Looking to start a career in Product Management? Learn about the important skill sets, training cost, potential career paths, and the average salary for a Product Manager.
Key Insights
- Product management combines three core skill sets: coding, design, and project management. Training in all three is essential for a successful career in Product Management.
- A Product Manager oversees a product through four stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline, often referred to as "The Product LifeCycle".
- Coding skills can be a stepping stone towards a career in product management, as it is highly desired by employers.
- Design skills, specifically in user experience (UX) and user interface (UI), are invaluable for Product Managers. Training in these includes learning programs like Adobe XD, Adobe Sketch, and Figma.
- The Project Management Institute estimates that more than 22 million new jobs will be created for people with project management skills by 2027, making this a versatile and in-demand skill for Product Managers.
- The average salary for a Product Manager is around $125,000, making it a lucrative career path despite any potential training costs.
Are you looking to learn product management?Product management combines three core skill sets: coding, design, and project management. You will need training in all three to become a Product Manager. Beyond this, you’ll want to consider the cost of product management training. Training in multiple areas may seem like it will be costly. However, there are ways to reduce your costs. Read on to find out more about how much you can expect to spend on learning product management.
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.
In-Depth Review of the Training Cost
There are always free online resources to help you start learning, but most people need paid training to dive into the material and retain it. Product management is a relatively new field. There are no traditional paths to becoming a Product Manager or industry-standard certifications.
You should seek structured training in product management if you're serious about starting a new career. Taking a bootcamp or certificate program will cost more than self-directed study but probably less than you think. Some paths are less expensive than others. It’s also important to remember that the average salary for a Product Manager is around $125,000: despite any training costs, learning product management could lead to a six-figure creative career.
Bootcamps are a common means to earn a certificate in product management. For example, you might want to learn coding to become a Product Manager. You’ll want to take a Certificate Program, such as Noble Desktop’s Software Engineering Certificate, to verify your training and skills to potential employers. Graduates earn a New York State Licensed Certificate in Product Management for around $10,000. You could pair this coding certificate program with Noble Desktop’s UX & UI Design Certificate and Project Management Bootcamp for less than $4,000. A sequence of bootcamps such as these will make you a certified Product Manager for around $13,000.
Free Introductory Product Management Course Online
If you’re not quite ready to commit to product management, free online courses are a great way to see if it’s a career path that you’d like to explore. You can learn some of the foundations of product management before you fully commit. For example, Udemy offers a free tutorial, Fundamental Steps of Product Management which covers the basics of product management using a real-world case study. A few colleges, such as the University of Maryland College Park, offer free product management lectures on their website. Or, you might consider Product Crash Course, which delivers its free introductory product management course directly into your email inbox.
Read about more free product management videos and online tutorials.
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.
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.
In-Depth Review of the Cost
Product management combines coding, design, and project management: you’ll need to train in all three if you want to start a new career as a Product Manager. You’ll also need training in a few specific software programs.
Coding is low-cost and accessible to every budget. The coding languages you need to learn for product management are usually open-source and free. It is common for open-source coding languages to have robust online communities, free tutorials, and access to pre-written code chunks reusable in your program to enhance its complexity.
Design will cost a bit more since three design applications are the industry standard in product management: Sketch, Figma, and Adobe XD. Product Managers must be knowledgeable in all three to be competitive in the job market. Sketch offers a free 30-day trial which should be enough time to familiarize yourself with the basics. A monthly subscription going forward costs around $9 per month. Figma’s Starter Account is free forever but has limited file numbers. Like Sketch, you should be able to master the basics with your free account. Adobe XD offers a shorter seven-day free trial and a low-cost subscription at around $10 per month.
Aha is gaining popularity among Product Managers for product road mapping. There is currently a month-long free trial that can allow you to learn the basics for free. Other programs recommended for Product Managers are Microsoft Office, especially Excel.
Why Learn Product Management?
Product management is a creative and rewarding career path. Current Product Managers report a much higher job satisfaction rate than most careers. Product management has been ranked Top 10 on Glassdoor’s Top 50 Best Jobs list for several years. Since product management is still developing as a field, there is a lot of flexibility in this career path.
According to a study by Product Management Insider, Product Manager jobs increased by over 33% from 2017 to 2019 and have only continued to grow. A few factors driving this growth include the need for digital products and platforms, increased competition in a global market, digital transformation of industries, and data-driven business decisions. Some industries experiencing the highest growth in product management jobs include finance, e-commerce, tech, entertainment, and healthcare. For example, the adoption of streaming services has driven the need for Product Managers in the entertainment industry. Likewise, the adoption of digital tools by financial institutions has created a demand for Product Managers in the finance sector.
Product management is also a lucrative career path: according to Glassdoor, the median base annual salary for a Product Manager is around $125,000. Product Managers make more than double the average annual salary of $52,000 across all occupations. Jobs in product management are growing at a rate of five times the national average. Some companies hiring the most Product Managers include Google, Bank of America, Airbnb, Capital One, Adobe, and Visa. Some companies, such as Uber and Slack, pay Product Managers an average salary of around $200,000.
Read more about why you should learn product management.
Free Introductory Product Management Course Online
If you’re not quite ready to commit to product management, free online courses are a great way to see if it’s a career path that you’d like to explore. You can learn some of the foundations of product management before you fully commit. For example, Udemy offers a free tutorial, Fundamental Steps of Product Management which covers the basics of product management using a real-world case study. A few colleges, such as the University of Maryland College Park, offer free product management lectures on their website. Or, you might consider Product Crash Course, which delivers its free introductory product management course directly into your email inbox.
Read about more free product management videos and online tutorials.
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