Product Manager: Career Path
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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What does the Product Manager career path entail?
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.
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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Growing into a Senior Product Manager role pays off –
$40,000 up to per year.
Not only is the progression from individual Product Manager to a Senior role a natural
progression, it
also makes all the difference in your average salary.
On a global average, Senior Product Manager receive a
$40,000
salary hike over entry-level Product Managers when they go from individual contributor to
senior personnel.
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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.
