How Difficult is it to Learn Product Management?

Are you curious about learning product management but worried it might be too hard? Of course, the difficulty that comes with learning a new skill is somewhat subjective. The challenges of learning product management depend on factors like familiarity with core product management skills, such as coding, user-driven design, and project management. People talented at these or already experienced in them tend to learn product management more efficiently.

No matter your current schedule or comfort level with product management, plenty of tools are available to help make learning more manageable than you might think.

What is Product Management?

Product management is the process of managing a particular product, including physical products, software programs, and other digital products. A Product Manager oversees a product through the four stages of what product management calls “The Product LifeCycle:” introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. In product management, Product Managers are often referred to as the "CEO of the product."

Product management is at the intersection of tech, business, and design. Successful Product Managers must train in all three core product management skill sets: coding, user-driven design, and project management. Product management connects the different teams who develop a product. For example, a Product Manager might work simultaneously with a development team, a design team, a marketing team, stakeholders, and customers to manage the development and launch of a successful product. 

The Product Manager is an advocate for the customer and serves as a liaison between the teams developing a product and the users of the product. User experience is a critical part of product management, so Product Managers are expected to incorporate user-driven design principles and conduct user reviews of their product during the development and after launch. 

Read more about what product management is and why you should learn it. 

What Can You Do with Product Management?

Product management is a combination of tech, design, and business. You’ll need creativity, technical knowledge, and leadership skills to become a Product Manager. You will need to develop skills in all three to launch a new career in product management. However, the variety of skills creates a lot of flexibility in product management. 

Coding skills are essential to an aspiring product manager. You don’t need to be an expert coder, but you will need to understand the process of building a digital product. As you probably already know, coding skills are highly desired by employers. You could even work as a coder while continuing the rest of your product management education. 

Design skills are invaluable in many industries: design, digital design, fashion design, publishing, manufacturing, software development, art, marketing, web design, and animation. Product managers must know user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design. Training in these includes learning programs like Adobe XD, Adobe Sketch, and Figma. 

Project management skills are required for Product Managers. Developing project management skills is great for the job market: the Project Management Institute (PMI) estimates that more than 22 million new jobs will be created for people with project management skills by 2027. Project management skills are also highly versatile since Project Managers are in demand across industries. 

What Are the Most Challenging Parts of Learning Product Management?

One of the most challenging parts of learning product management can be feeling intimidated. Product managers need many skills: soft skills, design, coding, and project management. Learning these skills can be intimidating to a beginner. Taking advantage of free online resources can make the process easier. For example, you could take this free introductory UI Design seminar from Noble Desktop, or watch this video to better understand the differences between Adobe XD, Figma, and Sketch, three industry-standard design programs in product management. These introductory resources are a great way to learn the basics and combat procrastination.

Product management is still growing as a field. Because of this, training paths to becoming a Product Manager aren’t as clearly defined as in other fields. Finding a clear path to getting hired as a Product Manager can be challenging. You’ll want to do some research to decide the right path: free resources, such as this article on starting a product management career without a degree, can help you overcome this challenge.

Bootcamps are highly recommended for aspiring Product Managers since they offer concentrated job training. They also allow you to train in the core product management skill sets, such as coding, design, and project management. Bootcamps taught live online could help you succeed at online learning because you’ll be able to interact with your instructor and ask questions in real time. Some bootcamps, such as the ones offered by Noble Desktop, include 1-on-1 job mentoring and assistance in portfolio development. 

How Does Learning Product Management Compare to Other Fields?

If you haven’t quite decided that you want to become a Product Manager, you might want to explore similar career paths, such as a Project Manager, UX Designer, or Software Engineer. You might consider whether one of these career paths is a better fit for your goals since a Product Manager combines elements of each of these roles. 

A Product Manager's most overlooked skillsets are soft skills, such as communication, leadership, interpersonal, time management, and motivation. A Product Manager must be a great communicator as they communicate with development teams, design teams, marketing teams, manufacturers, stakeholders, and customers. A Product Manager typically performs a lot of user research and must be able to communicate with users about the product. 

If you’re not someone who wants to take a leadership role, you might consider an alternative career path, such as Software Engineering. A Software Engineer must have excellent technical skills. If you have stronger interpersonal skills than technical skills, you might want to choose product management, UX design, or project management. Technical skills are more required of a Product Manager than a Project Manager. Product management might be right for you if you combine both. 

A UX Designer must have artistic creativity: something much less required for Project Managers and Software Engineers. UX Designers also need strong communication skills because they will be conducting user research. Figuring out which career path best fits your strength is a smart way to make your decision.

Becoming a Product Manager is more time-intensive than similar careers. For example, the existence of an entry-level professional certificate in project management creates a more clearly designed path for a Project Manager. The entry-level Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification is recommended for aspiring Product Managers. Product Managers will also need to develop skills in design and tech knowledge. The number of required skill sets makes product management more time intensive than these similar career paths.

Learn Product Management with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Since product management is a relatively new career, there is no single path to becoming a Product Manager. To become a Product Manager, you do not typically need a bachelor’s degree. You will need a mix of the three product management core skill sets: coding, user-driven design, and project management. Bootcamps in coding, UX design, and project management are a great way to acquire the knowledge you need to become a Product Manager. 

Noble Desktop offers bootcamps in coding, design, and business live online and at its state-of-the-art campus in Midtown Manhattan. Since Noble Desktop offers bootcamps in all three core product management skills, it is an excellent choice for aspiring Product Managers. All of their courses have guaranteed small class sizes. Noble Desktop’s expert instructors teach a “micro-lecture” introducing a topic and then guide students through applying what they learned through hands-on, real-world projects. There is a “free retake” option on their courses, allowing students to retake the course free to refresh their knowledge or continue developing their skills. 

Noble Desktop’s Software Engineering Certificate is a great option for aspiring Product Managers who will need to understand how applications are made. This bootcamp immerses students in coding and building applications using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Python, Django, and Node.js. Expert instructors will guide students through hands-on projects to develop skills in coding the front and back ends of websites and applications. Students receive over 500 hours of live, hands-on instruction and twelve 1-on-1 mentoring sessions. Graduates earn a New York State Licensed Certificate in Software Engineering. 

Product Managers are required to put users first. Understanding user-driven design is critical for a Product Manager. Noble Desktop offers a UX & UI Design Certificate that provides comprehensive training in user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design. Students in this project-based bootcamp master user-centered design essentials, conduct research and product testing, and digital product design. Students become experienced users of Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD. Students develop a professional portfolio and receive 1-on-1 job mentoring. Graduates earn a verifiable digital certificate which is shareable on Linkedin. 

The successful development and launch of a product is a project. Product Managers are required to have highly-developed project management skills. Noble Desktop’s Project Management Bootcamp provides comprehensive training in project management principles, practices, and methodologies. Topics covered include the “Project LifeCycle,” risk management, resource management, budgeting, and project management terminology. This boot camp includes training in project management methodologies Waterfall, Critical Path, and Agile, including Scrum, Kasan, and Extreme Programming (XP). Graduates earn a Certificate in Project Management which is shareable on Linkedin.