Product Manager Skills: What You Need to Become a Product Manager

If you’re interested in becoming a Product Manager, you’ll need to be able to demonstrate that you have the skills to do the job. Hiring managers in product management typically prefer concrete skills and certificates when hiring. This is because product management is a skills-based field, which means that skills are more important than education. 

If you’re serious about launching a new career as a Product Manager, you’ll want to get comprehensive training in coding, design, and project management. One great way of demonstrating these skills to potential employers is through earning certificates. Earning a certificate provides concrete proof that you have the skills to be a Product Manager. 

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. 

One of the most challenging parts of launching a new career as a Product Manager is that you must gain and be able to demonstrate that you have a diverse skill set since Product Managers must wear a lot of hats. 

Product Managers are frequently hired to manage digital products. Because of this, product management has been called “digital architecture.” You are building the products that define the digital landscape. Because of this, you’ll need solid technical skills, including coding, UX design (user experience), and data analysis. 

Product Managers also serve as liaisons between the different teams who build, market, and sell a product and the customers who use it. Because of this, you’ll also need excellent soft skills, such as communication and leadership. 

Ultimately, a good Product Manager combines hard skills and soft skills. Here are some of the critical skills you’ll need to launch a new career as a Product Manager. 

Hard Skills

Coding

One of the most common questions that aspiring Product Managers ask is if they need to know how to code. While you won’t need to be an expert-level coder, you will need enough knowledge to understand the possibilities of a digital product and communicate with the development team about the product. 

While coding knowledge is absolutely necessary for a Product Manager, it isn’t their first priority. The top priorities for a Product Manager include conducting user research, market research, product development, and effectively leading and communicating with the various product teams. 

UX Design

Product Managers advocate for the product and the customers who use it. Aspiring Product Managers will need to understand user-driven design principles, how to conduct user and market research, and product prototyping. 

A product’s usability is a critical part of its success and a major responsibility of the Product Manager. For example, a product may have unique features that distinguish it from competing products. In order to do this, the Product Manager will need strong skills in user research and solving problems using design principles. 

Project Management

Product Managers use project management methodologies to lead teams to build great products. You might think of a Product Manager as the Project Manager of the product. For example, defining the scope is an important part of project management. 

Project Managers also set the plan for a project and focus on resource management. Some project management methodologies useful for Product Managers include identifying product goals, creating product scope, team building, planning and resource management, and budgeting. 

Data, Python, and SQL

Product management is data-driven. In order to build and market a successful product, a Product Manager must be able to work with data. As the “CEO of the product,” you’ll need to use data to make the best decisions for the product. Many product management professionals predict that data and machine learning will become increasingly important for Product Managers. You can get a head start by learning data analytics and familiarizing yourself with Python and SQL. 

Python is the programming language preferred by Data Scientists and Data Analysts. Understanding Python will increase your ability to make data-driven decisions. SQL can also be a critical skill for a Product Manager. SQL allows you to query databases to find the necessary information to make informed decisions.

Soft Skills

Communication

Every step of a product’s “lifecycle” requires effective communication. In many ways, you could think of Product Managers as product communicators. Product Managers need to regularly communicate with a lot of different people, including the various teams who work on a product, the customers who use it, and the product’s stakeholders. Product Managers spend a lot of time writing and a lot of time talking: emails, meetings, Slack messages, phone calls, presentations, progress reports, and other documents. 

Effective communicators are good listeners, have excellent writing and presentation skills, articulate their thoughts well, and can back up their arguments with relevant data. 

Leadership

Product Managers are often called the “CEO of the product.” You’ll need excellent leadership skills to ensure a successful product since ultimately you’re responsible for its success. 

Some keys to great leadership are being motivated, developing strong personal relationships, establishing authority, and leading by example. 

Strategic Thinking

Product Managers need to be great planners since they’re responsible for every part of a product, from inception to ongoing success. One of the most critical responsibilities for a Product Manager is developing the product roadmap: a guide to the product’s strategic vision. 

Some examples of strategic thinking might include knowing what to prioritize and when, building frameworks and workflows, and advocating for the product first. 

What Other Jobs Require These Skills?

Product Management is a unique field that combines business, tech, and design. This is what separates it from other similar fields. For example, workers in IT combine business and tech without the design. IT workers use technology to solve business problems, while Product Managers ensure the success of a business’s specific product throughout its lifecycle. 

A great way to understand that Product Managers handle the “what” and “why” and Project Managers handle the “when” and “how.” Both are lucrative careers, although product management requires more technical training than project management. To manage a product, you’ll need to understand how it works, what its capabilities are, and what its future possibilities look like. You might think of a Product Manager as a project manager who manages one product across projects. 

Software Engineering and UX Design are other career paths that are similar to product management. Knowledge in both of these is required to become a Product Manager, and many people work in one of these fields or project management before becoming a Product Manager. You might consider which of these is most aligned with your interests and skills and seek a position to gain experience to become a Product Manager. 

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

• Some of the core hard skills for a Product Manager include coding, design, and project management.
• Some of the core soft skills for a Product Manager include communication, leadership, and strategic thinking. 
• You can receive comprehensive training to become a Product Manager through an in-person or live online course with Noble Desktop.