks defined by them. 

You can expect to work as an Associate Product Manager for around two years. After that, you’ll want to start seeking out more senior product management roles, typically with the job title Product Manager. At this more senior level, you will take responsibility for the product roadmap and the product strategy. You’ll want to look for ways to gain experience in these while still at the associate level. 

Skills

Product management as a field combines a lot of skill sets, including coding, design, project management, and soft skills. You may also be expected to have skills within the industry you’re working in as well as other technical skills, such as proficiency in Microsoft Excel, SQL, budget management, user research, data analytics, and machine learning. 

The three primary skill sets required for a Product Manager are software engineering, user experience (UX) design, and project management. Product Managers must also have excellent soft skills, including communication, leadership, time management, conflict resolution, and resource management. This is because a Product Manager typically leads and liaises the various teams that create, develop, and market a product.

In order to understand the possibilities of a product, a Product Manager must understand the code that builds it. They serve as a liaison between the customer and the development team, which requires skills in conducting user research and communicating how to incorporate user feedback into the product. Product Managers also need project management skills. Project management helps Product Managers decide the how and when of a product. 

Portfolio

Mention the purpose of portfolios and what goes into them: polished and fully featured projects demonstrative of the kind of work the Product Manager is skilled in producing.

To get hired as a Product Manager, even in an entry-level position, you’ll need to create a compelling Product Manager Portfolio. Think of this document as telling a textual and visual story about your experience and qualifications. Since you’re working within the digital space, you need to be creative and detailed when describing your accomplishments. 

One critical thing to remember when creating your Product Manager Portfolio is that it needs to put the product first: you’ll be focusing on the product itself, not yourself or the people who built it. A Product Manager Portfolio does not have the list-like structure of a resume or CV. You’ll need to make sure that you use visuals and creativity and only include your “greatest hits.”

Portfolios build a compelling narrative of the products you have built. You should have one ready when applying to jobs, but many Product Managers keep theirs online continuously as a digital calling card to promote their personal brand. Most do this using their website and LinkedIn profile. 

You’ll want to use concrete details when describing your achievements. Use detailed numbers and performance markers to communicate your success. It’s not enough to say you managed a product. You must communicate how you specifically contributed to its success. 

Focusing on the product can be especially important if you’re a new or aspiring Product Manager with less hands-on experience. You’ll need to compensate for your lack of direct experience managing products by focusing on your experience working on them. Try to find ways to focus on things like user knowledge, design or technical skills, product management certificates, and soft skills, such as leadership and communication.

Some experts recommend that you use a section of your portfolio to talk about favorite products that you haven’t worked on. This more creative approach could give you an opportunity to communicate your knowledge about how products are made successful and what you could do to increase that. 

Resume & LinkedIn Profile

Spotlight work that is relevant to the job you’re applying for. Resumes should generally be no longer than two pages, while LinkedIn Profiles can account for all your work. Keep in mind that many of the keys to building a solid product management resume will be the same as for a LinkedIn profile.

Your LinkedIn profile is one of the first things recruiters will look at after you apply. Some recruiters in product management even look at LinkedIn profiles before resumes since the standardized format allows them to review more people faster. You will want to make sure to have a professional and well-developed LinkedIn profile before applying for any product management jobs. If you’ve already developed a resume, then you can use it as a jumping-off point for building your LinkedIn profile. 

Make sure to highlight your key work experiences and how you’ve made an impact on products throughout your career. You want to be as concrete as possible since recruiters will be looking at a lot of applicants. You want your most impressive qualifications to jump right off the profile. 

References

People who can speak to your work ethic positively and at length. They don’t need to be people working in product management, but it helps if they do. These should be people who have supervised you, but if a colleague knows your work better or would be more positive, you can include them. Teachers are acceptable; never use friends or family.

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

• If you’re new to product management, you’ll probably start in a more entry-level position, such as Associate Product Manager. 
• Your Product Manager Portfolio tells the story of your product management experience.
• You should make sure to have a well-developed and professional LinkedIn page before applying for product management positions.
• You can receive comprehensive training to become a Product Manager through an in-person or live online course with Noble Desktop.