Why Learn Product Management?

Product management is the art of ensuring products are the best they can be. A Product Manager oversees a product's development, design, marketing, and success, including physical products, software applications, and other digital products. Have you ever explored all of the things product management can do?Successful Product Managers will need a combination of training in coding, user-driven design, and project management. This combination of highly-sought after skills provides people with training in product management and a flexible job path. 

Here, you’ll learn more about the careers that benefit from product management and how it can enhance your professional life. Regardless of your goals, learning product management is a valuable and impressive skill to add to your resume. 

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. 

Common Professional Uses for Product Management

Product management jobs grew by around 33% from 2017 to 2019. Companies from many industries recognize the need for employees with product management skills, including tech, finance, ecommerce, and brick-and-mortar stores. Every industry's need for digital products and platforms drives the demand for Product Managers. Some companies hiring the most product management employees include Walmart, Wayfair, Home Depot, and Amazon. For example, Walmart uses Product Managers to oversee their smartphone app, online ordering, self-checkout software, digital inventory tracking, and digital supply chain management tools. 

Product management jobs are multiplying within the Finance sector. Like in other sectors, the primary reason for this growth is the need for financial institutions to develop digital products and platforms. For example, banks now offer customers digital account and finance management tools, such as smartphone apps and online banking. Some finance companies adding a significant number of Product Managers include JP Morgan Chase, Visa, Mastercard, Bank of America, and Capital One. Some companies, such as MasterCard, need employees with product management skills so badly that they’ve created recruitment and training programs for Product Managers. 

The demand for digital platforms drives growth for Product Managers in other industries, including entertainment, healthcare, and the Internet of Things. For example, the explosion in streaming services from Netflix to Spotify has driven massive growth in product management jobs in the Entertainment industry. Digital appointment platforms, wearable healthcare technology, and digital recordkeeping are creating many product management jobs in healthcare. 

We’re in the Golden Age of Product Management

It is the golden age of product management: product management jobs increased by 33% from 2017 to 2019. Jobs in product management are currently growing five times faster than the national average. It’s a great time to be a Product Manager and a great time to explore becoming a Product Manager. 

Some factors driving this increase in demand for Product Managers include Increased competition in the global market, technological development and transformation, the growing use of data in business, and increasing customer expectations and communication. 

In many industries, the biggest factor in creating product management jobs is the need for smartphone apps, digital platforms, and digital tools. For example, product management has seen massive growth in the financial sector because banks must create online platforms and digital tools, such as smartphone apps, to stay relevant. 

Many products, especially digital products, are released to the global market or become available globally with online sales. While this gives companies more opportunities to sell, it also introduces them to stiffer competition. Products must be carefully created, designed, marketed, and managed in a market saturated with many products. 

Data has changed the way that we do business. And with digital transformation and competitive global marketing, data has also become necessary. Increasingly, Product Managers are expected to incorporate data into their product decisions.

Many people look at reviews online before buying a product. Because of this, online customer reviews have created an increased demand for Product Managers. It is part of their role to be aware of user reviews and online reputation. 

Make a High Salary in a Creative Career

The average salary for a Product Manager is more than double the national average at $125,000. That’s more than double the national average of $52,000 per year. Becoming a Product Manager could open doors to a six-figure salary and a rewarding career. 

Salaries for Product Managers can vary by industry and experience level. For example, an entry-level Product Manager typically makes around $85,000 annually, whereas a Chief Product Officer earns over $200,000 annually. Product Manager salaries can also vary by location: the average salary for a Product Manager in San Francisco is higher than in Denver. And it can also vary by industry. For example, the typical salary for a Product Manager in software or telecommunications is higher than for defense or finance. Companies that report the highest salaries for Product Managers include Amazon, Facebook, Google, JP Morgan Chase, and Walmart. 

How to Start Learning Product Management

If you’ve decided to study product management, you’ll need to decide how you want to study product management: live or on-demand. Live classes, whether online or in-person, are the best option for anyone serious about a new career in product management. Live classes offer real-time interaction with your instructor and classmates, leading to higher engagement, mentorship, and networking opportunities. You’re also guaranteed to receive up-to-date information in a structured environment. Noble Desktop’s Classes Near Me Tool is designed to help people find tech classes in their area, including live online product management courses. 

On-demand courses are self-paced courses that students can take online, typically in the form of video lessons. There are a lot of online resources for learning product management, including free ones. These types of sources are great for total beginners who want to gain a better understanding of product management basics. However, there is no guarantee that the material will be updated. On-demand courses are great for seeing if product management is something you want to pursue. 

Product management is made of many parts, including knowledge about product development and user-driven design. Noble Desktop offers a free seminar on development and design, including User Interface (UI) Design, on their YouTube channel. Free resources like these are a great way to explore your interest in product management. 

Product management is currently ranked as a “Top 10 job in the U.S.” by Glassdoor. The average salary for a Product Manager is around $125,000 annually. Product management is also a skills-based job, meaning you can become a Product Manager without a bachelor’s degree. 

On-demand courses and resources are a great way to learn the basics of product development. If you’d like to pursue product management more seriously, you should consider enrolling in a more structured product management course. 

Read the full guide on how to learn product management.

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. 

Key Insights

• This is the golden age of product management, with recent years experiencing job growth of around 33%.
• Product Managers earn high salaries, with an average annual salary of $125,000.
• Product Managers report high job satisfaction and find their careers creative and rewarding.
• Core product management skills, such as coding and project management, are highly sought after on the job market.
• You can receive comprehensive product management training through an in-person or live online course with Noble Desktop.