Interested in pursuing a career as a Product Manager? Read and find out more information about what a career as a Product Manager will look like!
Job Duties
As a Product Manager, your main job is to make strategic decisions related to product management and provide in-depth expertise to improve the product. This profile is one of the most important profiles in every industry, especially in IT and manufacturing companies. A product manager is often considered as a “mini CEO” of a single product as they work closely with marketing, engineering, sales, and support to ensure customer satisfaction goals are met.
Where They Work
The role of Product Manager gained more and more popularity with the growth of technology companies. Based on a Statistic reported by Zippia.com, the biggest percentage of Product Managers work in tech companies and in Fortune 500 companies. However, Product Managers can also be found in other companies in the Manufacturing industry, Finance, Retail, and Health Care.
Working Conditions
As a Product Manager, you will work in a team with many different people to be able to ensure the success of the product. You will often work well over forty-hour weeks, including evenings and weekends. There is a great deal of pressure connected with this job due to numerous deadlines, schedule changes, and regular meetings with other managers. Many product managers must travel frequently throughout the United States and abroad to meet with their clients.
Education and training
Although every company will be different, candidates will usually need a Bachelor’s degree in business or a related field. Based on a report by Zippia.com, 72% of Product Managers have a Bachelor’s Degree, and 17% have a Masters’s Degree. Those who have completed a degree in economics, marketing, communications, or statistics will be preferred. Some companies even require a master’s degree in management. Before becoming the head Product Manager, a candidate will need at least two or three years of experience in the product management field. Other skills required to become a product manager are the following:
- Business Expertise
- Leadership Skills
- Operational Ability
- Strategic Thinking,
- Analytical skills
- Quantitative skills
- Time Management
- Negotiating skills
Pay and Benefits
The role of a product manager is one of the highest profiles in a company’s organizational structure (right below the CEO and board of directors). Therefore, the salary to work as a product manager can range from 70k/year in smaller companies to 140k/year in bigger ones. One of the biggest benefits of being promoted as Product Manager is being a step closer to being promoted as CEO of the company.
Oliver De Croock ’24, Student-Athlete at Lawrence University majoring in Economics and Career Peer Educator. Connect with me on LinkedIn.