Product Manager Career Path & Resources
Being in product management leads to exciting opportunities and even executive positions. It's a career path that is welcoming to career changers. Experience is valued and needed.
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Product Management
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Why should you become a
Product Manager?
Building a product is hard and systematic skills in the space are needed. Product managers shape a product and are often the ones taking charge of changes and tracking success metrics.
That core position has its upsides: Great product managers experience immense career growth and can lead to director, VP and even C-level positions quite quickly.
For career changers, the job is also attractive. It's a leadership position that pays well above 6 figures on average and values experience from any kind of professional background.
Best books to build Product Management understanding.
A well-written and thorough book can be an amazing path to build deeper understanding and also act as
a
handbook as you discover the internet's vast resources.
These are our and our experts top picks to
get
started building career-relevant skills.
Product Leadership
What's better to build your understanding of product management than to build your very own product? This book walks you through how venture studios like Google Venture launch products fast and successfully.
The Art of Product Management
Released in 2008, the Art of Product Management has truly stood the test of time and is among the top-selling management books, even today! A must-have in the library of any fresh product manager.
Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
As Product Manager, user engagement is always at the top of your mind. The best way to have engaged users is to create habit-forming products. Nir Eyal walks us through the inner workings of almost addicting social apps and boils down how you can use the same mechanisms for good.
Shape Up
Shape Up is coming out of the product factory Basecamp. Having been in business for over a decade, both as agency and product company, they have developed a unique and well-tested approach to product management.
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resources
Courses to deepen your Product Management skills.
These days, courses are no longer a sequence of videos. They are usually accompanied by projects and
a
learning community, keeping you accountable and on the path.
Our experts recommend these courses, from
free
selections to paid programs.
Product Management Specialization
Doing things by the book is always a good foundation to start from. The University of Virgina has a top-rated product management course on Coursera – a great starting point to learn the basics and ease your way into Product Management.
Product School
For quite a few years now, Product School is the go-to place for folks who want to change their careers into Product Management in the form of a more traditional school and course approach. If you are serious about the change, Product School could be a great chance!
One Week PM
Online, One Week PM is handled as one of the leading online courses for new product managers in the otherwise surprisingly sparse environment. With over 2,000 students worldwide, it also comes with a ton of social proof from people that took the course and used it to claim their dream career as PM.
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resources
The Product Management must-reads you shouldn't miss.
Key articles and posts of industry experts can help you get a better picture of what you are getting
into.
In our opinion, these are some must-reads you really shouldn't miss.
Jason Fried: One door at a time
Jason Fried's Basecamp is one of the most successful independent product business of the last 20 years and when there's something to read, one should better look closely.
It's easy to think that as a product manager you need to know what to do from day one, but Jason argues differently here: It is OK to take it all one step at a time, before trying to become the greatest.
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Harvard Biz Review: What It Takes to Become a Great Product Manager
There's no such thing as a typical product manager. Most great product managers come from their own background in design, engineering or marketing to claim the position.
So, if there was an end-to-end PM school, what would they need to teach? Customer interviews, feature roadmapping, resource allocation. All the things you should have at least a look at are in here.
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Alex Mitchell: Ways to Stand Out in the PM Job Market
It's hard to stand out in the PM job market. Product management is an attractive career and there aren't all that many positions out there. So, it's all about improving your odds.
Alex shows us seven ways how to improve our profile and level up our skills to claim that dream job of ours.
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Opportunities and projects in the Product Management
space.
In the end, advancing your career is all about getting the right opportunities at the right time and
a
good portion of luck.
These are some interesting things going on in the Product Management space and you
probably don't want to miss them.
IndieHackers: Build your own product
Building your very own product puts you on the radar of any product-focused organization hiring managers, designers and engineers. Going from nothing to something requires and builds top-notch prioritization skills, the ability to stay scrappy and shows that you can get things done.
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Join an early-stage organization
To get your foot in the door and make a difference, early-stage startups and businesses are exactly the way to go.
While the risk may be higher than at FAANG and other established businesses, you can also quickly build a lot more ownership and extend your portfolio in these companies.
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Related career paths
If you like Product Management, you might also be interested
in these other
career paths.
Get the help you need & advance your career
Product management is a competitive career path, but one that hugely pays off. Are you ready to make the jump? Our mentors would be more than happy to help.
