If you’re looking for ways to break into the product management field but are hesitant due to a lack of experience or technical knowledge, you’ve come to the right place.
In today’s blog, we will be talking about-
- The craft of product management,
- the role of the product manager within it, and
- ways to become a product manager with zero experience, providing many effective methods and resources.
You seem pretty excited; let’s get going!
What does a product manager do?
At their core, product managers control the whole process of creating and distributing fresh products, taking care of their internal and external development while maintaining their full life cycle. They must also track key insights to enable efficient future decisions and new releases.
Having mentioned their roles, let’s now try to understand how and where to begin this journey of becoming a successful product manager that tries to do what’s required of them.
Ways to get into Product Management in 2023
Just like anything else, there are numerous educational ways through which we can train ourselves to become qualified in product management. Let’s dive a bit deeper now. Keep Scrolling!
1. Degree
It’s not a surprise that many qualified product managers out there usually begin their positions with a solid degree- in business, marketing, or computer science most of the time. Therefore, a logical approach to begin with, would be to consider a traditional degree given in the field.
These programs do a great job of enabling learners to gain perspective and actionable information and knowledge in product management and other fields related to it.
2. Certification
If you wish to get a head start in your career, product management certificates will be great resume details in that they will provide solid information about your qualifications to potential employers.
You can easily start with Accredian’s Product Management certification and get going.
3. Courses
This kind of approach will suit you the best if you’re seeking more freedom in navigating your educational processes in product management while practicing skill building.
You would also be free to choose any schedule or weekly and monthly commitment level, so there’s also that.
4. Bootcamps
Bootcamps cover all the basics of product management, including market analysis, business model development, product prototyping, and more!
This makes these programs very popular and high in demand, but you can also have the opportunity to apply online and have the chance to learn in a more personalized and convenient environment for you.
5. Books and other resources
But there’s no limit to learning! We just had to gather a quick list of must-reads for all the aspiring Product Managers out there.
- Product Leadership by Martin Eriksson, Richard Banfield, and Nate Walkingshaw
- The Lean Product Playbook by Dan Olsen
- The Art of Product Management by Rich Mironov
6. Internships
Product management internships are an amazing opportunity to gain perspective and knowledge about all the processes and the technical skills required to come up with solid product decisions and make the product last in the market.
7. Seek Employment
LinkedIn is a free website that’s great for job seekers of all kinds, where they can upload their CVs, search for hundreds of jobs, create job alert emails, save, apply, and more.
You can use LinkedIn for many things; search for product management internships, check out their Company Pages, where you can read company reviews that you’re interested in written by former or current workers.
Also, make sure you check out their Career Guide, which contains several useful articles focusing on key aspects of interviewing, product management roles, job searching, product vision, cover letters, product strategies, resume templates, and more.
8. Socialize
Keeping in mind that you might be new to the world of product management, let us tell you the good news. Both online and offline product management communities are known to be extremely welcoming to newcomers!
To get started with your last step, there are, again, a number of things you can do that can work for you:
- Make sure you join Quora and Medium and dive right into the chatter that has already been going on for quite some time there.
- Check out the online communities for product people.
- Get involved with Twitter and follow these top product management people.
You can also try leaving comments on other people’s work, updates, posts, and networks. The receiver will highly appreciate this, and you will have more visibility within apps the more you write and tweet; it’s a perfect win-win!
9. Real-life Product Meetups
Being online is great in itself, but some people may prefer the old-fashioned way; going out and meeting people just like in the good old times.
Product managers all around the world attend annual meetings, and they do this for a lot of reasons. In addition to keeping up with the industry and new launches, these product meetups also enable people to potentially recruit new hires.
And since you’re passionate about looking for a new job, it would be a great idea to bring it up while talking with the ‘new friends’ you meet at these meetings. Do not hesitate to take this advice because even if they’re not hiring at that moment, chances are they know someone else who is.
So, where do we go from here?
Our advice would be to begin your decision-making process, make sure you’re 100% sure of what you want, and then start developing the skills that are mentioned in this blog. Read, learn, and take action in the light of your knowledge.
Try to be positive and outgoing; meet with fellow product managers, ask them questions, learn from them, listen to their feedback, and act accordingly.
If you’re interested in gaining more insight, then join India’s top Product Management certification at Accredian.
To know more about product management, keep an eye on our blog page for more updates.
